OSHA Enforcement
In FY2008, OSHA conducted a total of 38,591 inspections. Significant enforcement actions included 121 inspections that each resulted in a total proposed monetary penalty of over $100,000 – several which included foundries. OSHA conducted 23,023 programmed inspections in FY2008. OSHA also conducted 15,565 unprogrammed inspections, which includes employee complaints, accidents and referrals.
Programmed Inspection Programs
Workplaces with High Injury and Illness Rates
In March 2008, approximately 14,000 employers received a letter from OSHA alerting them that their injury and illness rates are above the national average. The notifications were based on data reported by approximately 80,000 employers surveyed by OSHA last year (the survey collected injury and illness data from calendar year 2006).
Workplaces (including foundries) receiving notifications had 5.4 or more injuries resulting in days away from work, restricted work activity, or job transfer (DART) for every 100 full-time employees. Nationally, the average U.S. workplace had 2.3 DART occurrences for every 100 employees.
Employers receiving the letters were also provided copies of their injury and illness data, along with a list of the most frequently cited OSHA standards for their specific industry. The letter also offered assistance in helping turn the numbers around by suggesting, among other things, the use of free OSHA safety and health consultation services provided through the states, state workers' compensation agencies, insurance carriers, or outside safety and health consultants. For more information on the 14,000 workplaces that received a letter, visit http://www.osha.gov/as/opa/foia/hot-14.html
Site-Specific Targeting Plan (SST)
Under the 2008 Site-Specific Targeting Plan (SST) plan, OSHA will focus on approximately 3,800 high-hazard worksites on its primary list for unannounced comprehensive safety inspections over the coming year. The list of establishments selected for inspection was determined using information about illness and injury compiled in the Data Initiative for 2007, which surveyed approximately 80,000 employers to obtain their injury and illness numbers for 2006.
This program will initially cover about 3,800 worksites on the primary list that reported 11 or more injuries or illnesses resulting in days away from work, restricted work activity, or job transfer for every 100 full-time employees (known as the DART rate). The primary list will also include sites based on a "Days Away from Work Injury and Illness" (DAFWII) rate of 9 or higher. Employers not on the primary list, who reported DART rates of between 7.0 and 11.0, or DAFWII rates of between 5.0 and 9.0, will be placed on a secondary list for possible inspection. The agency will also randomly select and inspect about 175 workplaces that reported low injury and illness rates for the purpose of reviewing their actual degree of compliance with OSHA requirements.
Enhanced Enforcement Program
This unannounced Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP) targets the most dangerous workplaces and focuses on those employers that have a history of violations with OSHA.
Triggers for enhanced enforcement targeting include:
- one or more willful or repeated violations related to job-site death
- one or more serious violations related to job-site death and the employer has either an OSHA history of violations similar in kind to the violation that led to the current fatality consisting of at least one serious, or willful, or repeat violation within the last three years, or the occurrence of another fatality within the last three years regardless of hether any citation was issued
- one or more inspections in which the proposed penalties total more than $100,000
- Any egregious case
- inspection that results in three or more willful or repeat serious violations
- inspection that results in one or more failure-to-abate notices for underlying serious violations.
OSHA has provided a list of provisions that area directors can include in settlement agreements in connection to violations in the EEP. These provisions are:
- requiring the employer to hire a qualified safety and health consultant to develop an effective and comprehensive safety and health program with management support in the establishment, and assist the company in implementing such a program
- applying the agreement company-wide
- using settlement agreements to obtain from employers a list of their current jobsites, or future jobsites within a specified time period
- requiring the employer to submit to OSHA its log of work-related injuries and illnesses on a quarterly basis and to consent to OSHA’s conducting an inspection based on the report
- requiring the employer to notify the area office of any serious injury or illness requiring medical attention and to consent to an inspection
- obtaining employer consent to entry of a court enforcement order under Section 11(b) of the Act.
For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=DIRECTIVES&p_id=3749#IX
National Emphasis Programs (NEPs)
National Emphasis Programs (NEPs) focus on major health and/or safety hazards which are of recognized national significance. They provide guidance to the OSHA field offices for program planning and for conducting inspections consistently across the nation. During FY2008, OSHA conducted 8,730 inspections (out of 38,591 total inspections) that were related to an NEP. OSHA is in the process of developing a NEP for primary metals that would include the metalcasting industry.
Here is a list of NEPs that impact the metalcasting industry:
- amputation - describes policies and procedures for identifying and reducing the risk of workplace machinery and equipment hazards that are causing or are likely to cause amputations
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=DIRECTIVES&p_id=3469
- crystalline silica - in January 2008, OSHA issued a new directive implementing a NEP to help reduce or eliminate workplace exposures to silica-related hazards. In addition, the AFS Safety and Health Committee (10-Q) has developed a guide Control of Silica Exposure in Foundries which highlights effective means of controlling and reducing or eliminating employee exposure to crystalline silica. It is available at no cost on the publication section of the AFS website, located at www.afsinc.org http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=DIRECTIVES&p_id=3790
OSHA's Safety and Health Topics Web page on crystalline silica also offers resources on identifying the health hazards associated with occupational exposure to crystalline silica and possible solutions for those hazards. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/silicacrystalline/index.html
- lead - this NEP is designed to reduce occupational exposures to lead. The OSHA program sets target inspections in industries (including foundries) and/or work sites where potential for lead exposure exists. During these inspections, compliance officers will evaluate surface concentrations of lead and the availability of hygiene facilities, practices and engineering controls.
- combustible dust - in 2008, OSHA reissued its Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program (NEP) Instruction in order to increase enforcement activities and focus on specific industry groups that have experienced frequent or catastrophic combustible dust incidents. The purpose of this NEP is to inspect workplaces that create or handle combustible dusts (including metalcasting facilities), which can cause intense burning or other fire hazards when suspended in air, and possibly lead to explosions. Under this expanded NEP, each OSHA area office is expected to inspect at least four facilities each fiscal year. To review a copy of the NEP, visit http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/Directive_pdf/CPL_03-00-008.pdf
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=DIRECTIVES&p_id=3830
In addition, OSHA sent letters to 30,000 companies, including some aluminum foundries, warning about the dangers of combustible dust explosions. Included in the letter is a copy of OSHA’s Safety and Health Information Bulletin (SHIB) titled Combustible Dust in Industry: Preventing and Mitigating the Effects of Fire and Explosions. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov/dts/shib/shib073105.html.
OSHA is also encouraging employers to review a new Occupational Safety and Health Administration fact sheet titled Hazard Alert: Combustible Dust Explosions, which is available online at www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/OSHAcombustibledust.pdf.
For more information, contact Stephanie Salmon, Metalcasting Industry Government Affairs Washington Office, at 202/842-4864 or ss@wafed.com.
