If you need OSHA safety and health compliance assistance as discussed in this article, call us at 973-366-4660 or email us at info@atlenv.com for details and a free estimate.
Written By: Robert E. Sheriff, MS, CIH, CSP, President
August 28, 2018
- Fall Protection – Construction – 29CFR1926.501. Section 501 is just the basic fall protection requirement. The duty is to have fall protection at a construction site where there is an edge that is 6 feet above another surface. Roofing and roof construction seem to be the biggest problems. More fall protection provisions and more citations can be found in Sections 502 and 503.
- Hazard Communication – 29CFR1910.1200. This is the training requirement for the hazards of any job—construction and industry. New hires are often overlooked. Annual training and when work or materials change requires additional training.
- Scaffolding – Construction – 29CFR1926.451. Scaffold must be capable of support at least 4 times the intended maximum load. Suspension ropes for mobile scaffolds must be capable of supporting 6 times the intended maximum load. Non-Mandatory Appendix A is very useful information.
- Respiratory Protection – General Industry – 29CFR1910.134. Any place a respirator is used MUST have sampling data to support the type of respirator in use. Often the employee’s voluntary use of a respirator is misunderstood (Appendix D).
Any employee using a respirator must be annually trained and fit tested.
Few companies are in full compliance with this standard.
Most citations are considered serious. A serious citation fine is now $12,600.00 each. The total amount can add up very fast.
- Control of Hazard Energy (Lock-Out/Tag-Out) – 29CFR1910.147. Consequences of not observing LO/TO can be serious/fatal. Employees need to be involved in establishing LO/TO procedures. (They know the equipment and suffer the consequences!)
- Ladders – Construction – 29CFR1926.1053. Ladders are often taken far too casually—must be strong enough to hold 4X maximum intended load. Many strict rules on dimensions, tie-offs, rungs, stationary ladders, clearance, cages, extension above step-off platforms, etc.
- Powered Industrial Trucks – General Industry – 29CFR1910.178. Most often cited items are inspections, operator training, and battery charging stations.
- Machinery and Machine Guarding – General Industry – 29CFR1910.212. A combination of problems. No guards, removed guards, inadequate guarding, bypassed guards. Too often guards are not well designed and interfere with the ability of the operator to do the work encouraging removal, damage, by-pass and, sadly, injuries.
Regular audits of industrial and construction sites by a qualified Safety/IH cannot be overlooked at preventing worker injury or illness and achieving OSHA compliance.
Our primary service areas for OSHA safety and health compliance are: NJ, NY, NYC, PA, CT, DE, (Boston) MA, RI, Wash DC, WI, MD, MI, (Chicago) IL, VA, IN, (Atlanta) GA, AL, NC, SC, TN, (Dallas, Fort Worth) TX, OK, DC, AR, we can service most other areas of the U.S. but with some added travel charges.