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Local
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The American Industrial Hygiene Association Visit our
Calendar page for the latest posting Our 2010 Hawaii Section Officers :
Protecting America’s Workers Act
Proposed by Congress
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4-23-09 The Construction Institute Endorses the Protecting America's Worker Act August 10, 2009
111th Congress Session -
Senate Bill 1580 To amend the
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to expand coverage under the
Act, to increase protections for whistleblowers, to increase penalties
for certain violators, and for other purposes.
- August 8, 2009
Protecting America’s Workers Act of 2009: A Plan to Give OSHA A Lot More
Teeth - September 8, 2009 Protects More Workers Expands OSHA coverage to include state and
local public employees and federal government workers.
Expands coverage to millions of other workers inadequately
covered such as airline and railroad employees, and Department of
Energy contractors Strengthens Health and Safety Penalties Raises civil penalties
and indexes those penalties to inflation. Establishes mandatory minimum penalties for violations involving
worker deaths. Allows felony prosecutions against employers who commit willful
violations that result in death or serious bodily injury, and
extends such penalties to responsible corporate officers. Requires OSHA to investigate all cases of death and serious
injuries (i.e. incidents that result in the hospitalization of 2 or
more employees). Improves Whistleblower Protections Codifies regulations that give workers the right to refuse to do
hazardous work. Clarifies that employees cannot be discriminated against for
reporting injuries, illnesses or unsafe conditions, and brings the
procedures for investigating and adjudicating discrimination
complaints into line with other safety and health and whistleblower
laws Allows Workers and Their Families to Hold Dangerous Employers
Accountable Provides workers and employee representatives the right to
contest OSHA’s failure to issue citations, classification of its
citations, and proposed penalties. Gives injured workers, their families and families of workers
who died in work-related incidents the right to meet with
investigators, receive copies of citations, and to have an
opportunity to make a statement before any settlement negotiations. Clarifies that the time spent by an employee accompanying an
OSHA inspector during an investigation is considered time worked,
for which a worker must be compensated.
Prohibits OSHA from designating a citation as an “unclassified
citation” where an employer can avoid the potential consequences of
a “willful” violation, the most serious violation. Allows any worker or their representative to object to a
modification or withdrawal of a citation, and entitles them to a
hearing before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
Hawaii State Flue
Website - Updated on Dec. 8, 2009
Questions & Answers ~ Swine Influenza and You
< link to CDC information
2008
Hawaii Bill - Hazardous Substance Reporting
Requirements
Enacted
SUMMARY:
(Governor's Bill Package) Relates to facilities that store, use, or
manufacture hazardous substances; makes technical corrections to
provisions of law related to the Emergency Planning and Community
Right-to-Know Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and
reporting requirements for hazardous and
extremely hazardous substances
< click for a list;
provides a date by which reports must be submitted each year. |
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STATUS: |
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05/21/2008 |
Signed by GOVERNOR. |
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05/21/2008 |
Act No. 87 |
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First
Friday Social at Gordon Biersch
Look to see who was there, it was a hoot
Ergonomic Standard Submitted to ANSI - truncated article By Katherine Torres
The voluntary consensus standard Reduction of Musculoskeletal Problems in Construction (ANSI/ASSE A10.40-200x) – aimed at reducing musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among construction workers – has been submitted to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for final review.“These consensus guidelines could help reduce these workplace injuries,” said ASSE Council on Practices and Standards Vice President James Smith. “Our members work with employers and employees daily to increase workplace safety by developing and implementing effective ergonomic solutions – solutions that can remove barriers to quality, productivity and human performance by fitting products, tasks and environments to people, which in turn can save millions of dollars.”
The A10.40 standard has been sent to the ANSI Board of Standards Review. The review can take anywhere from 30 to 90 days, and appeals still can be filed during this time.
Standard to Provide Strategies for MSD Reduction
Some of the potential solutions in the standard aimed at reducing the incidence of MSDs include risk elimination, substitution, use of engineering controls, administrative changes, training, use of protective equipment and assessment of individuals’ physical capabilities.
The standard also notes that construction workers and supervisors should be trained to recognize risk factors and ways to reduce the risk of MSDs through proper work techniques. Employee participation and an injury management program are discussed in the standard.
In addition, the standard includes a risk assessment guide, a construction MSD problem reduction checklist, a return-to-work checklist, a list of resources, key terms and definitions and a list of non-occupational risk factors associated with work-related MSDs such as age, strength and gender.
Past President Shelley Wheeling-Park has
been elected to the
AIHA National Board ~ March 2007
1-29-07 ~ Shelley has been selected as the 2007 recipient of the Kusnetz Award. This award was established in 1987 and is named for its donors, Florence Kusnetz and AIHA past president Howard Kusnetz. This award was founded to honor a certified industrial hygienist who is under 40 years old, is employed in the private sector, and provides the highest standards of health and safety protection for employees by exhibiting high ethical standards and technical abilities.
Shelley Wheeling-Park - Recent Article in the Synergist ~ December 2006
HIOSH Advisory Committee
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New HIOSH Website < update your link
To
help with your compliance needs,
here are links to the online HIOSH standards
HIOSH Standards,
Most Cite HIOSH Standards by Fiscal Year,
The majority of Title 12 Safety & Health standards are
being replaced
by 1910 and 1926 CFR, stay tuned with the changes taking place
at
http://hawaii.gov/ labor/hiosh/ pdf/standards/ amend/
Standard%20final.pdf
and at the HIOSH website links above.
A list
of our
Membership and
the
HIOSH Advisory Committee WebPage
HIOSH
Advisory Committee ~ Mission & Operating Guidelines
Minutes
of our meetings
http://www.hawaii.gov/labor/hiosh/adv_comm_minutes.shtml
Establishment Search Page - OSHA/HIOSH Citations
A special
"Editor's Note" article in the Winter 2006 Diplomat
Note from an esteemed college:
Subject: AIHA Comments
on Immigration/OSHA Issue
If you recall,
Last July the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Bureau conducted a “sting” to
target illegal immigrant workers. The sting was conducted under the false
pretense of holding a meeting to discuss health and safety, supposedly
requested by OSHA personnel. Following this sting, the Dept. of Labor and
OSHA both stated their opposition to falsely claiming OSHA had any part in
this.
AIHA national was asked to comment on this issue. At the time, we decided not to comment because OSHA, the Dept. of Labor and even Homeland Security seemed to indicate that this would not happen again. AIHA also decided that should something like this occur again we would immediately provide a statement in opposition.
It now seems that ICE has changed their mind and will continue to target illegal workers using the front of being OSHA personnel.
While we have been unable to confirm whether or not this is true, AIHA decided to move forward with a letter of opposition. This letter can be viewed by >clicking here<.
UPDATE
Subject: Immigration Enforcement and OSHA-LS
On February 16, AIHA sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security opposing word that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau would continue posing as OSHA personnel to conduct immigrant workforce enforcement. AIHA’s letter went on to say that while we understood the need for illegal immigrant enforcement, using OSHA personnel to conduct “sting” operations was not the way to go, and would undoubtedly result in making it much more difficult to improve the health and safety of immigrant workers.
Last week, AIHA
received a letter (dated March 17)
from the Director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Marcy
Forman. Ms Forman stated “Effective immediately, the use of ruses
involving health and safety programs administered by a private entity or
a federal, state, or local government agency (such as the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration) for the purpose of immigration
worksite enforcement, will be discontinued by ICE”.