Search This Blog

Showing posts with label OSHA training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OSHA training. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 02, 2023

The 2023 PACNY Fishing Derby - A Beautiful Day on the Lake But Where Are All The Fish?

On Wednesday, July 12, 2023, the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY) held its 10th Annual Salmon Fishing PROAM tournament in Point Breeze, New York.  19 Boats were part of this year's tournament, one more than last year's tournament.  Unfortunately, Future Environment Design's boat this year was down two and only included Ms. Veronica Hansen-Garcia and Angelo Garcia, III but we were in the same boat as the previous year's "Catchin' Hell" piloted by Captain Tom Murray and First Mate Mike.

Sun coming up off Point Breeze

We would to send a great big "THANK YOU" to Darren Yehl of Cornerstone Training (CTI) and PACNY for organizing this event.  This event allows us to catch up with many of the PACNY members and see how the year is doing.  Here was this year's line-up of PACNY members and boats:

  • Cornerstone - Sunrise II
  • Cornerstone  - Legacy
  • Lozier - Richmond II Salmon Doctor
  • United Rentals - Tomahawk
  • Paradigm Environmental - Shotgun
  • Paradigm Environmental - Gone Costal
  • Sessler Environmental Services - Intimidator 
  • Republic - Double Trouble
  • Republic - Troutman
  • Future Environment Designs - Catchin’ Hell
  • Expert Environmental - Get Hooked
  • Abscope Environmental - Make the Turn
  • DiVal - Rally Killer
  • Aramsco - Mister 
  • Aramsco- Lake Runner
  • AAC Contracting - Bite Me
  • First On-site - 3 Dogs
  • Metro Environmental - Rusty Lure
  • Cornerstone - Bait Master

Our catch was a bleeder.

A beautiful day on the lake it was actually a perfect temperature with a slight breeze.  This was the first time we took a nap while fishing which was only possible because we only caught one fish the whole time from 6 am to noon.  Though it seems we weren't the only ones.  Thank you again Darren Yehl for making our trip worthwhile by giving us the fish you and your team caught.   After the weigh-in, a catered buffet lunch was provided by the Black North Inn, delicious as always, and the trophies/prizes were awarded.  This year's winners were:  

First On-Site with Captain Jason Matthews of 3 Dogs Sportfishing

We enjoy our trip to Point Breeze every year, however, we have a little trepidation about next year.  The fishing was really bad this year and it looks like we will be missing Sheryl & Matt, again next year.  We will have to decide what Future will do next year.  The event next year will be Wednesday, July 10, 2024.  We hope to see you next year! 


 

Thursday, October 28, 2021

New Head of OSHA Confirmed by the U.S. Senate! Doug Parker Will Take the Reins!

 It only took the United States Senate 1747 days to confirm a new head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)OSHA has been without a head since January 2017.  President Joseph Biden nominated Mr. Doug Parker on April 9, 2021, and the Senate confirmed him on October 25, 2021.  We have to remember that former President Donald Trunp nominated Scott Mugno in October 2017, but Mr. Mugno withdrew in May 2019 after waiting for 19 months for the Senate to confirm him.

Mr. Doug Parker, Assistant Secertary to OSHA

Mr. Parker had his Senate confirmation hearing held on May 27.  Obviously, many of the questions posed to Mr. Parker were related to the pandemic and the soon to be released OSHA emergency temporary standard regarding protecting workers from COVID-19 for General Industry.


Mr. Parker has served as the head of California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (CAL/OSHA) since September 2019.  In his confirmation hearing he defended CAL/OSHA's emergency temporary standard on COVID-19 and strongly defended OSHA's plans for a new emergency temporary standard.  Currently, OSHA's emergency temporary standard for COVID-19 only applies to healthcare and healthcare support service workers.

OSHA is 50 Years Old

It is obvious from his experince at CAL/OSHA and other similar safety-related organizations he has the skill set and leadership abilities to be the new head at OSHA.



Thursday, January 28, 2021

OSHA Announces The Annual Increase in OSHA Penalties Effective January 15, 2021

On January 8, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced effective January 15, 2021, in accordance with the Inflation Adjustment Act has increased the maximum civil penalties (fines) for serious, other-than-serious, and posting requirements to $13,653, from $13,494.  Failure to Abate violations has increased to $13,653 per day beyond the abatement date from $13,494 and Willful/Repeat violations have increased to $136,532 from $134,937.  These civil penalty increases were mandated by Congress, on November 2, 2015, through legislation that required all federal agencies to adjust their civil penalties to account for inflation.  OSHA increased their penalties on August 1, 2016, the link to our previous blog post discussing that increase is below.  Moving forward, as the legislation requires, the penalties will be adjusted each year based on the Consumer Price index.  Click here for the 2021 increase announcement.  OSHA will continue to do penalty reductions based on the size of the employer and other factors.  The OSHA January 8, 2021 details the penalty increase, minimum penalties, gravity-based penalty amounts, and serious willful penalty reductions.  In addition, OSHA launched a new website to provide information and guidance to employers on debt collection activity.  The site is designed to help employers pay their debts with OSHA click here to visit the site.

A serious violation, as this picture shows, would now result in a $13,653 penalty. 


Related Articles:

Tuesday, September 01, 2020

Final Phase of New York City Training Requirements for Construction Workers Arrives on March 1, 2021.

On August 27, 2020, New York City's (NYC) Council amended the administrative code of the City of New York in relation to the definition of site safety training full compliance date.  This amendment 2059-2020 goes into effect immediately and extends the compliance date to March 1, 2021.  New York City Buildings posted the following notification.  

In 2017, New York City's (NYC) Council amended the administrative code of the City of New York and the NYC building code, in relation to construction site safety training.  This amendment is called Local Law 196 of 2017 (formerly known as Intro. 1447).  It amends the administrative code by adding section 22-509 Construction site safety training courses.  Requiring the Mayor to establish by March 1, 2018, a program to provide equal access to construction site safety training.  This law has several deadlines and was established to make sure that construction workers in New York City all had a minimum amount of training.  This law has been updated and delayed twice, so far (click here for the FAQ on the regulation).

Properly capped rebar
The first deadline has passed already, beginning March 1, 2018, each permit holder at a building site for which a construction superintendent, site safety manager, or site safety coordinator is required shall ensure that each construction or demolition worker employed or otherwise engaged at such site by the permit holder or performing subcontracted work for or on behalf of such permit holder shall have successfully completed:
  • an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 10-hour class;
  • an OSHA 30-hour class; or
  • a 100-hour training program.
We are currently passed the second deadline of December 1, 2019.  Permit holders shall ensure each worker has an OSHA 30-hour card, SST card, a limited SST card or a temporary SST card and each worker who is serving as a site safety manager, site safety coordinator, concrete safety manager, construction superintendent or a competent person at such site shall have an SST supervisor card.

Recent OSHA 30-hour Construction Safety Course

If you are wondering what an SST card, a limited SST card, a temporary SST card, or an SST supervisor card is, well you are not the only one!  First, a Site Safety Training card (SST card) SST card, a limited SST card, a temporary SST card, or an SST supervisor card are cards that are issued by a New York City Department of Buildings Approved Training Provider (which at the time of my writing this, there are 102 training providers approved).

To get a limited SST card (which expires August 31, 2020) you must have taken one of the following training paths:
  1. OSHA 10-hour class with 20-hours of additional training:
    • OSHA 10-hour
    • 8-hour Fall Prevention
    • 8-hour Chapter 33 (Site Safety Manager Refresher) or 4-hour General Electives and 4-hour Specialized Electives
    • 4-hour Supported Scaffold User and refresher
  2. OSHA 30-hour class
  3. 100-Hour Training Program Approved by the Building Department
  4. Prior Experience
    • 4-hour Fall Prevention
    • 4-hour Supported Scaffold User
To get a temporary SST card (which expires after 6 months during which time training must be completed to receive a Limited SST card or SST card) you must have taken an OSHA 10-hour class.

To get an SST card (which expires after 5 years) you must have taken one of the following training paths, this card will be required by September 1, 2020 (unless the NYC Council pushes this deadline back):
  1. OSHA 10-hour class with 30-hours of additional training:
    • OSHA 10-hour class
    • 8-hour Fall Prevention
    • 8-hour Chapter 33 (Site Safety Manager Refresher)
    • 4-hour Supported Scaffold User
    • 4-hour General Electives
    • 4-hour Specialized Electives
    • 2-hour Drug and Alcohol Awareness
  2. OSHA 30-hour Class with 10-hours of additional training:
    • OSHA 30-hour class
    • 8-hour Fall Prevention
    • 2-Hour Drug and Alcohol Awareness
  3. 100-hour Training Program Approved by the Building Department
  4. Prior Experience
    • 4-hour Fall Prevention
    • 4-hour Supported Scaffold User
To get a Supervisor SST card (which expires after 5 years) you must have taken:
  • OSHA 30-hour class
  • 8-hour fall prevention
  • 8-hour Chapter 33 (Site Safety Manager Refresher)
  • 4-hour Supported Scaffold User
  • 2-hour Site Safety Plan
  • 2-hour Tool Box Talks
  • 2-hour Pre-task Safety Meetings
  • 2-hour General Electives
  • 2-hour Specialized Electives
  • 2-hour Drug and Alcohol Awareness
So that's how you get the various cards required under this local law.  The law doesn't end there.  The next compliance date is September 1, 2020.  By that date, all workers must have an SST card to work on most construction projects.

By the full compliance date, SST Cards & Supervisor SST cards will be required on most construction sites

Since SST Cards and Supervisor SST cards expire after 5 years, applicants must have completed training to renew the cards in the one-year period preceding renewal of the card (in other words if the card expires in September 2025, in the year from September 2024 to September 2025 you need to complete the training discussed below):

  1. SST Card (8 Hours)
    • 4-hour Fall Prevention
    • 4-hour Supported Scaffold User
  2. Supervisor SST card (16 hours)
    • 8-hour Fall Prevention
    • 4-hour Supported Scaffold User
    • 2-hour Tool Box Talks
    • 2-hour Pre-Task Safety Meetings
Local Law 196 of 2017 obviously, creates a minimum training requirement for workers on most construction projects, to visit the NYC Site Safety Training website click here.  Permit holders are required to maintain a daily log that identifies each worker and that includes, for each worker a copy of SST card, a limited SST card, a temporary SST card, or an SST supervisor card or proof of taking an OSHA 10-hour; OSHA 30-hour; or 100-hour training program.  Violations of this law will result in a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per untrained worker to be issued to the owner of the site, the permit holder, and the employer of the untrained worker (this could mean up to a $15,000 fine, based on contract language, to the employer of the untrained worker).  Failing to maintain the log will result in a civil penalty of $2,500.  The gradual phase-in, the list of General and Specialized Elective courses, and the recent release of what it will take to become an approved training provider all seem to imply that the later dates may be the actual dates of implementation.  As we see now.

Related Articles:

Monday, April 27, 2020

New Course Offerings From Future Environment Designs!

Future Environment Designs is proud to announce the development of several new e-learning and virtual training courses.  The first virtual training course is this Friday, May 1, 2020, at 10 AM.  We will be providing training on SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) the virus that causes Covid-19.  This training course will include three modules covering Covid-19 awareness, Covid-19 Pandemic Response Plan, and Cleaning, Disinfecting, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for SARS-CoV-2.  Click here to register for this course.  If you can't make the virtual learning course, we also created an e-learning Covid-19 course which also includes the three modules.  Click here to register for the e-learning course.  We created both courses to cover the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) training requirements for workers that have the potential to be exposed to SARS-CoV-2.

SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus)

We also created a four-hour e-learning course for bloodborne pathogens to meet the requirements of the OSHA bloodborne pathogen standard and NYS's Nassau County training requirement for the Environmental Hazard Remediation Contractors License.  See our blog post for more on the Nassau County requirements.  In addition, we created a Respirator Hierarchy course to try and clarify some of the confusion out there regarding respirators.  You can register to take either of these e-learning courses or any of the other courses we created at https://futureenvironmentdesigns.com/online-courses.html.  Also, remember if you take a number of training courses with Future Environment Designs the best value and price would be to sign-up for a training subscription at our patron page https://www.patreon.com/fedtc.


Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Filtering Facepiece Respirator or a Dust Mask or N95 Respirator versus a Surgical Mask





Back in 2011 we posted this video from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Respirator Safety Video discussing the difference between respirators and surgical masks is a very good video to better understand the difference between these two pieces of equipment that can protect you from particular hazards.

There is a lot of confusion currently (during the coronavirus pandemic) about the difference between these two items.  The video above gives you a basic understanding.  To expand on that information realize the surgical mask does not protect the user from what's in the air its not designed to be a filter.  It's designed to protect the public from what the individual wearing it has.  Hence its popularity in Asian countries where it is considered a courtesy to wear it when you're sick.  See the chart below for more differences.


The filtering facepiece respirator was designed for the purpose of being lightweight, easy to use, and protect workers from particulates in the air but they are single-use (they should not be used for more than 8 hours and you throw them away).  If you're interested in learning about this mask's history read this article written in Fast Company "The untold origin story of the N95 mask".  Unfortunately, like most respirators, these need to be fit tested to ensure they fit correctly and also need to be fit checked to ensure it is placed on the face correctly.  An interesting point is that air will take the path of least resistance, and that is why respirators need to be fit tested to make sure all the air goes through the filter(s).  It is also why workers with facial hair cannot wear tight-fitting respirators.  The facial hair creates a path of least resistance into the respirator.  Digg posted an interesting video that shows a person coughing and the difference between a surgical mask (designed to protect the public) and an N95 respirator (designed to protect the user).  Properly putting on and taking off the N95 respirator is also important to make sure all the air goes through the filter.  See the video below to ensure you are doing this correctly.  Remember you should follow the manufacturer's procedures when putting on or taking off the respirator.


One more point, don't touch the filter it could be contaminated.  If you do immediately wash your hands or if unavailable use alcohol-based hand sanitizer.  If you're sick you wear the surgical mask and keep your distance (3 feet or arms-length or the preferrable 6 feet) or better yet stay home!  If you are trying not to get sick you wear the N95 respirator.  However, if you have not been fit tested with the respirator, have not performed the fit check, have facial hair, or not wearing it properly then the respirator would be better off in a Doctor, Nurse, or Emergency Responders hands to help them with the shortages they are experiencing.  Just keep your distance or better yet stay at home!!! 
Enhanced by Zemanta

Sunday, March 15, 2020

OSHA Fines Increase by 1.8%

On January 15, 2020, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has increased the maximum civil penalties (fines) for serious, other-than-serious, and posting requirements to $13,494, from $13,260.  Failure to Abate violations has increased to $13,494 per day beyond the abatement date from $13,260 and Willful/Repeat violations have increased to $134,937 from $132,598.  These civil penalty increases were mandated by Congress, on November 2, 2015, through legislation that required all federal agencies to adjust their civil penalties to account for inflation.  OSHA increased their penalties on August 1, 2016, the link to our previous blog post discussing that increase is below.  Moving forward, as the legislation requires, the penalties will be adjusted each year based on the Consumer Price indexClick here for the 2020 increase announcement.  OSHA will continue to do penalty reductions based on the size of the employer and other factors.  The OSHA January 10, 2020 details the penalty increase, minimum penalties, gravity-based penalty amounts, and serious willful penalty reductions.

Wednesday, January 09, 2019

Most Frequently Cited OSHA Standards in Fiscal Year 2018

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) annually publishes the top ten most frequently cited OSHA standards violated in the previous fiscal year.  OSHA has published the stats for the fiscal year (FY) 2018 (which runs from October 1, 2017, to September 30, 2018).  Here is the list of most frequently cited OSHA standards:

  1. Fall Protection, construction (1926.501)
  2. Hazard Communication Standard, general industry (1910.1200)
  3. Scaffolding, general requirements, construction (1926.451)
  4. Respiratory Protection (1910.134)
  5. Control of Hazardous Energy (lockout/tagout), general industry (1910.147)
  6. Ladders, construction (1926.1053)
  7. Powered Industrial Trucks, general industry (1910.178)
  8. Fall Protection - training requirements, construction (1926.503)
  9. Machinery & Machine Guarding, general requirements, general industry (1910.212)
  10. Eye and Face Protection (1926.102)
OSHA performed a total of 32,020 inspections in FY 2018.  In 2017, there were 971 fatalities in the construction industry which were 20.7% of total private industry fatalities.  The fatal four (falls, struck by, electrocution, & caught-in/between) were responsible for 59.9% of construction worker deaths in 2017.

The top 10 violations in the Remediation Servies Industry (which includes asbestos abatement, lead abatement, crime scene cleanups, oil spill cleanup, mold remediation, and hazardous materials remediation companies) were:
  1. Asbestos (1926.1101)
  2. Respiratory Protection (1910.134)
  3. Lead (1926.62)
  4. Hazard Communication (1910.1200)
  5. Permit-required Confined Spaces (1910.146)
  6. Inorganic arsenic (1910.1018)
  7. Duty to have Fall Protection (1926.501)
  8. Electronic Submission of Injury and Illness Records to OSHA (1904.41)
  9. Scaffolding, general requirements (1926.451)
  10. Ladders (1926.1053)
Interesting how the top four violations in the remediation industry should be the industry's specialty.


Since the silica standard has been in effect since September 23, 2017, we looked to see how many citations were issued in FY 2018.  OSHA performed 202 inspections in reference to the silica standard (1926.1153) and issued 556 citations for total penalties of $815,426.  The top 10 industries cited were:
  1. Masonry Contractors
  2. Poured Concrete Foundation and Structure Contractors
  3. Commercial & Institutional Building Construction
  4. Water & Sewer Line & Related Structures Construction
  5. Highway, Street, & Bridge Construction
  6. Site Preparation Contractors
  7. Residential Building Contractors
  8. Flooring Contractors
  9. All Other Specialty Trade Contractors
  10. Siding Contractors

As you can see OSHA is still performing inspections and still issuing citations.  Though silica standard is fairly new OSHA conducted almost triple the inspections than it did regarding asbestos.  However, OSHA's focus is definitely on falls, struck by, electrocutions, and caught-in/between. 

Friday, November 16, 2018

Local Law 196 of 2017 Deadlines Extended.

On November 8, 2018, New York City Department of Buildings tweeted about extending the deadlines for construction training under Local Law 196 of 2017.  Click here to see the tweet.  This pushes back the training requirements deadline from December 1, 2018, to June 1, 2019.  Currently, to work on most construction projects all that is required is an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 10-hour construction safety course card.  This requirement will continue to be required until June 1, 2019.


After June 1, 2019, construction workers will be required to have 30-hours of training either by taking an OSHA 30-hour construction safety course or by getting 20 additional training hours over the OSHA 10-hour construction safety course.  Those 20 additional training hours must consist of an 8-hour fall protection course, a 4-hour scaffold user course, and an 8-hour site safety manager refresher course.


The next deadline has also been extended to September 1, 2020.  That deadline will require individuals taking the OSHA 10-hour construction safety course to take 30 additional hours of training or those individuals taking the OSHA 30-hour construction safety course to take 10 additional training hours.  For more information click here for the NYC Buildings Department November 2018 Service Update explaining these changes and requirements.

Related Articles:

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

A Beautiful Day for Fishing at the 5th Annual PACNY Salmon Fishing Pro-Am

As we posted in our last blog post, this summer was going to be busy.  Well, the annual salmon fishing trip was a success, again!  We took the 5th Annual journey to Point Breeze to participate in the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (#PACNY) Salmon Fishing Pro-Am Derby.  This year 14 boats participated in the derby.  We left from Orchard Creek to fish the Great Lake of Ontario at 6 AM.  As the same as last year, Future Environment Design's (#FEDTC) had the same boat as last year "Catchin Hell" piloted by Captain Tom and First Mate Mike. 

Sunrise on Lake Ontario
 As always, a great big "THANK YOU" to Darren Yehl of Cornerstone Training (CTI) and PACNY for organizing this event.  This event allows us to catch up with many of the PACNY members and see how the year is doing.  Here was this year's line-up of PACNY members and boats:

  • DiVal - Reel Excitement
  • DiVal - Get Hooked
  • Sessler - Intimidator
  • Abscope - Rusty Lure
  • FEDTC - Catchin Hell
  • Rochester Environmental - Irish Thunder
  • CTI - Sunrise II
  • CTI - Legacy
  • NRC - Reflection
  • Paradigm - Free Spirit
  • ECG - Richmond 4
  • AAC - Screaming Reels
  • Aramsco - Runnin Rebel
  • NRC - Troutman

Headin out to Lake Ontario

It was a beautiful day, the Lake was a little rough and because of it, we bounced around a bit on the way out to our fishing spot.  Captain Tom & First Mate Mike did a great job handing us the poles and giving us encouragement as we reeled in our catches.  We stayed on the lake until about noon and then came ashore to weigh our catches and see who won the derby.  After the weigh-in, a catered buffet lunch was provided by the Black North Inn and awarding the trophies/prizes.  This year's winners were:

Dival/Reel Excitement for the Big Fish and the Box
We had a great time, we caught 3 King Salmon and 3 Steelhead Trout.  We are looking forward to some good eating over the year as we usually bring all the fish home to have some over next few days and then freeze the rest to have until next year's catch.  Thank you to Darren Yehl for adding to what we brought home.  We did our special recipe of brown sugar, kosher salt, and scotch whiskey on the fish to have our version of lox and it is delicious!  See below for links to our fishing stories, see you next year!






Monday, May 07, 2018

PACNY's Environmental Conference, Part Three - Bomb Cyclone Hits

Winter Storm Riley at Turning Stone Casino
On the final day of the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY) 22nd Annual Environmental Conference, we awoke in the middle of Winter Storm Riley which turned into a Nor'easter and hit Turning Stone Casino between Thursday night & Friday Morning, March 1-2, 2018 with about 7 inches of snow.  Some attendees left before the storm hit putting a further dampener on attendance.  Because of the storm, there was some concern that New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) would not be able to attend.  Because of a good Samaritan who helped NYSDOL representatives who were in the area get to the conference and the technological genius of Bob Krell, of Healthy Indoors Magazine, and Kevin Hutton, of Cornerstone Training, Dr. Eileen Franko was also present.

Peter Delucia, of AAC Contracting, discussing Crystalline Respirable Silica
The last day of the conference started with Peter Delucia, AAC Contracting, discussing "Managing the Many Facets of the Silica in Construction Standard."  Mr. Delucia did a great job presenting on topic and provided some excellent references related to preventing exposures, sampling, and complying with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) silica standard 1926.1153.  Mr. Delucia's presentation helped us develop our training courses for silica and our blog post "OSHA's Silica Standard - What's All the Fuss About?, Part Two".

NYSDOL's Presentation with Dr. Franco on Screen

The final presentation of the conference was the managers from NYSDOL, the Director Dr. Eileen Franko, present by video conference; Program Manager of Asbestos Control Bureau, Mr.  James Meachum PE;  Program Manager of Licensing & Certification Unit, Mr. Kirk Fisher; and Program Manager of Engineering Services Unit, Mr. Ed Smith, PE.  Some of the major points included:

  • Mr. Smith, announcing that they are looking into releasing some Fast Track Variances that would speed up the process of filing for a variance.  These variances could be used as they are written with no changes and those could be approved faster.
  • Mr. Smith gave us an update on the changes to Industrial Code Rule 56, including a Senate Bill (S06492) and Assembly Bill (A08254) that would remove the 1974 date from regulation for demolitions.  Mr. Smith also discussed some of the changes to New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) asbestos regulation Title 15.
  • Mr. Fisher announced a change in filing for a mold license for assessment and remediation companies that will require separate applications for a company license and an individual license for owners.
  • After being questioned when the removal of social security numbers from asbestos application process would happen.  Mr.Fisher informed us that would not happen in the foreseeable future.  The system they have is antiquated and there is no funding for updating it.  The system uses social security numbers to identify the holders of the various certificates.
  • Mr. Meachum discussed full-time asbestos project monitoring and the responsibilities of the project monitors being added to asbestos variances.
  • Mr. Meachum discussed the mold fact sheets that NYSDOL developed and they strongly recommend the fact sheets be provided to mold assessment/remediation clients.  In addition, Mr. Meachum announced that the first violations were sent out under Article 32, the Mold Licensing Law.  The violations were for not having a license and performing work and/or advertising as a mold professional. 

Steve Winograd & me at the PACNY Conference 
Attendance on the last day was down but it was still an excellent conference with lots of useful information.  We cannot say this enough about the excellent and hard work that Ms. Deborah Sanscrainte, of Aramsco, the conference chairperson and Ms. Lisa Brown, of Summit Environmental, Administrator put in to make the conference as good as it is.  Congratulations to the PACNY Board, as they continue to show why they are leaders for the abatement industry in New York State.

Thursday, January 04, 2018

OSHA's Silica Standard - What's All The Fuss About? Part One

Happy New Year!  May your New Year be healthy, profitable, & peaceful!  This blog post we will talk about the silica regulation and what the fuss is all about.  We've heard from some of our clients that they are concerned that the regulation is like the asbestos regulation.  Well in reality the regulation is more like the lead regulation than the asbestos regulation.  The big drop in the permissible exposure limit makes it similar to the asbestos regulation in that visible dust exposures may result in violations, but that's where it ends for similarity.  Table 1 of the silica standard is similar to the 1926.62 (d) (2) of the lead standard which is Protection of Employees During Assessment of Exposure.  Where based on a certain task (i.e., scrapping lead paint) the employer must comply with all parts of the standard, including the use of respirators.  Table 1 in a sense has a similar requirements.
Spraying Water to Keep Dust Levels Down Will Become Common Place
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released the final rule for respirable crystalline silica 1926.1153 on March 25, 2016 with compliance dates more than one year past the publication date.  Giving the various industries regulated by the standard plenty of time to comply.  In fact, the construction industry was the first industry required to comply by June 23, 2017, however, the current administration delayed the standard until September 23, 2017 giving the construction industry additional time to comply.  In addition, OSHA's silica website is quite robust with guidance documents in helping the industry comply.  With all this time to comply, including challenges to the standard that the courts eliminated, and equipment manufacturers having time to review Table 1 of the standard, complying with the standard is pretty straightforward if you are performing any of 18 tasks in Table 1.

Table 1 tasks involve exposures to respirable crystalline silica when the following tools are used on concrete, brick, block, stone, mortar, and other materials that contain crystalline silica:
  • Stationary masonry saws;
  • Handheld power saws;
  • Handheld power saws for cutting fiber-cement board;
  • Walk-behind saws;
  • Drivable saws;
  • Rig-mounted core saws or drills;
  • Handheld and stand-mounted drills (including impact and rotary hammer drills);
  • Dowel drilling rigs;
  • Vehicle-mounted drilling rigs;
  • Jackhammers and handheld powered chipping tools;
  • Handheld grinders for mortar removal (i.e., tuckpointing);
  • Handheld grinders for uses other than mortar removal;
  • Walk-behind milling machines and floor grinders;
  • Small drivable milling machines;
  • Large drivable milling machines;
  • Crushing machines; and
  • Heavy equipment and utility vehicles when used to abrade or fracture silica containing materials (i.e., hoe-ramming or rock ripping) or used during demolition activities; and 
  • Heavy equipment and utility vehicles when used for tasks such as grading and excavating.
Doing tasks in this manner, we hope will be a thing of the past!
If your work involves Table 1 tasks then determine how long your workers do those tasks and follow the requirements.  If the requirements require a respirator then you may want to reduce the time period a worker does a task so a respirator is not required.  This would be considered an administrative control under hierarchy of controls and perfectly acceptable.  Once you have determined the tasks, the controls, and time periods, the next step is to write your exposure control plan.  The exposure control plan details the tasks, controls, and time periods/respirator requirements and designating a competent person to ensure the exposure control plan is enforced.  The final step is to train the workers and the competent person on the exposure control plan so everyone understands and knows what is required under the plan.

Wearing A Respirator, Adds Significant Costs for Silica Projects

If your exposure control plan requires respirator, then you must meet the requirements of the respirator standard 1910.134, see our blog post regarding the directive which tells you how this standard would be enforced.  This standard would require a medical evaluation of workers to ensure they can wear a respirator, annual respirator fit testing, and annual training on the use of the respirator.  Respirator standard would also require a written program and the designation of a competent person to administer the written program.  In addition, the silica standard would require you provide a medical exam, specifically for silica, if workers use respirators for 30 days or more in a calendar year.  This medical would be required every 3 years.  The medical must include:
  •  medical & work history; 
  • chest x-ray;
  • pulmonary function test; 
  • physical exam focused on the respiratory system; and
  • testing for latent tuberculosis infection.  
After all of the above, the final steps in compliance is maintaining the records, in accordance with 1910.1020, and updating the plans on an annual basis.  1910.1020 standard requires that exposure records be maintained for 30 years from the date of creation and medical records be maintained for duration of employment plus 30 years. 
More Projects Will Look Something Like This
Based on the above information, we think it is pretty obvious that you want to eliminate tasks that involve the use of respirators or reduce the amount time a worker does a task that might require a respirator.  Doing so eliminates the need for the silica medical exam and all the requirements under the respirator standard.  The long term costs involved with meeting the requirements for using a respirator (silica medical exam & respirator standard requirements), we think would outweigh the cost of improving equipment used by workers to meet the requirements of Table 1 for each of the tasks.  We have added some silica courses to our schedule to help you comply with the new standard.  Visit our website for more information.  Happy New Year and Be Safe!  

Monday, December 11, 2017

LITE 2017 Is All About The Fundamentals, Future Environment Designs Develops An Online Course!

Future Environment Designs (FEDTC) would like to wish all of you a Merry Holiday and a Happy New Year!  We look forward to seeing all of you in the New Year.  In September, FEDTC attended the 2017 Leadership, Innovation, Technology, & Evolution (#LITE2017) annual conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.  We attended last year's #LITE2016 conference and wrote about our experience (see Future Environment Designs Attends the LITE 2016 Conference & Is Inspired!).  The conference is run by Administrate, which is the company now handling our training and customer administration.  As many of you know, we use Administrate to provide you digital access to our course manual.  Because of the information we learned this year, you now have access to the exam review slides we use in our classes.  We now offer a few Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) courses online (i.e., respirator users and asbestos awareness) and on adding more.  What attracted us to the LITE conference this year was our desire to delve deeper into the Administrate program and to learn best practices in managing our business.  This year the conference exceeded those goals.  This year there weren't as many inspiring speakers, but many of the speakers gave us fundamental knowledge of the Administrate program and its capabilities.

View from Administrate's Offices
Like last year, the conference followed two tracks Evolution and Innovation, which we mixed and matched the various presentations throughout both days.  All the presentations from the conference can be seen at Administrate's website.  It started with opening remarks from John Peebles the CEO of Administrate, filling us in on Administrate's growth in the United States (based out of Bozeman, Montana) and in the Middle East (based out of Beirut, Lebanon).  Followed by Mike McGrail (@Mike_McGrail, formerly of Administrate and now with Velocity Digital, no kilt this time), speaking on "Busting Modern Marketing Myths".  We then listened to Simon Greany, of Elucidat, discuss "Big Learning: 4 Strategies to Help You Unlock New Revenue Streams with Digital Learning."

Natasha Serafimovska Presentation on Financial Reporting
Many of the presentations afterwards were delving into the inner workings of  the Administrate programs.  These presentations helped us get the best out of the program or gave us ideas of how to improve the information we get from the program.  For example, the presentation by Siobhain Murdoch and our Account Rep Natasha Serafimovska, both from Administrate, discussed "Common Course Pricing Strategies for Training Companies."  From their presentation we learned about creating subscriptions, how training tokens work and how to offer them.   Siobhain Murdoch then joined together with Loki Lau, of Administrate, to discuss "A Deep Dive Into Course Templates," which taught us how to improve the course templates and in particular adding photos to the templates.  Gilles Bell's, of Administrate, presentation on "How to Communicate More Effectively With Students and Customers" provided some ideas we will be implementing with our communications moving forward (first changes will be with the Safety Suzy Newsletter coming out before the end of this month).  The second day started with a 1-2-1 session with our Account Rep Natasha Serafimovska to help us better understand the program and create several reports.  Mark Mullen & Jesse Vernon, both of Administrate, discussed "How to Improve Instructor Led Training (ILT) with eLearning" which made us realize we can significantly improve the materials we are providing you online. 

Ryan Cochrane's presentation on Creating Content That Converts to Leads
Based on the information we learned we have already made several improvements.  For all asbestos refresher courses the manual is online as many of you know already.  In addition, the review for all the asbestos refresher exams is now online, too.  We've created our first online course the respirator user course.  This course is required annually by anyone who uses a respirator.  This will allow you to take the respirator user course "At Your Convenience."  We plan on adding more courses and creating a separate landing page for the "Training At Your Convenience" service, that will include all the different ways we can train your employees, conveniently.  These improvements will help FEDTC continue to improve and offer more ways in meeting our goal of Keeping Your Employees Safe!

Sunday, August 27, 2017

PACNY's 4th Annual Pro-Am Fishing Tournament, Quantity over Quality!

The theme for this year's annual fishing derby was definitely quantity.  On July 12, 2017 we attended the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York's (PACNY's) 4th Annual Pro-Am Fishing Tournament (Derby).  This year, Future Environment Designs had its own boat called "Catchin Hell" piloted by Captain Tom and First Mate Mike.  There were 10 boats that went out of Point Breeze at Oak Orchard Creek to fish Lake Ontario.  A big THANK YOU to PACNY and Darrin Yehl for again sponsoring this Tournament (Derby), giving us more opportunities to get together and network.  Here was this year's lineup of PACNY members and the boats they were on:

Sunrise at Point Breeze

Dival Safety on the Reel Excitement
Dival Safety #2 on the (Just 11) Get Hooked
Aramsco on the Runnin Rebel
Abscope on the Reflection
Future Environment Designs on the Catch'N'Hell
Rochester Environmental on the Irish Thunder
Cornerstone Training Institute on the Sunrise II
Paradigm Environmental on the Free Spirit
NRC on the Intimidator
Sessler on the Rusty Lure

Catch'N'Hell T-shirt on First Mate Mike
As usual, the day started out beautifully with a nice sunrise over Lake Ontario.  We started loading the boats around 5:50 in the morning.  PACNY's Darren Yehl organized the event and did a fantastic job.  Everybody was ready for the shotgun start at or about 6:30.  We stay out on the lake till around noon.  Then come to shore for the weigh-in, a catered buffet lunch at the Black North Inn (which is always fantastic), and awarding of the trophies/prizes. As many of you know, we are a beer enthusiast and the Scotch Ale, by Rohrbach Brewing Company, available at the Black North Inn is fantastic.  Definitely one of the pleasures of the catered buffet lunch (see our reviews of this beer on Untappd).  This year's winners were:

Dival for the Box & Big Fish
We had a great time and was entertained by social media's busting on us for the size of our catch compared with our wife's catch.  But all in all, we caught 8 King Salmon and 2 Rainbow Trout which was the most fish we've caught over the 4 years.  Though we were in last place for the box (3 largest fish) and the biggest fish, we came home with a lot of fish for curing and eating, so it was a successful and fun trip, again!  It was great having our own boat and we plan on hosting our own boat next year.  If you think you would be interested send us an email so we can start making plans.  The Tournament (derby) is always on a Wednesday and usually the second or third one in July.  We're already looking forward to next year's fishing!



That Time of Year! Conferences, Posting Requirements, and OSHA Violations Increased!

It's that time of year again. We're between conferences.  February 15-16, 2024 was the Professional Abatement Contractors of New Yor...