| OSHA
News
National Ready Mixed Concrete
Association Partners with OSHA to
Reduce Injuries and Illnesses
Workers in the ready mixed concrete industry will benefit from a
partnership agreement signed by the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration and the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA).
John L. Henshaw, Assistant
Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health and James Russ,
Chairman, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association and senior vice
president with Aggregate Industries Management, signed the partnership
agreement in Washington, DC.
"I am very pleased that NRMCA and OSHA are joining forces to pool our
resources to significantly reduce injuries and illnesses," said John L.
Henshaw, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and
Health. "Partnerships like this one are valuable tools to help employers
realize value in workplace safety and health."
Among the goals of the partnership are a 30% reduction over three years
in the total case incident rate (TCIR) for member companies; increase
the number of ready mixed concrete producers who have formal safety and
health programs; decrease workers compensation costs for companies that
participate in the cooperative agreement; and increase the number of
ready mixed concrete employees who successfully complete the OSHA
10-hour and 30-hour training courses.
"NRMCA is looking forward to working hand in hand with OSHA to achieve
our mutual goal of eliminating injuries and illnesses to people who work
in the ready mixed concrete industry," said Thomas Harman, Director of
Safety Compliance for the NRMCA. "Our common commitment to a safe and
healthy work environment and our cooperation in achieving our goals will
produce positive results. This agreement allows us to pool resources and
get the job done."
The partnership will provide a number of benefits to participants. OSHA
agrees to participate in two training seminars per year, including the
NRMCA 10-hour safety course, annual convention seminars, and forum and
expo sessions. OSHA also agrees to provide compliance assistance
specialists to participants to discuss and clarify general industry
health and safety standards. The agency will help NRMCA identify
Voluntary Protection Programs' (VPP) participants who can facilitate the
partnership agreement by giving presentations to employers,
associations, and other groups within the industry.
NRMCA has written and implemented a program that evaluates a member
company's safety and health performance - SAfety First Evaluation
(SAFE). The program has three levels - gold, platinum and diamond -
which offer various levels of participation and incentives to member
companies as they improve their safety and health management systems and
reduce their injury and illness rates. OSHA incentives for achieving the
diamond level - the highest level of the program - include penalty
consideration should citations be issued and no programmed inspections
for one year after an OSHA onsite verification of diamond level status
members.
OSHA is dedicated to assuring worker safety and health. Safety and
health add value to business, the workplace and life. For more
information, visit www.osha.gov.
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PHOTO FORUM
Here is the scene from the north side of Interstate 45
south of League City on the way to Galveston. Three workers scaled scaffolding while
performing their respective tasks on an
elevated sign. Ironically, the work site
was adjacent to a funeral home under construction. Please
CLICK HERE
to email us
YOUR thoughts about safety on this jobsite, for comment
and review here. Do we need to add that this is NOT
an example of safe scaffolding or OSHA compliance?
COVER STORY / Storage Rack Safety
When do warehouse
storage racks need inspection?
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| Catastrophe in waiting? |
When was the last time you had
your warehouse and storage racks independently inspected for integrity and
safety? Would any of your supervisors or line managers respond,
"What do I mean "independent" inspections?
Or -- of greater concern -- would
they scratch their heads and ask "What do you mean, rack
INSPECTION?".
Few warehouse operators have aggressive in-house rack inspection programs
in place. Forklift accidents, collisions, dropped or misplaced
loads, and other incidents that result in rack damage may or may not get
promptly reported.
But even when a forklift hitting
the front end corner of rack #37 South gets reported, a typical management
response never goes beyond "let's go take a look," as if a quick visual
inspection alone will confirm that load limits and structural integrity of
the rack have not been affected by the accident.
It's as if, while other hazards "stand out" to otherwise
reasonable and prudent supervisors, there often is an absolute lapse in
concern for 100,000 pounds of rack and product collapsing in a pile across
the tight confines of a busy warehouse.
It is especially important to
have trained, competent and CONCERNED rack safety
personnel when there is a high degree of activity in the warehouse, where
there is the greatest risk of rack damage due to mechanical materials
handling equipment.
When a rack has been struck by a forklift, one of the first priorities
should be to identify any unsafe components in order to reduce the dangers
of collapse. Specific precautions and taking damaged segments out of
service immediately may be the only prudent response to prevent possible
risk of injury to personnel caused by continued use of damaged racking.
Rack safety is the employer's morale responsibility and comes with
substantial legal liabilities (civil and criminal). But supervisors
should also realize the potential hidden costs of a rack collapse:
- Replacing materials and
damaged goods
- Use of temporary storage
facilities
- General disruption
- Workers' compensation, general
liability and other insurance rate hikes following the loss
- Legal expenses from defending
actions resulting from an accident
- Potential OSHA fines relating
to violations of federal safety requirements
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