August 15, 2005 · Volume 4, Issue 16
A bi-weekly e-news memo with information, updates, and results from OSHA about safety and health in America's workplaces.

In This Issue OSHA Announces Targeted Inspection Plan for 2005 Upcoming Speech by Deputy Assistant Secretary Safety and Health Information Bulletin Focuses on Hearing-Impaired Workers OSHA Education Center Offers Disaster Site Worker Training Programs Idaho Site Achieves SHARP Recognition New Partnerships Forged with OSHA OSHA Co-Hosts Safety Fair for Hispanic Workers and Families Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Texas Worksites In VPP Spotlight Laser Technology, Cleaning and Maintenance Industries Focus of Latest National Alliances OSHA Forms Regional Alliances OSHA Announces Targeted Inspection Plan for 2005     About 4,400 high-hazard worksites are on tap for inspection under OSHA's Site Specific Targeting Program for 2005, the agency announced August 9. This year's program will initially target sites that reported 12 or more injuries or illnesses for every 100 full-time workers resulting in days away from work, restricted work activity or job transfer (known as the DART rate). The list will also include sites that have a days away from work injury and illness (DAFWII) rate of 9 or higher. The program stems from OSHA's Data Initiative for 2004 that surveyed approximately 80,000 employers to attain injury and illness data for 2003. Upcoming Speech by Deputy Assistant Secretary     Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jonathan L. Snare will address more than 2,500 safety and health professionals at the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants' Association conference on Aug. 22 in Dallas. OSHA will also set up an exhibit booth with compliance assistance and informative materials for conference attendees. Safety and Health Information Bulletin Focuses on Hearing-Impaired Workers     Hearing-impaired workers face challenges on the job including receiving emergency notifications, evacuating safely in an emergency, receiving training, communicating and responding to workplace safety hazards. These barriers can be minimized through implementation of the practical steps, as appropriate for each situation, described in OSHA's recently published Safety and Health Information Bulletin on Innovative Workplace Safety Accommodations for Hearing-Impaired Workers. This bulletin, prepared in collaboration with the National Hearing Conservation Association alliance participants, industry representatives and other federal agencies, offers emergency/evacuation response and workplace safety and health considerations for hearing-impaired employees. OSHA Education Center Offers Disaster Site Worker Training Programs    The Great Lakes Regional OSHA Training Institute Education Center (Great Lakes Center) is offering, through the University of Minnesota Midwest Center for Occupational Safety and Health, the new OSHA 5600 Disaster Site Worker Train-the-Trainer Course. This course prepares experienced occupational safety and health trainers to teach the introductory OSHA 7600 Disaster Site Worker Program class, which is designed to raise awareness about the safety and health hazards at natural and manmade disaster sites and ways to address those hazards. The OSHA 7600 course is being offered by Eastern Michigan University, a component of the Great Lakes Center. Prerequisites to the OSHA 5600 Train-the-Trainer course include Hazardous Material Emergency Response 40-hour Training, Safety and Health Training for Hazardous Waste Site Personnel and OSHA 500 Trainer Course in Occupational Safety and Health for Construction. Information on all courses offered through OSHA's education centers is available on the OSHA Training Institute Education Center Web site. Idaho Site Achieves SHARP Recognition    OSHA's Seattle Region recognized R.C. Bigelow Inc.'s Bigelow Teas Boise, Idaho, facility as a Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) site during an Aug. 2 ceremony. Richard Terrill, regional administrator, presented the award and praised the company for its exemplary safety and health management system and maintaining an injury and illness case rate well below the industry average. SHARP is designed to provide incentives and support to employers who implement and continuously improve effective safety and health management systems at their worksites. New Partnerships Forged with OSHA     Two new partnerships under OSHA's Strategic Partnership Program were recently formed that focus on reducing injury and illness rates in the workplace. Associated General Contractors' (AGC) South Dakota Building Chapter partnered with OSHA to target efforts on reducing fatalities and serious injuries during construction projects throughout the state. Ensuring the safety and health of workers at the Beaver Dam Medical Office Building Construction Project is the goal of a partnership with the state of Wisconsin and M.A. Mortenson Company. A key goal of the agreement is to reduce the state's total lost workday injury and illness incident rate to well below the national average. OSHA Co-Hosts Safety Fair for Hispanic Workers and Families    OSHA's Tampa, Fla., Area Office, along with the University of South Florida, is organizing a free, day-long health and safety fair for Hispanic workers and their families on Aug. 20 at the Osceola Heritage Park Exhibition Building, Kissimmee, Fla. The fair will focus on working safely in the agricultural, landscaping and construction industries, with classes taught in Spanish by safety professionals. Topics include fall protection, trench safety, personal protective equipment, hazard communication and the safe use of forklifts, scaffolds, electrical and other construction equipment. Family members can attend cardiopulmonary resuscitation, food safety awareness and toy safety demonstrations. Free health screenings and kid friendly activities are planned. For more information, contact Charlene Vespi of the University of South Florida at (866) 273-1105, or Joan Spencer of OSHA's Tampa, Fla., Area Office at (813) 626-1177, ext. 3022. Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Texas Worksites In VPP Spotlight    OSHA's Philadelphia Regional Administrator Richard Soltan recognized L.F. Driscoll Company, Bala Cynwyd, Pa., as a Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) "Star" last month, highlighting its safety and health efforts during the University of Pennsylvania Hospital renovation project, the first Philadelphia construction site to receive this honor. L.F. Driscoll is the prime builder for the hospital, and is noted for having an injury and illness rate 41 percent below the construction industry average. On Aug. 2, Clean Harbors Environmental Services Inc.'s Lone Mountain facility in Waynoka, Okla., was praised by OSHA Dallas Regional Administrator John Miles for its outstanding efforts in maintaining an injury and illness rate 60 percent below the national average for their industry. Americold Logistics, Fort Worth, Texas, was also recognized for its safety and health management system. The company's plant receives and distributes refrigerated food products. Miles presented the VPP "Star" award to the organization, noting management's efforts in achieving an injury and illness rate "85 percent below their industry average." OSHA's Lubbock, Texas, Area Office Director Richard Tapio applauded GE Medical Information Technologies of El Paso, Texas, for its outstanding efforts in offering bilingual training, and maintaining a below industry rate for injuries and illnesses for the past three years. Laser Technology, Cleaning and Maintenance Industries Focus of Latest National Alliances     OSHA established two new national alliances earlier this month highlighting workplace safety and health. ISSA (formerly known as the International Sanitary Supply Association) joined with OSHA on Aug. 5 to focus efforts on fostering safer and more healthful work environments for workers in the cleaning and maintenance industry. Reducing and preventing workplace exposure to laser beam and non-beam hazards in industrial and medical workplaces is the goal of OSHA's Alliance with the Laser Institute of America. The agreement will focus on providing access to training resources for OSHA staff and employers and workers that use lasers in the workplace. OSHA Forms Regional Alliances     Region I: Signing on with OSHA's Bridgeport and Hartford, Conn., Area Offices was the Connecticut Tree Protective Association (CTPA). The alliance will focus on developing education programs for CTPA members on safety topics and hazards affecting workers in the tree care industry. Ensuring safe and healthful working conditions for workers in Rhode Island's nursery and landscaping industries is the goal of an alliance among OSHA's Providence, R.I., Area Office and the Rhode Island Nursery and Landscape Association. Alliance participants will design safety training programs on reducing and preventing hazards such as chemical exposures, noise, overhead power lines, inadequately guarded portable power tools, mechanical power transmission apparatus, insufficient use of personal protective equipment, musculoskeletal injuries and motor vehicle crashes. Bay State's vocational education students and their teachers will benefit from an alliance between OSHA's Massachusetts Area Offices and the state's occupational safety, education, vocational and teacher organizations. The aim is to empower students with the knowledge and skills gained through alliance member-coordinated education programs to help ensure a safe and healthful work experience. OSHA's area offices throughout Massachusetts joined forces with the Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Standards. Under the alliance, the organizations will develop training programs for municipal building inspectors on construction safety and health issues. Region IV: OSHA's Georgia Area Offices teamed up with Lamar Outdoor Advertising and Georgia Tech to form an alliance on reducing worker exposure to safety hazards on outdoor advertising job sites. The alliance will address safe operation of aerial lifts, fall protection, electrical and trench safety, and struck by hazards. Region VI: Furthering the safety and health of Louisiana workers is the goal of an alliance between OSHA's Baton Rouge, La., Area Office and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, which provides environmental, compliance and assessment services through comprehensive environmental programs. This alliance opens the opportunity for the two agencies to pool their resources by cross-training investigators on how to recognize hazardous situations in the workplace. Editor: Elaine Fraser, OSHA Office of Communications, 202-693-1999