OSHA is enforcing again

David- BYS · June 19, 2009

After several years of an administration that took the fangs out of OSHA, the fangs are being put back in. In the new stimulus package approved by congress, the goal is to higher 400 new OSHA field inspectors. This is important to us because on OSHA's hotlist are the three most common workplace accidents that result in injury or death:

1. Electric shock

2. Lack of fall protection

3. Crane accidents due to overloading or improper setup.

Sound familiar? The sign industry is one of the few sectors of the ecomony that comes into contact with all three of these daily...one the same job site!

Here is some info we have gathered from an OSHA expert in a recent meeting:

--They really get interested in outriggers & truck setup. They insist that the outriggers must be fully deployed everytime the crane is engaged. It is uncommon for crews to deploy the 'curb side' riggers & leave the 'street side' only partly deployed: wrong answer. The crazy thing is I see Missouri DOT guilty of this every day so they can avoid closing a lane of traffic. In the discussion with the OSHA expert, they said that the engineers have proved what outrigger scheme is safe. When crews start using 'logic' or 'creativity' on the site, trucks get tipped over. People get hurt.

They were also interested & photographed the truck chassis bubble level. The bed must be level, the bubble must be within the circle. Not touching the circle, no close the circle, within the circle.

--Outriggers must be set on a prepared surface. ** NOTE ** are you paying attention? the top of a curb is not a prepared surface. If the curb crumbles, the outrigger has someplace to fall. If it is set on an oversized ourrigger pad on bare earth, there is no place for the to 'fall.' You could argue the relative merit of concrete versus dirt, but I am confident you will lose the arguement.

--Cable condition must be perfect. No cut wires, no crushed cable, no untwisting wires, etc. If your cable doesn't look perfect, fix it now.

--What is the date on your fall harnesses for your crew members? What is a date on the lanyard? Can you find the date? Did not know harness & landyards came with expiration dates? Find out now. Not later.

--Here is the big one. This really caught us off guard. Traffic control. Find the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devises. They have a standard that if you close an interstate, you need these signs & controls, if you work on the right of way of primary road, there is a different standard, on a right of way of a secondary road, another standard, a private street on an apartment complex still has a standard. The bare minimum is posting a 4'x4' orange diamond sign saying 'men working' but you may need more so you'd better look.

These are the types of rules that we have not really faced before and after 8 years of a toothless tigar, many crew members have never worked under rules so strict, so make safety talks part of your daily meeting. Reinforce ladder safety, work boots, hardhat if needed, traffic control, safeing live circuits, and on and on and on...

imanut · June 19, 2009

After several years of an administration that took the fangs out of OSHA, the fangs are being put back in. In the new stimulus package approved by congress, the goal is to higher 400 new OSHA field inspectors. This is important to us because on OSHA's hotlist are the three most common workplace accidents that result in injury or death:
1. Electric shock

2. Lack of fall protection

3. Crane accidents due to overloading or improper setup.

Sound familiar? The sign industry is one of the few sectors of the ecomony that comes into contact with all three of these daily...one the same job site!

Here is some info we have gathered from an OSHA expert in a recent meeting:

--They really get interested in outriggers & truck setup. They insist that the outriggers must be fully deployed everytime the crane is engaged. It is uncommon for crews to deploy the 'curb side' riggers & leave the 'street side' only partly deployed: wrong answer. The crazy thing is I see Missouri DOT guilty of this every day so they can avoid closing a lane of traffic. In the discussion with the OSHA expert, they said that the engineers have proved what outrigger scheme is safe. When crews start using 'logic' or 'creativity' on the site, trucks get tipped over. People get hurt.

They were also interested & photographed the truck chassis bubble level. The bed must be level, the bubble must be within the circle. Not touching the circle, no close the circle, within the circle.

--Outriggers must be set on a prepared surface. ** NOTE ** are you paying attention? the top of a curb is not a prepared surface. If the curb crumbles, the outrigger has someplace to fall. If it is set on an oversized ourrigger pad on bare earth, there is no place for the to 'fall.' You could argue the relative merit of concrete versus dirt, but I am confident you will lose the arguement.

--Cable condition must be perfect. No cut wires, no crushed cable, no untwisting wires, etc. If your cable doesn't look perfect, fix it now.

--What is the date on your fall harnesses for your crew members? What is a date on the lanyard? Can you find the date? Did not know harness & landyards came with expiration dates? Find out now. Not later.

--Here is the big one. This really caught us off guard. Traffic control. Find the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devises. They have a standard that if you close an interstate, you need these signs & controls, if you work on the right of way of primary road, there is a different standard, on a right of way of a secondary road, another standard, a private street on an apartment complex still has a standard. The bare minimum is posting a 4'x4' orange diamond sign saying 'men working' but you may need more so you'd better look.

These are the types of rules that we have not really faced before and after 8 years of a toothless tigar, many crew members have never worked under rules so strict, so make safety talks part of your daily meeting. Reinforce ladder safety, work boots, hardhat if needed, traffic control, safeing live circuits, and on and on and on...

Interesting read ------- thanks.

gn

Erik Sine · June 19, 2009

--Outriggers must be set on a prepared surface. ** NOTE ** are you paying attention? the top of a curb is not a prepared surface. If the curb crumbles, the outrigger has someplace to fall. If it is set on an oversized ourrigger pad on bare earth, there is no place for the to 'fall.' You could argue the relative merit of concrete versus dirt, but I am confident you will lose the arguement.

This is very common place nad do seeit all the time. It has failed in one case with me. I sub out my crane work when it's needed, but one particular time one of the outriggers was on a curbside and sure enough it sunk in and almost did cause a huge problem as you can imagine while carrying over a load.

David- BYS · June 22, 2009

This is very common place nad do seeit all the time. It has failed in one case with me. I sub out my crane work when it's needed, but one particular time one of the outriggers was on a curbside and sure enough it sunk in and almost did cause a huge problem as you can imagine while carrying over a load.

When we are working off road, we have a set of railroad ties to compliment our set of outrigger pads. They really spread out the surface area which helps a lot. When used is pairs, they ae also strong enough to 'bridge' obstacles. Only bad news is once they are mud-slicked they are hell to get back on to the truck bed. A definate team effort.

Batch · June 23, 2009

OSHA has been ramped up down here in South Florida for awhile. The company I worked for for the 8 years of the previous administration had few OSHA incidents. Though they had some problems with EPA. Still we heard that the other companies were getting hit hard.

I have been with an other company for the last 7 months and they get nailed for shit that isn't even a violation.

Three citations issued last month and all of them were dismissed. Though obviously it cost money when they stop your job for something that isn't even a violation.

They are keyed in on fall protection. I see whole job sites without any type of PPE and OSHA sites a painter in a rented snorkel lift for no fall protection. Not a hard hat on a head at that site, no gloves, no eye protection, no hearing protection.

The more stringent OSHA rules went into affect in 2007 and ramped up enforcement started in in mid 2008. I read about it in EHS Today.

Here is a link to an article on the Bush administration and OSHA. I couldn't find the one I was looking for.

BTW if you want a subscription to this magazine I believe it free.

http://ehstoday.com/standards/osha/bushs_osha_no/

Batch · June 23, 2009

Here is the article that talks about the 2007 PPE and 2008 enforcement.

http://ehstoday.com/ppe/hand-protection/ne...and_protection/

In an effort to remedy the problem, OSHA established new mandates in November 2007 specifying that all employers must provide adequate and job-specific PPE for their employees at no cost to the employees and enforce its use. In May 2008, OSHA also began to cite violators and impose heavy fines, up to $7,000 per violation, to reinforce the importance of adhering to the regulations.