OSHA 10 and 30 Hour Training now requires a two hour “Intro to OSHA” with emphasis on workers’ rights.

“Introduction to OSHA,” a revised training component with a huge emphasis on workers’ rights, is now required content in every OSHA 10 and 30 hour Outreach Training Program class. This was developed because of the Secretary of Labor’s desire to “strengthen the voice of workers”.

During the 10 and 30 hour outreach training program classes, OSHA trainers will now be required to spend a significant amount of time on the topics of whistleblower rights and filing a complaint and will provide samples of the weekly fatality and catastrophe report, a material data safety sheet, and the OSHA Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses.

This is the first time OSHA has developed a PowerPoint presentation for these widely used programs that trainers are required to use.  There are also twelve handouts that the trainer must utilize in the training. 

According to OSHA’s Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA David Michaels:  “For too long workers have avoided making claims of unsafe work conditions out of fear of losing their jobs, we are confident that this new training will embolden workers to speak up when they find work practices that endanger their lives and the lives of their co-workers.”

Opponents to the change claim all this information is and was already a component of the 10 and 30 hour training. The level of coverage is now disproportionate to the level of the overall program and takes valuable time away from the true intent of the training, which has always been hazard recognition and avoidance.  Another major objection is that one item in the new introduction to OSHA is how to read a Material Safety Data Sheet.  Most trainers cover this in the Hazard Communication section of the training, already a required element. 

The OSHA Outreach Training Program is a voluntary program that seeks to teach workers about their rights and how to identify, reduce, avoid, and prevent job-related hazards. The program includes 10 and 30 hour courses in construction, general or maritime industry safety, and health hazard recognition and prevention; classes are taught through a network of OSHA-authorized trainers. Over the past three years, nearly two million students have received this training, and several states have made the program mandatory for some workers. 

The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) the largest and oldest professional safety society released its legislative and regulatory agenda for 2010.  The ASSE states in its press release that this agenda is aimed at ensuring that advances in occupational safety and health legislation and regulation reflect the experience, expertise and best practices of ASSE’s member safety, health and environmental (SH&E) professionals. Professionals committed to protecting people, property and the environment. Twelve key issues dominate the agenda.

“As ASSE turns the corner to celebrate its next 100 years in safety, we will continue to work to ensure that any decision by federal or state government impacting the safety, health and environment of the workplace is based on good science and sound technology,” ASSE President C. Christopher Patton, CSP, said today. “ASSE works with legislators and regulators to enhance SH&E professional qualifications, safety and health program criteria, technical standards and other areas of hazard recognition and control that impact the SH&E profession.”

ASSE states that it will work this year to advance the following legislative and regulatory priorities:

1 — Reflect ASSE Member Experience and Expertise in OSHA Reform – Reform of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, including strengthening Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) criminal and civil penalties ending in fatalities, is a key issue. ASSE intends to support a bipartisan approach to increased penalties that target truly bad ‘actors’ and encourage corporate responsibility for setting a culture of safety at the highest level of management.

2 — Provide OSHA Coverage for State and Municipal Employees – In states that do not have their own state OSHA plans and, thus, are covered by federal OSHA, state and municipal workers are not guaranteed protection under OSHA’s standards leaving more than eight million public sector workers without the same workplace protections other workers have. ASSE members have worked hard to achieve such coverage in Florida know the difficulties of achieving coverage state by state. ASSE believes a federal solution is necessary, and that OSH Act reform cannot be complete without federal protections for all U.S. workers.

3- Advance a Safety and Health Program Rule – OSH regulation must better encompass risk-based approaches that encourage employers to take overall responsibility for safety and health throughout their organizations and not simply to react to minimal regulatory mandates. Adoption of a rule would help ensure that all employers follow their lead. The promulgation by OSHA of a safety and health program rule is the key to advancing this approach by requiring employers to assess the risks in their workplaces and take a proactive approach in addressing those risks.

4 - Develop Cooperative Ways to Address Regulatory Change – Mechanisms are needed to help the OSH community overcome polarizing viewpoints that limit OSHA’s and Mining and Safety Health Administration’s (MSHA) ability to update standards appropriately, including permissible exposure limits (PELs). ASSE has long called for negotiated rulemaking to set exposure limits and legal protections for standard development organizations to pursue exposure limits through the voluntary consensus standard process. OSHA should establish a national stakeholder dialogue to build common ground in support of regulatory reform.

5 - Advance Global Harmonization – OSHA’s rulemaking on global harmonization of U.S. hazard communications (GHS) must be completed as quickly as reasonably possible. GHS is a positive opportunity for OSHA both to advance workplace safety and health and to help ensure competitiveness for U.S. employers.

6 - Support National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) Effectiveness in Advancing Safety –NIOSH is the source for federal resources to support OSH research as well as OSH professional training and education. The NIOSH partnership with ASSE, its ‘Research to Practice (R2P)’ initiative, the establishment of NORA research councils, ‘Prevention through Design’ and other initiatives, has done much to advance safety involvement in NIOSH. More is needed, however, such as finding ways through R2P to bring NIOSH research to the job floor. The ASSE Foundation now funds two PhD candidates, but NIOSH support is needed to increase the number of safety PhD programs as many safety PhDs approach retirement. NIOSH support for safety training must reflect the importance that frontline safety professionals play in employers’ commitment to safety and health. And, NIOSH must work towards an appropriate balance between safety and health research funding.

7 - Ensure Safety Agency Commitments – In a difficult economic climate, ASSE will work to ensure that federal commitment to OSHA, MSHA, NIOSH, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) and other agencies that impact workplace safety and health is not compromised and that those who are appointed to agency leadership positions can build consensus among all stakeholders.

8 - Build Consensus on Ergonomics – ASSE will continue to work toward achieving a consensus position on ergonomics that can overcome the long-standing polarization on this issue. An approach that is risk-based, encourages cooperation, and avoids prescriptive, one-size-fits-all solutions that our expert members know will not work can serve as a consensus position. ASSE can also support industry-specific approaches that reflect the demonstrated best practices of our members in the industry, as current legislation to protect direct care nurses and health care workers from the risks posed by lifting in health care facilities achieves.

9 - Include SH&E in Trade Policy – ASSE encourages OSHA to take a role in ensuring that safety and health is part of U.S. trade policy so that U.S. corporate investments in SH&E are not undermined by international competitors who compete without investing in these global responsibilities.

10 - Engage in Chemical Management Reform Efforts – The current Administration has signaled the intent to reform the nation’s management of chemicals through reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA). ASSE members, with experience and expertise in managing chemicals across every industry, will participate in the debate as this effort moves forward.

11 - Encourage Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards – ASSE will work to encourage federal agencies to comply with the Technology Transfer Act’s mandate to consider national consensus standards where feasible when engaged in rulemaking. Use of such standards, like ANSI/ASSE Z15 for safe motor vehicle operation, ANSI/ASSE Z117 for confined spaces, and ANSI/ASSE Z490.1 for safety training will improve protections of workers and expedite rulemaking activities while reflecting the current technology and industry best practices.

12 - Support Third Party Consultation – ASSE supports legislation or regulatory approaches that allow third party safety audits of employers under strict requirements that ensure professionalism and maximize effectiveness, thereby expanding OSHA’s reach beyond the limits of its current enforcement and cooperative programs.

Founded in 1911, the Des Plaines, IL-based ASSE is the largest and oldest professional safety society and is committed to protecting people, property and the environment. Its more than 32,000 occupational safety, health and environmental professional members lead, manage, supervise, research and consult on safety, health, transportation and environmental issues in all industries, government, labor, health care and education. Please go to www.asse.org and to the Government/Professional Affairs tab for more information.

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For Immediate Release
Contact: Diane Hurns, 847-768-3413, dhurns@asse.org

ASSE Urges US Senate Leader to Support Public Sector Work Coverage in OSHA Reform Legislation
 

Des Plaines, IL (January 22, 2010) — In a letter to U.S. Senator Johnny H. Isakson (R-GA), a leader in occupational safety and health issues, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) urged support for provisions in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reform legislation that would provide federal-level safety and health protections for the more than eight million state and municipal workers now without coverage, noting that the only practical solution is a federal solution.In his letter to Isakson, the ranking minority member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions’ Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, ASSE President C. Christopher Patton, CSP, noted that under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act), states without their own state OSH plans are not required to provide such protections. Achieving OSH coverage for public sector workers is important to ASSE members, occupational safety, health and environmental professionals who work in all industries worldwide.“Millions of workers are not provided federal occupational safety and health protections due to the fact that the OSH Act only requires such coverage in states with their own occupational safety and health plans,” Patton wrote. “ASSE supports providing all public sector employees with federal OSH protections and urge you to keep the provision that would provide this coverage in the Protecting America’s Workers Act (PAW Act, S. 1580) bill now under consideration.

“If this provision is dropped from reform legislation, it would be a significant lost opportunity to correct the failure of the OSH Act to treat all workers equally,” Patton said. “Giving all workers the minimal protections afforded by federal OSHA standards would be argument enough to support this provision.” ASSE urges Isakson to consider the unmeasured burden that taxpayers are bearing because the states in which they live do not adequately protect workers.“This nation’s best employers are committed to workplace safety and health at levels far above the minimal levels of OSHA,” Patton said. “They do so not only because it is the right thing to do for their employees but also because it is a prudent, cost-effective business practice. Most employers in this nation understand that a relatively small investment in workplace safety and health pays off with reduced costs for liability insurance, workers compensation, worker lost-time and overall productivity.”
Patton also noted that efforts to achieve this coverage at the state level are difficult.

“As much as we would like to think that states are moving in this direction on their own as private sector employers have, they are not,” Patton wrote. “Only one state in recent years, Illinois, has taken steps to establish a federally-approved state plan for public sector workers. Efforts to achieve such coverage at the state level are extremely difficult, as ASSE’s members in Florida know first-hand. Introduction of ASSE-championed bills in Florida that would simply require the state’s public sector employers to meet federal standards without an enforcement mechanism took three years to be introduced.”

An investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Board (CSB) into the 2006 Daytona Beach municipal water treatment facility that took the lives of two workers found Florida’s lack of OSH coverage for its public sector workers contributed to those deaths. In response, ASSE Florida members led ASSE to provide the resources needed to help pass legislation in 2008 establishing a task force charged with determining how to best protect Florida’s workers that reinforced the need to provide the state’s public sector employers to meet federal OSH Act standards – without any enforcement provisions or resources to support the requirement. A bill requiring these protections failed to pass in 2009. The bill passed the House, but not the Senate.

“The only practical solution to this problem is a federal solution. Whether that is Section 101 of the PAW Act, or another approach that incentivizes states to protect their workers, ASSE urges you to use your leadership to help find a way to achieve universal worker occupational safety and health protections,” Patton said.

Founded in 1911, the Des Plaines, IL-based ASSE is the largest and oldest professional safety organization and is committed to protecting people, property and the environment. ASSE’s more than 32,000 occupational safety, health and environmental professional members lead, manage, supervise, research and consult on safety, health, transportation and environmental issues in all industries, government, labor, health care and education. Go to www.asse.org for more information and to (http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/products/topics/businesscase/benefits.html) and (http://www.asse.org/practicespecialties/bosc/bosc_formal.php) for OSHA and ASSE information on the business community’s positive return on SH&E investment.

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Is it Time to Revisit ANSI Z10 Occupational Health & Safety Management System?

Back in 2005, the American National Standards Institute published the ANSI/AIHA Z10-2005 health and safety management system standard that was developed through the American Industrial Hygiene Association.  ANSI Z10 was designed as a tool to provide companies with a standard for continuous improvement to minimize risk in the workplace.  It is currently a voluntary management system that can augment systems standards like ISO 9000 and 14000 and is flexible enough for integration with other management systems used in the workplace.  However, this document never seemed to gain much interest in the world of occupational safety.  Primarily because I suspect that OSHA has never embraced it or even encouraged employers to consider the program. 

Case in point: a few years ago I was working with a client assisting them through a settlement agreement with Kentucky OSHA.  The KYOSHA contact was strongly encouraging my client to utilize the Federal OSHA 1989 Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines.  I suggested the ANSI Z10 program, and the response I got was a pause, a look of bewilderment, and then a very direct “We don’t recognize that document.”

This individual apparently wasn’t aware that the ANSI Z10 standard does cover the basic components of OSHA’s 1989 draft Safety and Health Management Guidelines.  However, the Z10 standard goes well beyond the OSHA 1989 document requirements as it also contains provisions that address risk controls, audits, incident investigations, responsibilities, and authorities.

Enter 2010 and David Michaels, the new head of OSHA.  He has been an outspoken advocate of requiring all employers to establish a Comprehensive Workplace Safety and Health Program that features management leadership, worker participation, and structure for continual improvement.  I can’t help but think this will rejuvenate interest in ANSI Z10.  

The ANSI Z10 standard is based on the Peter Drucker quality principles of “Plan-Do-Study-Act.” Like many other safety, health, and environmental management systems, this standard provides you with a tool for continuous improvement.  The underlying goal of the standard is to reduce injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.  

The management system is designed with multiple levels of implementation. Z10 focuses primarily on the strategic levels of Policy and Processes.  It doesn’t provide detailed procedures, job instructions, or the like.  These are expected to be developed according to the user’s needs, thus providing flexibility.  If this document ever becomes an OSHA standard, it will allow for a significant amount of interpretation by OSHA as to what is or is not deemed compliant. 

The entire document is written in a left side/right side format where the left side is “Shall” (required) and the right side is “should” (recommended).

Here is a brief look at the seven different topics contained in the standard:

1. Scope, Purpose and Application:
The basic principles of the standard are covered in this section.  It clearly identifies that the standard can be integrated into other existing quality, safety, and environmental systems that an organization may already be using.

2. Definitions
Be sure to focus on the definitions. For instance, there is no definition of an “accident”; it actually falls under “incident”, which I personally was very excited to see.  I don’t agree with the term “accident” when describing the vast majority of workplace injuries.  Be sure to look at “hazard” and “risk”, which are what this standard focuses around. 

3. Management Leadership and Employee Participation
The standard places the responsibility for the Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS) directly on the shoulders of management. Top management must direct the development, implementation, and maintenance of the OHSMS.   While the standard does emphasize that there must be effective participation on all levels, the onus still falls on “top management” to accomplish this.
One of the benefits of this section is the opportunity to use the standard’s guidance in developing your occupational health and safety policy (OHSP). The OHSP must be made available, dated, and signed or otherwise officially endorsed by top management.

4. Planning
Planning by ANSI Z-10 is described as the process to “…identify and prioritize OHSMS issues.”   The “issues” are further defined as hazards, risks, OHSMS deficiencies, and improvement opportunities.  The emphasis is on determining the hazards and risks and prioritizing and making corrective measures to eliminate or at least reduce those risks. The process is as follows:

A. Review relevant information to identify issues related to safety and health performance
B. Prioritize issues
C. Develop objectives for the system and for risk control.  The program uses the SMART  process to outline the objectives:
• Specific
• Measurable
• Actionable
• Realistic
• Timely
D. Formulate implementation plans
This section will be a source of a lot of debate when looking at OSHA compliance vs. risk mitigation.

5.  Implementation and Operation
This section covers hierarchy of controls, design review, and management of change; procurement, contractors, emergency preparedness, training, communications, documentation, and record control process.  According to the standard, hierarchy of controls means that companies “shall” (required) employ the classic risk reduction steps through:

A. Elimination;
B. Substitution of less hazardous materials, operations, or equipment;
C. Engineering;
D. Warnings;
E. Administrative controls; and
F. Personal Protective Equipment.

      The documentation and record control processes are designed to fit in the ISO 9000 and 14001 quality systems. 

6. Evaluation and  Corrective Actions
This element requires the employer to evaluate performance of the process through:

• Monitoring
• Measurement
• Assessment
• Incident Investigation, and
• Audits

Corrective action is then taken when non-conformance is found and includes results as part of the planning process and review.  Remember that this standard is a management system standard and is designed to view things from a very high level.  For instance, the “audits” are for auditing the OHSMS to make sure it is in compliance with ANSI Z10.

7. Management Review
The last section requires management to continue to participate in the process by regularly addressing identified issues for improvement.  The standard requires that management review the OHSMS at least annually and take the appropriate action. 

Need help with establishing a safety program or any type of OSHA assistance please contact Advanced Safety & Health  toll free at 1-866-339-8040 and we’ll be glad to discuss your needs. 

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Back on November 24th ISHN (Industrial Safety & Health News) posted an article “Returning to the original OSHA” on its website. The article discusses a speech given by then acting OSHA boss Jordan Barab where he stated the following “For nearly 40 years, OSHA has been the Federal government’s leading advocate for workplace safety and health. In this time we have made clear progress - think back to what workplaces were like in this country before OSHA. Still, more than 5,000 people continue to die on the job in America every year. We have to do more to reverse this deadly trend. Under this new administration, OSHA is heading back to the original intent of the OSH Act. We’re back in the enforcement business and the standards-writing business.”

Barab goes on to say “We’re moving forward with the Regulatory Agenda - particularly cranes & derricks, confined spaces and silica. We’re also progressing on harmonizing our standards with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals. Secretary Solis has also announced new rulemaking on combustible dust.”

Then the article takes excerpts from a blog post titled “The Potential For A Perfect Storm in the World of OSHA and Occupational Safety is Brewing” that Dwayne provided this past summer on our company blog site that has seemed to gain traction in the safety world. A few months ago it was picked up by OSHA Underground and now Industrial Safety & Health News.   The ISHN article stated the following: “I suspect the worst possible scenario,” wrote Dwayne R. Towles, vice president and chief operating officer of Advanced Safety & Health LLC, Louisville, Ky. “What was once viewed by many as pretty much a toothless tiger is rapidly evolving into a hungry beast with an attitude. Employers distracted by other issues and in a survival mood being caught unaware and unprepared now become the victim of their own ignorance and the changing winds of this growing storm.

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On December 16th David Michaels the new Director of OSHA gave a speech at the NIOSH “Going Green” workshop. His speech was titled “Making Green Jobs Safe: Integrating Occupational Safety & Health into Green and Sustainability” where he laid out his five principles for OSHA for the Going Green initiative. But clearly these principles are for OSHA as a whole and not just for the “Green” industry.

Briefly these Principles are:

To require that every employer establish a Comprehensive Workplace Safety and Health Program that features management leadership, worker participation, and structure for continual improvement. 

Significant movement in the area of chemical safety. Expect to hear a lot this year about REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals).

Prevention through design. He admitted in his speech he doesn’t really know what this will look like.

Step up OSHA rulemaking and streamline the process.

The last principle Michaels calls “Enhancing the worker’s voice”. However, the majority of the time he spent on this item he talked about inaccurate injury and illness recordkeeping and the Recordkeeping National Emphasis Program.

To read his entire speech you can click here.

If there is anything we here at Advanced Safety & Health can do to help you with your safety needs in 2010 please don’t hesitate to give us a call or send and email.

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 On July 28th President Obama announced his nomination for the Assistant Secretary of Labor and Director of OSHA. His pick is David Michaels, PhD, MPH, who is an epidemiologist and is currently Research Professor at the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. He has conducted numerous studies of the health effects of occupational exposure to toxic chemicals, including asbestos, metals, and solvents and has written extensively on science and regulatory policy.

From 1998 to 2001, Dr. Michaels served as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety and Health under the Clinton administration where he was responsible for protecting the health and safety of workers, neighboring communities, and the environment surrounding the nation’s nuclear weapons facilities. In that position, he was the chief architect of efforts to compensate nuclear weapons workers who developed occupational illnesses as a result of exposure to radiation, beryllium, and other hazards.

More recently, Dr. Michaels authored a book by the name of Doubt is their Product in which he focuses on industries’ use of misleading public relations campaigns to create scientific doubt and block governmental efforts to regulate health risks.

As one would expect, union leadership is praising the nomination and business leaders are very concerned.

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More often than not in the course of conversation about my beloved profession the question comes up these days about OSHA , safety, and where it is all headed under the new administration. I have come to the conclusion that my answer is “we are on the verge of a Perfect Storm”. Let me put the factors in motion for you. When the actual Perfect Storm occurred around Halloween of 1991 it was a culmination of three significant weather related events. These events were a low pressure system, a Hurricane, and a high pressure system. I am seeing the same thing today with what is going on with OSHA.

The Low Pressure System - The life cycle of OSHA:

In it’s heyday of the 70’s the agency was new and aggressive and grew to its peak in the Carter administration with almost a “crazed activist” demeanor. During both terms of Reagan and the George H.W. Bush term the agency was still powerful and responsible for such new regulations as Hazard Communication, Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout), Respiratory Protection, and several others.

It wasn’t until the two terms of the Clinton administration that we saw the agency begin to mellow and drift from its origional mission. If you will recall it was Al Gore who proposed a more “mature” OSHA focused around creative partnerships with business and industry and it was only at the midnight hour of the Clinton administration when the poorly written Ergonomic standard was shoved out the door so the George W. Bush administration would have time to kill it, and be blamed for its demise.

Many now refer to OSHA as the toothless tiger and the EPA has significantly upstaged it on the “Fear” meter over the years with a much greater potential of seven figure fines and jail time for business owners and leadership.  As OSHA is preparing to turn 40 years old many are calling for a complete overhaul of the organization.

The Hurricane - The Recession:

This current economic downturn has become a storm like many businesses have never seen before. Many were not prepared, or simply hit so hard that no amount of preparation would have protected them from its wrath. Employers are hurting. Many are failing and don’t have the luxury of the government jumping in to prop them up through this storm.

Contrary to what some believe, the majority of employers are not the bad guys.  They want to do what is the correct and ethical thing.   But in these struggling economic times many have been forced to throw anything they possibly can overboard just to stay afloat. In many instances this may include their occupational safety and health personnel and programs.  Right or wrong it was a decision that had to be made.  After all, worker’s compensation premiums and OSHA fines are not what is nipping at the business owner’s heels.  It is payroll, cash flow, lost sales, and creditors.   A close friend and Safety Director for a major corporation made a comment to me the other day that when you are consuming all your financial resources to bail the boat, you are not too concerned about your safe boating certification. 

The High Pressure System – Obama Administration:

Enter the “New OSHA” under the direction of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. Ms. Solis has been an outspoken critic of OSHA for some time and has made it clear under her direction OSHA is about to heat up enforcement and promulgate new standards. In a speech given by Solis in April she made the following statements.

“Under my watch, enforcement of our labor laws will be intensified to provide an effective deterrent to employers who put their workers’ lives at risk. OSHA and MSHA will be about workers — not voluntary programs and alliances.”

Then Jordon Barab, Solis’ pick to run OSHA (for now) who’s opinions and thoughts are easy to find and read due to his five year diatribe on safety, OSHA, and his antipathy toward the republican party on his blog that he calls “confined space“.  It is quite possible that he could be the most radical and aggressive OSHA leader since Eula Bingham during the Carter administration. OSHA under Barab has already committed to an increased budget, adding over a hundred new enforcement officers and the rapid development of over a half a dozen new regulations. There is strong congressional action as well that would increase the monetary amount of OSHA fines as well as the likelihood of jail time for individuals for specific OSHA violations.

Convergence:

As these three factors begin to converge I suspect the worst possible scenario. What was once viewed by many as pretty much a toothless tiger is rapidly evolving into a hungry beast with an attitude. Employers distracted by other issues and in a survival mood being caught unaware and unprepared now become the victim of their own ignorance and the changing winds of this growing storm.

I don’t have a crystal ball but from my perspective some of this is pretty obvious. Expect much more aggressive enforcement of OSHA regulations. We are already seeing it on a federal level with more utilization of willful and repeat penalties that are carrying the maximum allowed fines.Look for significant increases in criminal prosecution of business owners and senior leadership when it comes to work place fatalities, catastrophes, and serious injuries. Just a few weeks ago a California business owner was given nine months in jail and ordered to personally pay nearly $250,000 in restitution due to two workers falling through skylights during roofing work.    I am afraid these types of stories are going to become more commonplace when employers are forced to make hard decisions in order to keep their business afloat as they stretch their resources even thinner. If businesses don’t have the capital then they can’t replace aging machinery and processes, they will be forced to cut back on preventive maintenance, personnel, equipment and training. We will begin to see more catastrophic events such as the ConAgra explosion in North Carolina, the ammonia leak in Kentucky and many others.

In a speech given by Secretary of Labor Hida Solis for the National Workers Memorial at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 she made the following statements. “Under my watch, enforcement of our labor laws will be intensified to provide an effective deterrent to employers who put their workers’ lives at risk. OSHA and MSHA will be about workers — not voluntary programs and alliances.”

This statement was reiterated by the acting head of the OSHA Jordan Barab before a House panel Thursday April 30th that he has instructed staff to suspend a voluntary protection program launched under the Bush administration to free up resources for enforcement. His exact statement was “We need to better utilize the resources that we already have. In order to direct more of OSHA’s existing resources into enforcement and to provide time to address concerns in an upcoming GAO Report on the efficacy of OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program, I have informed the field staff that we will suspend the previous administration’s practice of establishing goals for new Voluntary Protection Program sites and Alliances.” This has caused significant confusion for VPP sites and the safety and health community.

On Monday March 16th the Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis announced the withdrawal of an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) for occupational exposure to food flavorings containing diacetyl.The withdrawal will facilitate the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) move to develop a standard on diacetyl. OSHA believes this standard will protect workers from bronchiolitis obliterans, a serious and potentially fatal lung disease some times referred to as Popcorn Lung.

Secretary Solis stated in her announcement “I am alarmed that workers exposed to food flavorings containing diacetyl may continue to be at risk of developing a potentially fatal lung disease. Exposure to this harmful chemical already has been linked to the deaths of three workers, these deaths are preventable, and it is imperative that the Labor Department move quickly to address exposure to food flavorings containing diacetyl and eliminate unnecessary steps without affecting the public’s ability to comment on the rulemaking process.”

According to a department of labor press release Secretary Solis’ interest in this issue began when she was a member of Congress and workers in her former California district developed the irreversible lung disease after being exposed to this workplace hazard. At one time, she urged OSHA to issue an emergency temporary standard to protect these workers.