TAGGED POSTS / safety

20Apr

2022

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OSHA Publishes Proposed Rule that would Reinstate and Expand Reporting Requirements Rolledback Under the Trump Administration

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A recently proposed rule published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) would re-instate and strengthen the 2016 injury and death posting requirements for employers with at least 100 employees in hazardous industries.

The move comes after the agency rolled back the requirement for employers with at least 250 employees to electronically submit their OSHA From 300 (Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) and OSHA Form 301 (Injury and Illness Incident Report) to OSHA under the Trump administration.

The rule was rolled back in 2018 after employers claimed that the agency would use the records to publically shame employers with high rates of workplace injury and death. OSHA responded to these by modifying the rule to only require employers to submit summary data on OSHA Form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses).

The recent proposal seeks to reinstate the original 2016 rule and expand it’s coverage from employers with 250 employees to those with 100 or more employees. If approved, the rule would also include an expanded list of employers designated in high-hazard industries based on their industry code categorized by the North American Industry Classification System (NACIS).

The new rule would include two lists of employers with different compliance standards. It would update Appendix A to identify high-risk industries using the 2017 NACIS. Employers with more than twenty employees that are on the list would be required to submit Form 300A. A new Appendix B would be established to identify employers with 100 or more employees that have had an incident rate of 3.5% or more over a three-year period. Employers listed in Appendix B would be required to submit on Forms 300, 301, and 300A annually.

In a statement addressing the privacy concerns raised by employers which prompted the 2018 rollback of the original standard, the agency said that “[R]ecent advancements in technology [that] have reduced the risk that information that reasonably identifies individuals directly, such as name and contact information, will be disclosed to the public.” OSHA has confirmed its intent to make parts of the workplace injury and death data publically available if the rule is finalized.

Questions about this proposed regulation? Contact us!

04Apr

2022

MCOSH / Event / 0 comment

Teen Training for Trainers

Ready to lead? We are kicking off this year’s Teens Lead @ Work program with a training for trainers on April 9-10 from 10 am – 4 pm at the MCOSH training site!

Interested in joining our program? Teen trainers make a living wage of $15.37/hour. Apply here!

31Mar

2022

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Quiz reveals if your place of work is an ‘accident waiting to happen’

Source: New York Post

Is your workplace a health and safety nightmare? A new quiz reveals whether it ticks all the boxes — or just stacks them in front of the fire exits. The game follows research which revealed three in 10 consider their workplace an “accident waiting to happen.”

A whopping 59 percent think their employer needs to do more to put fewer staff at risk.

And 71 percent said their desks are not configured properly, meaning they regularly suffer aches and pains.

More than half (55 percent) complain about poor air quality – reckoning they go the entire day without breathing fresh air.

A spokesman for Andrews Air Quality, which commissioned the research, said: “There’s no doubt some majorly varying workplaces across the country when it comes to health and safety.

“And while there are lots of really obvious dangers that can befall you at work, like being in a busy warehouse environment, many risks are a lot more low key.

“Things like not sitting at a properly-configured desk day in and day out, for example, can play havoc with your back.

“And air quality is also tremendously important, especially now we are in a world where Covid exists and fresh air is absolutely vital.”

Just over half of the 2,000 working adults polled have been injured at work – from a scratch to a broken bone.

And the main cause of injury risk was deemed to be mental – overworked employees at risk of burnout (27 percent).

Another 23 percent regularly work around cables they believe could be a tripping hazard, while 19 percent say they don’t get any natural light.

A further one in five have worked places that have had spillages that have not been cleaned up, and 15 percent have seen plug sockets overloaded with electrical items.

One in four respondents confess to not knowing their company’s fire policy – and the same amount have reported a health hazard, only to see it ignored.

As many as three in 10 have actually quit a job because they felt it was too dangerous, according to the OnePoll.com data.

More than a tenth (13 percent) of office workers report their office windows don’t open, depriving them of a fresh breeze.

Take the quiz here! Interested in making your workplace safer? Contact us! We can provide training, support, and even help you organize a worker committee.

28Mar

2022

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HERO Act Worker Organizing: A New Era for Labor in NY

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Under Section 1 of the NY HERO Act, which went into effect on May 5, 2021, New York employers with ten or more employees were required to establish an Exposure Prevention Plan that met the minimum standards set forth in the industry-specific guidelines issued by the Department of Health for any public health issue with this designation. Although, for the time being, covered employers are not required to maintain an Exposure Prevention Plan, Section 2 of the HERO Act — which established new protections and privileges for employees who form joint Labor-Management Health and Safety Committees — is expected to have far longer-lasting impacts on worker organizing in our state. These invaluable protections are paving the way for a new era in labor: HERO Act Worker Organizing.

Anti-Retaliation Protections

Notably, the Act established expansive anti-retaliation protections for employees who refused to come into a workplace that was not in compliance with the Department of Health’s guidelines. The guidelines laid out a number of precautions, including limitations on the number of employees allowed to congregate in a single space, mask requirements, and more. Employers could not legally terminate an employee for refusing to work under extra-regulatory conditions.

Section two, which took effect on November 1, 2021, requires employers who employ at least ten employees to allow employees to form joint labor-management workplace safety committees. Unlike Section 1, which is restricted to public health issues designated Highly Communicable Airborne Infectious Disease, Section two applies to all safety and health worker committees. There are no topical restrictions on the protections the Act confers onto workers acting in concert to address safety and health concerns.

HERO Act Worker Organizing: A New Era for Labor

The law provides the following protections to committee members:

Employers must allow committee members to attend training at the time of their choosing and must pay employees for training and meeting time
Employees have the right to participate in requesting committees and serving as committee members without retaliation
Employees who are retaliated against have the right to sue employers in court
Employers may pay fines of up to $20,000 and be required to pay lost wages, damages, and legal fees

These new protections are an exciting development for workers and organizers alike. The NY HERO Act’s impact on labor organizing will long outlive the COVID-19 pandemic.

Interested in forming a Health and Safety Committee at your workplace? We can help! Contact us to set up a consultation and training on how you can establish a committee to advocate for a safer workplace for you and your coworkers today!

27Mar

2022

MCOSH / Event / 0 comment

Identifying and Controlling Hazards

OSHA rights and identifying and controlling hazards in the workplace training in Schuyler County, New York. March 27, 2022 2:00-4:00 pm.

Interested in scheduling a training? Contact us!

25Mar

2022

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Mystery of Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Uncovered after 111 years

Source: Forward

Mystery of Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Uncovered after 111 years

Today marks the 111th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, an 18-minute inferno that killed 146 workers – mostly Jewish and Italian immigrant women and girls – in what remains one of the worst industrial tragedies in American history. The source of the disaster has long eluded labor experts and historians, but a recent development has led to the likely culprit of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Uncovered.

A book published this week, “Talking to the Girls,” includes essays on the event and its contemporary relevance by activists, scholars and family members of the Triangle workers. One of the contributors is Martin Abramowitz, 81, who fears his father – Isidore, a cutter on the factory floor – might have been the one who accidentally started the blaze.

The fire marshal concluded that someone tossed a match or cigarette butt into Isidore’s scrap bin before it was completely extinguished. Isidore spilled a pail of water on it, but it was too late. “Regardless of whether or not it was his ash, I’m haunted by the fact that he must have been haunted for his entire life,” Abramowitz said in a recent interview.

Frances Perkins, a social worker who witnessed the fire and later became U.S. Secretary of Labor, famously said: “The New Deal began on March 25, 1911.” As for Abramowitz, he is a board member of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, a nonprofit that is raising money for a $3 million memorial. “I owe that to ‘the girls,’ in the name of my father,” he said.

Worker safety and health committees can make a huge impact on avoiding tragedies like this one from ever happening again. To learn more about how you can organize a committe, contact us for training and technical support.

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