INTRO TO OSHA

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INTRO TO OSHA
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The OSH Act of 1970

• The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970
  formalized enforcement of the Contract Work Hours
  and Safety Standards Act of 1962, P.L.87.581,
  better known as the Construction Safety Act.
  While the OSH Act of 1970 applied to general
  industry as a whole, the Construction Safety Act
  of 1962, and amended in 1969, applied
  specifically to the construction industry. The
  elements of the Construction Safety Act, as
  amended, were included and covered in the OSH Act
  of 1970. Enforcement of the standards related to
  the ACT are under the jurisdiction of the
  Secretary of Labor, United States Department of
  Labor.

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HISTORY OF SAFETY

• Public opinion and the effects of changing times
  were the driving forces behind the OSH Act.
  During the industrial revolution accidental
  deaths and maimings were considered a cost of
  advancement. Any job related injury was
  considered by management to be a result of
  carelessness on the part of the employee.
  Management's attitude toward safety was simple
  it was the employee's responsibility to work
  safely and prevent accidents. That attitude
  prevailed as late as 1893 when the Railway Safety
  Act was being contemplated. Management's
  philosophy at the time was typified by the saying
  that it was cheaper to bury someone killed in a
  train accident than it was to put air brakes on
  railroad cars.

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• Even court decisions at that time were consistent
  with management's attitude. The burden of proof
  that the employer was negligent lay with the
  claimant, and there were very few cases in which
  the claimant was awarded damages for occupational
  related injuries. Those attitudes began to change
  at the turn of the twentieth century
• The Worker's Compensation Act, although
  initially regarded as a form of "no fault"
  insurance, began to place the costs of accidents
  on the back of the employer through the payment
  of premiums. Although the philosophical reasons
  for the causes of accidents remained unchanged
  for the time being, the costs of those accidents
  were being shifted.
• The mine safety and Health Act and the
  Construction Safety Act of the 1960's were clear
  indications that the burden of responsibility for
  accidents had shifted to the employer and away
  from the employee.

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Is Construction Inherently Dangerous?

• For many years the responsibility for safety was
  considered to be the individuals responsibility.
• Nearly everyone believed that construction was so
  terribly dangerous that nothing could be done to
  change it.
• Construction estimates actually contained line
  items for costs of employee fatalities.
• buildings
• dams

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• Have these attitudes changed?
• Yes, we no longer build fatality costs into our
  estimates!
• Construction accounts for approximately 6 of
  employment nationwide but nearly 20 of all
  employment fatalities.

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SIZE OF COMPANIES WITH CONSTRUCTION FATALITIES

• 1 - 10 employees 46
• 11 - 25 employees 19
• 26 - 100 employees 17
• gt100 employees 19

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• What Can Be Done?
• First, we need an attitude change in the
  industry.
• Even many of the larger firms who have nationwide
  operations are having safety problems.
• This is due, in part, to the attitude about
  safety exhibited by many of our sub and
  sub-subcontractors, as well as many general
  contractors.
• It is also due, in part, to an unusual attitude
  about OSHA

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What is OSHA?

• OSHA stands for the Occupational Safety and
  Health Administration which is part of the U. S.
  department of Labor.
• OSHA is the Federal agency which has oversight
  for worker safety and health in the United States
  and Territories

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• OSHA is responsible for the promulgation and
  enforcement of standards to protect workers.
• The standards that affect the construction
  industry are the CFR Part 1926 standards.
• The standards that affect general industry are
  the CFR Part 1910 standards.

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How OSHA Works

• When the OSH Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-596) was
  first enacted, each state was granted the right
  to establish their own safety and health program.
  Those states with their own programs are referred
  to as State Program States. Those states that
  elected not to establish their own programs come
  under federal jurisdiction and are referred to as
  Federal Program States.

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• Construction Employers in Federal program States
  must follow the 1926 standards in protecting the
  safety and health of their employees.
• Enforcement of the standards in these states are
  carried out by Federal Compliance Safety and
  Health Officers.
• These states are required to provide
  consultative services to the construction
  employers.

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• Construction employers in State Program states
  are required to follow the 1926 standards, as
  amended by the state program.
• Enforcement of the standards in these states are
  carried out by State Compliance Safety and Health
  Officers.

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• Safety saves lives and money.
• Somehow we need to get the word out that there
  are some direct correlations between, safety,
  productivity, quality, money and lives.
• Managers in the industry need to understand that
  safety does affect their bottom line and in an
  industry that has a business failure rate as high
  as ours, that understanding is critical to owners
  and contractors alike.

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• The cost of workers compensation is often as
  much as a companys payroll for certain
  classifications of employees
• Workers compensation insurance was developed to
  provide a form of no-fault insurance for
  industrial injuries
• guaranteed payment to employee
• Exclusive Remedy for the employer

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• Workers Comp premiums are based upon
• Manual rate (often called the Base Rate)
• Experience Modification Rate

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The General Duty Clause

• The General Duty Clause, Section 5 (A) (1) of
  the Act, states that "Each Employer shall furnish
  to each of his employees employment and a place
  of employment which are free from recognized
  hazards that are causing or likely to cause death
  or serious physical harm to his employees." It is
  the General Duty Clause of the Act which provides
  non-specific protection for employees when
  specific regulations cannot be cited from the
  standards. The General Duty Clause, and its broad
  general interpretation, place the responsibility
  for job site safety squarely on the back of the
  construction employer.

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29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 1926

• CFR 1926 is a composite of the standards which
  affect the construction industry. These standards
  were written by many diverse groups of experts
  representing various segments of the industry.
  They codify and set forth the safety and health
  standards promulgated by the Secretary of Labor
  under Section 107 of the Contract Work Hours and
  Safety Standards Act (The Construction Safety
  Act).

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29 CFR 1926 consists of 24 separate areas of
standards called Subparts

• Subpart A General
• Subpart B General Interpretations
• Subpart C General Safety and Health Provisions
• Subpart D Occupational Health and Environmental
  Controls
• Subpart E Personal Protective and Life Saving
  Equipment
• Subpart F Fire Protection and Prevention
• Subpart G Signs, Signals, and Barricades
• Subpart H Material Handling, Storage, Use, and
  Disposal
• Subpart I Tools - Hand and Power
• Subpart J Welding and Cutting

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• Subpart K Electrical
• Subpart L Scaffolding
• Subpart M Fall Protection
• Subpart N Cranes, Derricks, Hoists, Elevators,
  and Conveyors
• Subpart O Motor Vehicles, Motorized Equipment,
  and Marine Operations
• Subpart P Excavations
• Subpart Q Concrete and Masonry Construction
• Subpart R Steel Erection
• Subpart S Underground Construction, Caissons,
  Cofferdams, and Compressed Air
• Subpart T Demolition
• Subpart U Blasting and Use of Explosives
• Subpart V Power Transmission and Distribution
• Subpart W Rollover Protective Structures
  Overhead Protection
• Subpart X Ladders and Stairways

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A Vertical and Horizontal Standard

• 29 CFR Part 1926 can best be described a both a
  vertical and a horizontal standard. It is
  vertical in the sense that some standards, such
  as Subparts A, B, and C, are general conditions
  which apply to all of the other Subparts
  throughout Part 1926. Other Subparts, such as
  Subpart J, Welding and Cutting, apply only to
  specific areas, but are very technical about
  those areas. This type of standard is referred to
  as a horizontal standard.
• Some of the Subparts can likewise be both
  vertical and horizontal. Subpart L, Scaffolding,
  for example, has general conditions that apply to
  all types of scaffolding (vertical) and then has
  standards that apply exclusively to particular
  types of scaffold (horizontal).

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Using the Standard

• The Standard is indexed alpha-numerically with
  each Subpart and heading indexed numerically.
  Subpart A-General is indexed as 1926.1 while
  Subpart P-Excavations is indexed as 1926.650.
  Major headings within each Subpart are also
  indexed numerically. For example 1926.352
  represents the heading Fire prevention, under
  Subpart J-Welding and Cutting. If one turns to
  1926.352, they note that only the heading "Fire
  prevention" is beside the number. Immediately
  following is the first paragraph, which starts
  with (a). Subparagraphs within the paragraphs are
  labeled numerically again (i.e., (1)), and
  listings within those subparagraphs are small
  case Roman Numeral (i.e., (i)). If one were to
  find 1926.353 (c)(1)(ii) in the standard, it
  would read "Lead base metals".

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Employer Responsibility

• Pursuant to the requirements of the General Duty
  Clause, 1926.21 (b) (2) requires that the
  Employer shall instruct each of his employees in
  the recognition and avoidance of unsafe
  conditions and the regulations applicable to his
  work environment to control or eliminate any
  hazards or other exposure to illness or injury.

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• 1926.20 (b) establishes the requirement for the
  employer to establish and maintain a (safety)
  program for the prevention of accidents and
  illness in the workplace.

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Competent Person

• The employer is also responsible for the use and
  training of competent persons as required
  throughout the standards.
• A competent person is defined in 1926.32 (f) as
  one who is capable of identifying existing and
  predictable hazards in the surroundings or
  working conditions which are unsanitary,
  hazardous, or dangerous, to employees, and who
  has authorization to take prompt corrective
  measures to eliminate them.

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Inspections, Violations, and Fines

• 1926.3(a) of the Standard states that "...the
  Secretary of Labor or any authorized
  representative shall have a right of entry to any
  site of contract performance for..." the purpose
  of carrying out inspections and investigations.
  The OSH Act stipulates that these inspections and
  investigations shall be conducted during normal
  working hours except in extreme cases.

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• Random selection for inspections is becoming
  increasingly more common. For many years,
  especially during the Regan Administration,
  funding for OSHA was cut. There has been an
  increasing emphasis on occupational safety since
  the early 1990's, however. This increased
  emphasis has come about as a result of several
  recent disasters both in construction and general
  industry. The fire at Hamlet, North Carolina, in
  which 26 people were killed on the job in 1991,
  and similar instances in other states where
  buildings have collapsed while under
  construction, have spurred funding to cooperating
  state OSHA agencies. In 1980 it was estimated
  that a construction company's chances of being
  inspected was equivalent to about once every 300
  years. Some states now are planning to visit
  every major construction site once a year.

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An inspection of the workplace may occur for any
one of several reasons

• The site was selected as part of a general
  schedule of inspections. Construction inspections
  are currently scheduled on a computer
  generated, random selection basis, from
  information furnished the government by
  F.W.Dodge.
• An employee, former employee, or employee
  representative has filed a formal complaint about
  workplace conditions. Individuals such as
  competitors have no official standing to file a
  complaint.
• OSHA has received a report of a fatality,
  multiple injury accident, or imminent danger
  situation. The inspection should be limited to
  investigation of the accident or imminent danger
  situation.
• A referral has been made by a previous OSHA
  inspector technically referred to as a Compliance
  Safety and Health Officer (CSHO).