Bobby Lewis | Hellman & Associates

Dust Can Be Deadly

Beginning in 2007, OSHA increased its inspections and enforcements of combustible dust National Emphasis Programs (NEPs). Based on the agency’s enforcement history, OSHA revised the NEP in January 2023. The purpose of the revised NEP is emphasize OSHA’s intent to inspect facilities that generate or handle combustible dusts that are likely to fire, flash or explode. The top five industries with these hazards are farm suppliers, institutional furniture manufacturers, metal window and door manufacturers, sheet metal work manufacturers and furniture repairing operators.
The dusts which are most often associated with workplace issues are:
-metal
-wood
-coal and other carbons-plastic
-phenolic resins and additives
-rubber biosolids
-organics such as sugar, flour, paper, soap and dried blood
-textiles

OSHA has implemented a National Emphasis Program (NEP) to identify and reduce hazards which cause or are likely to cause hazards. You can find a PDF of the complete OSHA abstract on this NEP here.

Hellman & Associates has seen a surge in OSHA regulatory engagement with companies during the past year. OSHA regions are required to have inspection and enforcement procedures in place. When it comes to compliance, Hellman & Associates can be the key to favorable results when facing potential violations. We will assist your company to train workers on dust hazards, proper usage of equipment and safe work practices.

We have prepared a number of training materials including videos for your safety meetings. These toolbox topics include related subjects such as silica exposure and respiratory protection. H&A encourages you to download these and use in your safety training meetings.

Hellman & Associates can help companies minimize financial losses when in-house compliance programs came up short, click here and download this solution brief. A comprehensive overview of the ASSUREDCompliance program that has made Hellman & Associates the preferred EHS compliance partner for businesses like yours can be found on this web page.

A Safety Manager on Staff at a Fraction of the Typical Cost

Hellman & Associates has seen a surge in OSHA regulatory engagement with companies during the past year. When it comes to compliance, Hellman & Associates can be the key to favorable results when facing potential violations. Hellman & Associates helps minimize financial losses when in-house compliance programs come up short.

Examples of Reduced Citations and Fines negotiated by Hellman & Associates:

Even better are the examples demonstrating the benefits when a business takes advantage of Hellman & Associates’ ASSUREDCompliance program.

For more examples of how Hellman & Associates helped companies minimize financial losses when in-house compliance programs came up short, click here and download this solution brief. A comprehensive overview of the ASSUREDCompliance program that has made Hellman & Associates the preferred EHS compliance partner for businesses like yours can be found on this web page.

The Heat Is On

Back in 1985, Glenn Frey sang “The Heat Is On” and that is exactly the forecast! In less than a week, many areas of the country jumped from a mild spring right into major heat waves. This type of quick and ongoing temperature change exposes workers to dangerous risks related to heat exposure. And remember, heat stress can happen outdoors as well indoors.

Hellman & Associates has developed a handy poster you can place in your workplace and share with your employees to help them identify the signs and symptoms of heat stress so they know when to cool down before serious health risks set in.

Download the poster >>

Additional Resources: H&A has compiled a variety of resources to facilitate effective safety meetings.

Timely topics for this week include:

Ryan Hellman Recognized as OSHA Region VIII VPP Leader of the Year

Each year, OSHA Region VIII Recognizes a person or persons from a VPP site who exhibited exemplary leadership in employee safety and health during the previous year. Ryan was nominated by the employees of Hellman & Associates. Their nomination stated Ryan provides H&A staff with training, support, time, equipment, and encouragement to be safe on the job at all times. Hellman & Associates has been a longtime VPP participant and Ryan supports the staff’s participation in the OSHA VPP Special Government Employee program. In fact, at any given time 20-25% of the staff at Hellman & Associates are certified as SGEs. This is a tremendous level of support and commitment to the OSHA VPP. In addition, Ryan has actively supported OSHA mentoring efforts, conferences and VPP outreach. He is a strong ambassador for employee safety and health in Region VIII.

VPP Star Celebration

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration awarded the Voluntary Protection Program Star designation to Hellman & Associates for the 13th consecutive year. This award extends this prestigious designation for another three years. The VPP Star is OSHA’s highest level of recognition of employers and workers who employ effective safety and health management systems and keep injury and illness rates below the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ industry averages.

Hellman & Associates celebrated this prestigious designation on Friday, June 23, 2023 at their Wheat Ridge office. The Celebration was attended by OSHA Region VIII executives, H&A clients, city of Wheat Ridge officials and H&A staff.

Hellman & Associates Recognized for Workplace Safety and Health Excellence

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has awarded the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star designation to Hellman & Associates Inc., an environmental safety and health compliance management firm. The VPP Star is OSHA’s highest level of recognition of employers and workers who have employed effective safety and health management systems and kept injury and illness rates below the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ industry averages.

OSHA recognized Hellman & Associates for having an effective pre-task plan, job hazard analysis and strong culture of safety and health excellence, management commitment and employee engagement. VPP programs bring company management, site employees and OSHA together to work proactively to focus on hazard prevention and control, worksite analysis, training, management commitment and worker involvement to prevent fatalities, injuries and illnesses. Prospective VPP participants apply to OSHA for consideration, and then undergo a rigorous onsite evaluation by a team of safety and health professionals.

“Hellman & Associates is a great example for a company seeking to develop and implement highly effective safety and health management systems. For 13 years, they have earned the Star designation and have generously helped other companies achieve VPP recognition,” explained Jennifer Rous, OSHA Region 8 Administrator. “As we renew their status for another three years, we applaud their commitment to setting high standards when it comes to keeping their employees and their clients’ employees safe at work.”

The OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) model is quite extensive. It is a tremendous challenge and a great achievement to be a VPP. Getting VPP status is difficult but staying in is even harder. VPP requires a long-term commitment to continuous improvement in the site safety and health management system. H&A is one of a very small number of safety and health management consulting companies in the country to achieve the OSHA VPP Star recognition.

Does OSHA Reporting Feel Overwhelming?

Does OSHA reporting feel overwhelming? That’s Because It’s Only One of Many Tasks You Do.

Some companies prefer to handle their OSHA record keeping in-house. And we understand why one might think that is the best way to handle this requirement. But, too many times companies leave reporting to the last moment which may result in missing deadlines. Overall, managing OSHA reporting internally is risky and can lead to compliance exposure.

H&A has noticed companies over-report when setting up their ISNetworld® account or other third-party contractor verification requirements. If injuries are over-reported, that company may be excluded from bidding on a project. (As you know, hiring companies that have a TCIR above-industry-average affects the ability to bid jobs.) Over-reporting is an important concern and can cause companies to receive an OSHA inspection. OSHA has a Site-Specific Targeting Program which targets establishments with higher-than-average TRIR/DART rates. So, you can see why it is important to report timely and accurately.

At Hellman & Associates, we deal with OSHA record keeping daily. We believe it is a good idea to allow H&A to review your information for accuracy. For example, H&A completed a routine inspection of a client’s OSHA records. This client reported 11 recordable injuries. Upon review of their loss runs, they actually only had three.

Here’s a breakdown of how this inflated their TRIR/DART rates:

11 recordable incidents: TRIR = 14.3 / DART = 7.8
3 recordable incidents: TRIR = 2.6 / DART = 1.3
Industry average: TRIR = 2.9 / DART = 2.0

Since this client had 150,000 hours worked, the TRIP/DART calculations increased their rates almost six times more.

Take away the guessing and last-minute chaos and change to a managed solution which achieves compliance requirements and drives your business to new milestones! Choose ASSUREDCompliance® to protect your business.

ASSUREDCompliance® is an annual partnership that applies H&A’s proven best practices to help your company ensure employee safety and avoid costly business disruptions. The best part? It’s about one-third of the cost of a full-time safety manager. As our partner, your regulatory compliance is guaranteed. If you incur a citation for something we should have managed, we pay for it.

Contact Hellman & Associates to learn more about how we can help you keep your valuable employees safe on the job.

OSHA Changes Maximum Citations and Penalties

If OSHA knocked on your door tomorrow, would you be prepared?

Effective March 27, 2023, OSHA will administer penalties on an “instance-by-instance” (IBI) basis for gravely serious violations. Detailed information can be found in the official OSHA memo by clicking this link. The OSHA standards this new policy applies to include: falls, trenching, machine guarding, respiratory protection, permit-required confined space, lockout/tagout and other-than-serious violations of OSHA standards specific to recordkeeping.

The significance to this change means for each instance of a violation, a serious penalty can be proposed. OSHA is allowed to cite on a per machine, per location, per employee exposed, etc. so you can see how this can increase penalty amounts. Historically, OSHA groups each instance of the violation and issues one citation and penalty. Now, each instance is issued with a citation and penalty.

As an example, prior to this change if five employees were roofing a building and no fall protection was in place, one citation would be written with an average serious penalty of $5,500. With IBI changes, a citation for each employee can be issued thereby increasing the proposed penalty to $27,500!

When one combines this with the increase maximum penalties, if OSHA knocked on your door tomorrow, would you be prepared? The detailed maximum penalties OSHA memo released on December 20, 2022 is found by clicking on this link.

The following table illustrates the liability employers may face with this new OSHA policy. This information is based on actual fines issued previously.

Choose ASSUREDCompliance® to protect your employees as well as your business. ASSUREDCompliance® is an annual partnership that applies H&A’s proven best practices to help your company ensure employee safety and avoid costly business disruptions. The best part? It’s about one-third of the cost of a full-time safety manager. And your regulatory compliance is guaranteed. If you incur a citation for something we should have managed, we pay for it.

To see examples showing how Hellman & Associates has helped companies minimize financial losses when their in-house compliance programs came up short, click here and download our solution brief.

Contact Hellman & Associates to learn more about how we can help you keep your valuable employees safe on the job.

OSHA Injury & Illness Recordkeeping Deadline

OSHA Form 300A, the Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, must be completed and posted by February 1, 2023. The summary must include the total number of 2022 job-related injuries and illnesses that were logged on your OSHA 300 form. If your company had no recordable injuries or illnesses in 2022, you must still post the form with zeros on the total line. All summaries must be certified by a company executive and remain displayed in a common area between February 1 and April 30, 2023.

Employers with 10 or less employees in the previous calendar year are exempt from routinely keeping injury and illness records. Employers in certain industries may be exempt from federal OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping and posting requirements. Click here to see if your industry is exempt.

Leave the Reporting to Us

With Hellman & Associates’ annual ASSUREDCompliance^SM, we are aware of changing regulations, will keep your program and training current and manage compliance and reporting for you.

As an ASSUREDCompliance^SM partner, your regulatory compliance is guaranteed, meaning if you incur a citation for something we should have managed, we pay for it.

OSHA Issued Millions In Fines Last Year.
Nobody Ever Thinks It Will Happen To Their Company.

Preliminary data from 2022 has been reported with fall protection (for the 12th year in a row) being the most cited standard. Ensuring safety and the health of employees happens when employers create and maintain a company-wide environment that starts with training and ends with standards compliance.

It is about about protecting the people. The failure to maintain proper work areas put workers at risk and, in some cases, are fatal. Also, management cannot overlook the financial penalties that accompany citations. OSHA’s highest penalties ranged from $638,000 to $1.3 million in the previous 12 months for companies of different sizes.

Top four most-frequently cited standards in Region 8

Fall Protection: This standard is designed to protect employees on walking/working surfaces with an unprotected side above six feet.
Hazard Communication: This standard addresses chemical hazards and the communication of these hazards to workers.
Respiratory Protection: This standard lists requirements for a complete protection program including training, evaluation and other areas of concern.
Machine Guarding: This standard protects operators and others from hazards including machinery and flying debris.

Training components and compliance assessments are crucial to safe working conditions. Hellman & Associates can assist you to review training records, conduct interviews and evaluate the work areas. And if you looking for comprehensive annual reviews, ASSUREDCompliance^SM fulfills your ongoing safety needs at a third of the cost of a full-time safety manager. And with ASSUREDCompliance^SM, you can rest assured your workforce and your workplace are in safe, working order – guaranteed. If you incur a citation for something we should have managed, we pay for it.

You need to ask yourself: Are you in compliance with OSHA? How about the EPA, DOT or state and local agencies? H&A offers EHS compliance management services that protect your workforce and keep your company current with regulatory requirements.

Don’t wait for a citation. Contact us today to get started. Check the details on our web site and download an ASSUREDCompliance^SM brochure today.