Tag: compliance

Utility Excavator Filing Requirement Repealed in 2019 Session

Posted on by Dan Osborn

Excavators contracting with utility facility operators or owners are no longer required to file a statement of compliance with the Indiana Secretary of State’s office as of May 1, 2019.

House Bill 1487 repealed Indiana Code language, which was enacted in 2018, that required utility excavators to file a statement of compliance with their annual registration due to the Indiana Secretary of State’s office. The filing required a $30 filing fee. The Secretary of State’s office is working to return filings and fees to excavator’s that submitted after May 1, 2019.  

Crystalline Silica: What You Need to Know

Posted on by Andria Hine

OSHA’s Final Rule on Crystalline Silica is now out and will go into effect soon. The construction industry needs to understand the obligations under the new standard as well as their compliance options. This webinar will provide the construction industry with background information about the new 29 CFR 1926.1153 – Respirable crystalline silica, including general information about performing construction work on silica containing materials, the historical significance of the rule, key details as to how the rule will affect construction jobsite, as well as what is necessary to comply with the final rule. Here’s a copy of the presentation to assist you with following along.

Objectives

Participants in this webinar will able to:

  • Understand the history of the crystalline silica standard as well as key compliance dates.
  • Comprehend the scope and the application of the standard to construction industry.
  • Detail the compliance requirements for jobsite activities covered by the standard.

Speaker

Bradford Hammock, a partner at Jackson Lewis P.C., whose practice focuses exclusively on safety and health issues, will provide information to help the construction industry understand the final OSHA silica rule.

Access

Click here to access the webinar, and use password: CSC4.

Sponsor

This webinar is brought to you by the Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC). The CISC is comprised of 25 construction industry trade associations representing virtually every construction trade, task and activity of the member associations. For more information, visit www.buildingsafely.org.

OSHA issues final rule on workplace injury and illness data

Posted on by Andria Hine

OSHA released a special edition of its QuickTakes newsletter yesterday, announcing its final rule on injury and illness data collection:

OSHA issues final rule to make employers, public better informed about workplace injuries, illnesses

OSHA today issued a final rule to modernize injury data collection to better inform workers, employers, the public, and OSHA about workplace hazards. With this new rule, OSHA is applying the insights of behavioral economics to improve workplace safety and prevent injuries and illnesses.

OSHA requires many employers to keep a record* of injuries and illnesses to help these employers and their employees identify hazards, fix problems and prevent additional injuries and illnesses. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports more than three million workers suffer a workplace injury or illness every year. Currently, little or no information about worker injuries and illnesses at individual employers is made public or available to OSHA. Under the new rule, employers in high-hazard industries will send OSHA injury and illness data that the employers are already required to collect, for posting on the agency’s website.

The availability of these data will enable prospective employees to identify workplaces where their risk of injury is lowest; as a result, employers competing to hire the best workers will make injury prevention a higher priority. Access to these data will also enable employers to benchmark their safety and health performance against industry leaders, to improve their own safety programs.

“Since high injury rates are a sign of poor management, no employer wants to be seen publicly as operating a dangerous workplace,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. “Our new reporting requirements will ‘nudge’ employers to prevent worker injuries and illnesses to demonstrate to investors, job seekers, customers and the public that they operate safe and well-managed facilities. Access to injury data will also help OSHA better target our compliance assistance and enforcement resources at establishments where workers are at greatest risk, and enable ‘big data’ researchers to apply their skills to making workplaces safer.”

Under the new rule, all establishments with 250 or more employees in industries covered by the recordkeeping regulation must electronically submit to OSHA injury and illness information from OSHA Forms 300, 300A, and 301. Establishments with 20-249 employees in certain industries* must electronically submit information from OSHA Form 300A only.To ensure that the injury data on OSHA logs are accurate and complete, the final rule also promotes an employee’s right to report injuries and illnesses without fear of retaliation, and clarifies that an employer must have a reasonable procedure for reporting work-related injuries that does not discourage employees from reporting. This aspect of the rule targets employer programs and policies that, while nominally promoting safety, have the effect of discouraging workers from reporting injuries and, in turn leading to incomplete or inaccurate records of workplace hazards.The new requirements take effect August 10, 2016, with phased in data submissions beginning in 2017. These requirements do not add to or change an employer’s obligation to complete and retain injury and illness records under the Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses regulation. For more information see the news release and blog post by Deputy Secretary of Labor Chris Lu, and visit OSHA’s webpage on the final rule, which includes links to a fact sheet and frequently asked questions.