The memo includes what OSHA considers the most common potentially discriminatory policies.  The following are examples of those policies:

1.    Policies of taking disciplinary action against employees who are injured on the job, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the injury.
2.    Employees who reports an injury or illness is disciplined, and the stated reason is that the employee has violated an employer rule about the time or manner for reporting injuries and illnesses.
3.    Employees report an injury, and the employer imposes discipline on the ground that the injury resulted from the violation of a vague safety rule such as a requirement that employees “maintain situational awareness” or “work carefully” may be manipulated and used as a pretext for unlawful discrimination.
4.    Employers establish programs that unintentionally or intentionally provide employees an incentive to not report injuries such as entering all employees who have not been injured in the previous year in a drawing to win a prize, or a team of employees might be awarded a bonus if no one from the team is injured over some period of time. 

 OSHA also suggested in the memo that the potential for unlawful discrimination under all of these policies may increase when management or supervisory bonuses are linked to lower reported injury rates. For access to the entire text of the memo click  here. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today released three new guidance products to educate workers and employers about the hazards workers face in trenching operations. Unprotected trenches are among the deadliest hazards in the construction industry and the loss of life is devastating: since 2003, more than 200 workers have died in trench cave-ins, and hundreds more have been seriously injured.

“No worker’s life should end in a trench. Cave–ins during excavations are some of the most common and grisliest causes of worker fatalities in construction, yet they are entirely preventable,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. “I am deeply troubled by the continued violations of OSHA’s trenching standards, many of which bring tragic results. These new educational materials provide clear guidance on the necessary steps that employers must take to protect workers in trenches.”

The new information products, which are available on OSHA’s Publications page, include:

“Trenching and Excavation” fact sheet* – an overview of the hazards that can occur while performing trenching operations and the safety measures required to protect workers;
“Working Safely in Trenches” QuickCard* – an easy-to-use guide to trenching hazards and safety measures with graphics; and
“Do Not Enter an Unprotected Trench!” poster* – a resource for construction workplaces informing workers what steps must be taken to ensure trench safety, along with the warning “An Unprotected Trench is an Early Grave.”
Subjects covered in the three documents include proper shoring and sloping; evaluations by competent persons; means of access/egress; atmospheric hazard testing; and protective systems. The guidance also describes the protective measures that are required under OSHA’s excavation standards (29 CFR 1926.650, 29 CFR 1926.651, and 29 CFR 1926.652). Spanish-language versions of the documents are also available.

Because of the severity of trenching hazards, OSHA conducts a Special Emphasis Program on Trenching and Excavations (Directive CPL 02-00-069 [CPL 2.69]), which sets procedures for enforcement activities wherever trenching and excavation worksites are observed. When OSHA’s compliance officers see a trench, they will inspect a trench. On two separate occasions in the past year, this Special Emphasis Program allowed OSHA compliance officers to remove workers from unsupported trenches minutes before they collapsed – likely preventing possible injury and loss of life.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

###
——————————————————————————–

U.S. Labor Department news releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this release will be made available in alternative format upon request (large print, Braille, audiotape or disc) from the Central Office for Assistive Services and Technology. Please specify which news release when placing your request. Call 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755.
 

WASHINGTON – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is reopening the rulemaking record to extend the comment period on revising the recordkeeping and reporting requirements for work-related injuries and illnesses. OSHA is extending the comment period in response to a stakeholder request. Individuals interested in submitting comments must do so by Oct. 28, 2011.

Under the revised proposal, employers would be required to report to OSHA any work-related fatalities and all in-patient hospitalizations within eight hours, and work-related amputations within 24 hours. OSHA’s current regulation requires employers to report to OSHA, within eight hours, all work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees.

OSHA is also proposing to update Appendix A of the recordkeeping rule that lists industries partially exempt from the requirements to maintain work-related injury or illness logs. These industries received partial exemption because of their relatively low injury and illness rates.

See the Federal Register notice for details on how to submit comments. Technical questions should be directed to David Schmidt, OSHA Office of Statistical Analysis, at 202-693-2400.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

###

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration released a new edition of its Whistleblower Investigations Manual, one of a series of measures to improve OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program that were announced in August.

The new edition of the manual contains updates to case handling procedures, information on the new laws enacted since the manual was last updated in 2003, and other information to guide OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program, which addresses retaliation complaints under the 21 whistleblower statutes delegated to OSHA (see below for a full list of statutes). This new manual will provide further guidance to help ensure the consistency and quality of investigations. The updated manual is available at http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=DIRECTIVES&p_id=5061.

“The ability of workers to speak out and exercise their legal rights without fear of retaliation is crucial to many of the legal protections and safeguards that all Americans value,” said OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels when these measures were announced in August.

Key changes to the manual include:

• A requirement that investigators make every attempt to interview the complainant in all cases.
• Clarification that whistleblower complaints under any statute may be filed orally or in writing, and in any language, and that OSHA will be accepting electronically-filed complaints on its Whistleblower Protection Program website, http://www.whistleblowers.gov.
• Additional clarifications of the investigative process including method and recording of interviews, and processing of dually-filed 11(c) complaints in state plan states.
• New chapters for processing complaints filed under Federal Railroad Safety Act (FRSA), 49 U.S.C. §20109, National Transit Systems Security Act (NTSSA), 6 U.S.C. §1142, and Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), 15 U.S.C. §2087, as well as significant updates to the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) and Sarbanes-Oxley chapters, which incorporate statutory amendments and developments in the law.
• Expanded guidance on dealing with uncooperative respondents and issuing administrative subpoenas during whistleblower investigations.

OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program enforces the whistleblower provisions of 21 whistleblower statutes: Section 11(c) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act; Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act; International Safe Container Act; Surface Transportation Assistance Act; Clean Air Act; Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act; Federal Water Pollution Control Act; Safe Drinking Water Act; Solid Waste Disposal Act; Toxic Substances Control Act; Energy Reorganization Act; Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century; Corporate and Criminal Fraud Accountability Act, Sarbanes-Oxley Act; Pipeline Safety Improvement Act; Federal Railroad Safety Act; National Transit Systems Security Act; Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act; Affordable Care Act; Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010, Section 1057 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010; Seaman’s Protection Act, as amended by Section 611 of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010; and the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act. More information on employee whistleblower rights, including fact sheets, is available online at: http://www.whistleblowers.gov.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

For questions and comments, please contact Kevin Cannon cat cannonk@agc.org.

“These improvements to our online enforcement database are part of our commitment to open, transparent enforcement,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “By making this information available and easy to use, we’re helping to ensure a level playing field for employers who follow the law.”

In addition to mapping capabilities, the updated site allows users to easily view important agency metrics; perform keyword searches; filter data by year, violations or penalties; and export search results or an entire data set into downloadable formats. A new “labs” feature allows users to create data visualizations and animations using several decades of MSHA data.

The Labor Department created the enforcement database, available at http://ogesdw.dol.gov, to increase transparency, participation and collaboration as part of the administration’s Open Government Initiative.

Please contact Kevin Cannon at cannonk@agc.org for questions and comments.

The purpose of reopening the record is to allow interested individuals to comment on the small business teleconferences that OSHA and the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy co-sponsored on April 11 and 12, and on the issues raised during the teleconferences. OSHA held the teleconferences to gather information from representatives of small businesses about their experiences recording work-related musculoskeletal disorders and how they believe they would be impacted by OSHA’s proposed rule. The public is invited to submit comments by June 16, 2011.

On Jan. 29, 2010, OSHA proposed to revise its Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements regulation to restore a column to the OSHA 300 log that employers would have to check if an incident they already have recorded under existing rules is an MSD. The proposed rule would not change the existing record-keeping requirements about when and under what circumstances employers must record work-related injuries and illnesses. The only additional requirement the proposed rule would impose is for an employer to mark the MSD column box on the OSHA 300 log if a case it already has recorded meets the definition of an MSD.

“OSHA is eager to hear from the public on this, and every, proposed rule,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. “The more feedback the agency receives from small businesses on this topic, the better informed we will be in crafting a proposed regulation that protects workers without overburdening employers.”

Under the existing regulation, employers already must determine whether a case is recordable – that is, whether the case meets the definition of “injury or illness”; is a new case; is work-related; and meets at least one of the recording criteria. Examples of recording criteria are days away from work, restricted work and medical treatment beyond first aid. The proposed rule would define an MSD, for record-keeping purposes only, as a disorder of the muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage or spinal discs that was not caused by a slip, trip, fall, motor vehicle accident or similar accident.

OSHA estimates that 1.505 million recordable MSDs are expected to occur annually among 1.542 million affected establishments and that the annualized costs of the proposed rule would be $1.7 million per year for all affected establishments combined.

OSHA has posted a summary of comments about the teleconferences in the public docket for this rulemaking at http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=OSHA-2009-0044-0139.

 For questions/comments, please contact Kevin Cannon at cannonk@agc.org.
——————————————————————————–
U.S. Department of Labor  |  Occupational Safety & Health Administration  |  200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20210
Telephone: 800-321-OSHA (6742)  |  TTY: 877-889-5627
www.OSHA.gov

WASHINGTON – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration revised its voluntary Outreach Training Program requirements and procedures to improve the quality of outreach classes and ensure the integrity of its authorized trainers.

Formerly known as the “program guidelines,” the new “program requirements” will apply to all Outreach Training Programs, with separate procedures for each specific program. The new requirements include a trainer code of conduct and a Statement of Compliance which requires each trainer to verify that the training they conduct will be in accordance with the Outreach Training Program requirements and procedures. Other program enhancements involve limiting classroom size to a maximum of 40 students, limiting the use of translators to those with safety and health experience, and limiting the amount of time spent on videos during the training. Also, OSHA has imposed limits on outreach training conducted outside of the agency’s jurisdiction, and is allowing military members returning from overseas an additional 90 days from their return date to renew their trainer authorization.

OSHA is also requiring that trainers issue OSHA course completion cards to students within 90 days of class completion. Furthermore, trainers are now required to provide the card directly to the student, allowing students to have proof of training completion to display at any job site and help prevent organizations from withholding the card from a worker. OSHA has also added record requirements, imposed tougher advertising restrictions, and revised the rules for using guest trainers.

“These revisions will serve to tighten the program controls to ensure the best training is provided to the worker participants,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. “Trainer reliability will be enhanced and classes will focus more on fulfilling students’ needs for safety and health training.”

The content of the training classes has also been changed. All construction classes are required to include four hours on Focus Four Hazards. All 30-hour classes must include two hours on Managing Safety and Health. The new requirements and procedures also integrate recent requirements which require training classes to last a maximum of 7 ½ hours per day and include a new two-hour Introduction to OSHA training module.

The Outreach Training Program, a voluntary participation information resource, is part of OSHA’s Directorate of Training and Education. The program comprises a national network of more than 17,000 independent trainers who teach workers and employers about OSHA, workers’ rights and how to identify, avoid and prevent workplace hazards. There are 10- and 30-hour outreach classes for construction, general industry and maritime, and 15-hour classes for disaster site workers. Students who successfully complete classes receive completion cards.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

For comments or questions, please contact Kevin Cannon at cannonk@agc.org.

“Fall protection saves lives,” said OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels. “There are effective means available to protect residential construction workers from falls. We applaud the court’s decision upholding this updated, commonsense directive.”

Data from the department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that an average of 40 workers are killed each year as a result of falls from residential roofs. One-third of those deaths represent Latino workers, who often lack sufficient access to safety information and protections. Latino workers comprise more than one-third of all construction employees.

“Fatalities from falls are the number one cause of death in construction,” added Michaels. “These deaths are preventable, and we must prevent them.”

OSHA’s new directive, Standard 03-11-002, rescinded the Interim Fall Protection Compliance Guidelines for Residential Construction, Standard 03-00-001. Prior to the issuance of this new directive, Standard 03-00-001 allowed employers engaged in certain residential construction activities to use specified alternative methods of fall protection rather than the conventional fall protection required by the residential construction fall protection standard. With the issuance of the new directive, all residential construction employers must comply with 29 Code of Federal Regulations 1926.501(b)(13). Where residential builders can demonstrate that traditional fall protection is not feasible, 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(13) still allows for alternative means of providing protection.

The case was litigated by Lauren Goodman and Heather Phillips from the Division of Occupational Safety and Health in the department’s Office of the Solicitor.

Construction and roofing companies have until June 16 to comply with the new directive. OSHA has developed training and compliance assistance materials for small employers and will host a webinar for parties interested in learning more about complying with the standard. To view the directive and for more information, visit http://www.osha.gov/doc/residential_fall_protection.html.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

“Hearing loss caused by excessive noise levels remains a serious occupational health problem in this country,” said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. “However, it is clear from the concerns raised about this proposal that addressing this problem requires much more public outreach and many more resources than we had originally anticipated. We are sensitive to the possible costs associated with improving worker protection and have decided to suspend work on this proposed modification while we study other approaches to abating workplace noise hazards.”

Michaels met earlier this month with the offices of Sen. Olympia Snowe and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, members of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, in response to a letter from the senators.  Sens. Snowe and Lieberman are also co-chairs of the Senate Task Force on Manufacturing.

Thousands of workers every year continue to suffer from preventable hearing loss due to high workplace noise levels. Since 2004, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that nearly 125,000 workers have suffered significant, permanent hearing loss. In 2008 alone, BLS reported more than 22,000 hearing loss cases, and Michaels emphasized that OSHA remains committed to finding ways to reduce this toll.

As part of this effort, the agency will:

• Conduct a thorough review of comments that have been submitted in response to the Federal Register notice and of any other information it receives on this issue.

• Hold a stakeholder meeting on preventing occupational hearing loss to elicit the views of employers, workers, and noise control and public health professionals.

• Consult with experts from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the National Academy of Engineering.

• Initiate a robust outreach and compliance assistance effort to provide enhanced technical information and guidance on the many inexpensive, effective engineering controls for dangerous noise levels.
For small businesses, OSHA’s On-site Consultation Program offers free and confidential advice on health and safety solutions with priority given to high-hazard worksites. Through this program, small and medium-sized employers can obtain free advice on addressing noise hazards. On-site consultation services exist in every state, and they are independent from OSHA’s enforcement efforts. On-site Consultation Program consultants, employed by state agencies or universities, work with employers to identify workplace hazards, provide advice on compliance with OSHA standards, and assist in establishing safety and health management systems.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

1. The Department is required by the Omnibus Transportation Employees Testing Act (Omnibus Act) to follow the HHS requirements for the testing procedures/protocols and drugs for which we test.
2. Primary laboratory requirements in this final rule include:
   • Testing for MDMA (aka. Ecstasy);
   • Lowering cutoff levels for cocaine and amphetamines;
   • Conducting mandatory initial testing for heroin;
3. The Department brought several testing definitions in-line with those of HHS.
4. Each Medical Review Officer (MRO) will need to be re-qualified – including passing an examination given by an MRO training organization – every five years. The Final Rule eliminated the requirement for each MRO to take 12 hours of continuing education every three years.
5. An MRO will not need to be trained by an HHS-approved MRO training organization as long as the MRO meets DOT’s qualification and requalification training requirements.
6. MRO recordkeeping requirements did not change from the five years for non-negatives and one year for negatives.
7. The Final Rule does not allow the use of HHS-Certified Instrumented Initial Testing Facilities (IITFs) to conduct initial drug testing because the Omnibus Act requires laboratories to be able to perform both initial and confirmation testing but IITFs cannot conduct confirmation testing.

Please note IITFs (Instrumental Initial Test Facilities) will NOT be incorporated into 49 CFR Part 40 as the Ominbus Act prohibits the DOT from from following HHS’ new rule regarding IITFs. The Ominbus Act requires, “that all laboratories involved in the controlled substances testing of any individual under this isection shall have the capability and facillity, at such laboratory, of performing screening and confirmation tests. Since IITFs do not have any confirmation testing capabilities, the Department must not use them in part 40.”