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. 

PACNY's Second Day, Part Two - A Storm is Coming!

The second day of the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York's (PACNY's) 22nd Annual Environmental Conference started with a continental breakfast in the Vendor/Exhibit Hall at the Turning Stone Casino, which seemed fuller than previous conferences.  Ms. Deb Sanscrainte, of Aramsco & the Conference Chair and Mr. Joseph Cantone, of Colden Corp. & the PACNY President welcomed everybody & gave us opening remarks.

Ms. Reinstein discussing Asbestos Exposure

The first presenter of the day was the keynote speaker Ms. Linda Reinstein, of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) and the Global Ban Asbestos Network (GBAN), discussing "Mitigating Asbestos Exposure in the 21st Century."  It was a rousing presentation and very inspirational.  In addition, Ms. Reinstein announced the launch of her new kNOwAsbestos website.  A one-stop resource guide for you to learn about asbestos and what to do about it.  Our next speaker was Mr. Michael Misenhimer, of the Northeastern Subcontractors Association (NESCA).  His presentation was on "The Fight to Get Paid - Practical Strategies for Subcontractors" and included a valuable 11 point hand-out that he was kind of enough to allow us to add to our dropbox folder (under conference presentations) on Future Environment Designs website's resource page.  Mr. Misenhimer's presentation was on the 11 point hand-out that recommended that subcontractors investigate the General Contractor (i.e., credit evaluation); condition your bid on your payment terms, establish entitlement to prompt payment; clarify retainage provisions; use your payment bond rights and other important information on making sure you get paid-in-full.  His hand-out included example letters to use for each of the 11 points.  The end of his presentation brought us to the first break and time in the Vendor/Exhibit Hall.

Mr. Michael Misenhimer & his 11 Point Hand-out

We returned from the break to Mr. Richard Clarkson of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) discussing "Part 360 Revisions and Solid Waste Regulations".  Mr. Clarkson's presentation discussed the definition of friable asbestos; when fill must be tested to be reused; what fill must be tested for to be reused; waste transporter registration; and waste reporting & recordkeeping.  Our next speaker was Mr. Adam Schrader, of Ecospect, discussing "Healthy Basement, Healthy Home".  Mr. Schrader's presentation discussed the multitude of contaminants that exists in the home and the workplace and wicking/capillary action a source of moisture for floors & walls.  After Mr. Schrader's presentation, we broke for a fantastic lunch and more networking opportunities.

Ms. Sheryl Esposito at the FEDTC Booth in Vendor/Exhibit Hall

After lunch, the conference continued with Mr. Tom Stebbins of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York speaking on asbestos litigation, fraud in the litigation arena, and contradictory claims.  Up next was Mr. Bob Krell - PACNY's Media Partner Healthy Indoors Magazine and IAQ Technologies discussing "Avoiding Pitfalls of Mold Investigators & Remediation Projects."  Mr. Krell discussed the limitations of mold air sampling and using relative humidity for mold assessments; and discussed a rough method to determine if a HEPA filter is working utilizing laser particle counters for mold remediation.  Our final presenter for Day Two was Mr. Adam Andrews of the American Council of Accredited Certifications (ACAC) who discussed the "Advantages of Certification for Indoor AIr Quality".  Mr. Andrews discussed the differences between Third-party Accreditation Programs between Council for Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards (CESB), American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and National Commission of Certifying Agencies (NCCA) and ACAC's Council-certified Indoor Environmental Supervisor.

Adam Andrews Discussing ACAC's Council-certified Indoor Environmental Supervisor

That ended day two of the conference.  After the last presentation, we went to the Vendor's Reception in the Exhibit Hall.  Continued networking in the exhibit hall, spent time with Dr. David Dulford, of CanAm Environmental Safety, Dival Safety Equipment Suppliers; Grayling Industries; Frederico Demolition;  Aramsco; Duke Company; and our good friend and no longer competitor Mr. Steve Winograd, of EMSL.  We also had a great time at Dival's after party!  Day two's presentations provided valuable information that will plan on using in the various courses we offer at Future Environment Designs.  Stay tuned for Day Three as the storm hit Turning Stone that night.

Vendor's Reception in the Exhibit Hall

Related articles

• PACNY's Environmental Conference - Day 1 - And So It Begins!(futureenv.blogspot.com)

  ---

• 13 Days Till PACNY's 22nd Annual Environmental Conference!(futureenv.blogspot.com)

---



• PACNY's Environmental Conference - The NYSDOL Round Table - Day Three and So It Ends!(futureenv.blogspot.com)

  ---

• PACNY's Environmental Conference - The Very Technical Sessions - Day Two!(futureenv.blogspot.com)

  ---

All Eyes Turn To Turning Stone Casino For PACNY's 19th Annual Environmental Conference

This week is the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York's (PACNY's) 19th Annual Environmental Conference.  The conference is being held at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York from Wednesday, February 25 through Friday, February 27th.  The conference is New York's premier conference for the abatement and remediation industries.  Like most conferences it consists of meetings and a vendor hall.  Unlike other conferences, regulators usually participate and are the main speakers at the event.  Find the registration form here.  

Turning Stone Casino is a Beautiful Casino

Future Environment Designs (FED) is again sponsoring the event, find our booth in the vendor hall staffed by Ms. Kimberly Granmoe & Ms. Sheryl Esposito, you met both of them last year.  The ladies will help you get our new app for Negative Air Calculations and a parting gift.  If you can't make the event, we will be posting updates on our Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/angelogarcia3) with the hashtag #FEDTCPACNY.

FED's Booth in the Vendor Hall

Last year, the conference expanded to three days, adding the Proficiency Day designed primarily for training providers.  This year PACNY has expanded it to include other proficiency topics.  In addition to Mr. Kevin Malone of New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) speaking on the training regulations, Mr. Andy Oberta & Mr. Sean Hart will be speaking on the asbestos visual inspection standard American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM) E1368; and Ms. Diana Wolgemuth of Dale Carnegie speaking on "Incorporating the Human Element into our Business."

The Long Island Contingent for PACNY Last Year.

Technical sessions on the second day this year will include discussions on vermiculite, the new mold regulations, asbestos abatement, understanding ASTM D7886, and "Industrial Hygiene Lessons Learned from the World Trade Center Disaster."  Opening speaker will be Ms. Linda Reinstein of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO).  Other speakers include: Mr. Brent Kynoch of the Environmental Information Association (EIA); Mr. Christopher Alonge (is Back!) from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY); Matthew Darin from Bluepoint Environmental; Matt Sanchez from RJ Lee (guess what he will be talking about?); Dr. Marty Rutstein; Dr. Barry Castleman; Mr. Andy Oberta of the Environmental Consultancy; & Mr. Jack Springston of TRC Environmental Corp.  All should be great presenters with great topics!

Last Year's Regulatory Day

The final day of the conference is usually Regulation day.  It will start with Mr. Ed Cahill from EMSL (guess what he will be speaking on?).  It will then move to a roundtable consisting of asbestos and mold representatives from New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) from the engineering, enforcement, & legal divisions led by Dr. Eileen Franko, who is always entertaining and hopefully not offended this year.  For more details about the conference you can find the conference flyer here.  The conference is always fun and a great networking event.  The Cocktail Hour on the second day happens in the Vendor Hall and Wednesday night President's reception features Dan the Magic Man!  Hope to see you there!  Come by our booth and say hello.

Related articles

• New York State Mold Licensing & Minimum Standards Law Is Signed By Governor Cuomo
• PACNY Conference New Faces, New Discussions
• NYSDOH Announces The Imminent Availability of Vermiculite Analysis

Do You Agree That The U.S. Remediation Market Grows Nearly 3% in 2010?

News Release -- San Diego, Calif. -- The U.S. remediation business grew 2.9% in 2010 to $7.7 billion in total revenues, up from 1% in 2009, according to annual research conducted by Environmental Business International Inc. and published in its updated EBI Report 319 on Remediation & Industrial Services.  See Table of Contents and List of Figures for EBI Report 319.  Purchase EBI Report 319

Related articles

• CMM Realty Alleged to Have Violated OSH Act and Clean Air Act (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• San Diego County's Rise in Home Renovation has Star Glass San Diego Pushing Their Mirror Prices Down and Raising Their Production and Their Graffiti Guard Installations (prweb.com)

2010 PACNY Environmental Conference

On February 25-26, 2010, the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY) held their 14th annual Environmental Conference at the Turning Stone Casino and Resort in Verona, New York. This year it was not only an honor for me to attend the meeting but to also participate as part of the industry roundtable on the last day of the event. If you attended the conference this year you would have found that PACNY was able to get representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), United States Department of Justice, and as usual Mr. Chris Alonge, of the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL).
This year probably the biggest impact of the conference was the weather not cooperating with the conference, as the area was hit by a snowstorm during the conference and Long Island was hit with a snowstorm on Friday, the last day of the conference. This hurt the attendance at the conference including one of the speakers presenting and causing several vendors to be missing in action. It was a shame because those of us who attended had a great time and were provided with a lot of information. Vendors attending included: Grayling Industries; DiVal Safety; Aramsco; Fiberlock Technologies; Foster Specialty Construction Brands, and United Rentals to name a few. Dival Safety's booth was showcasing "Green Stuff Absorbent" an environmentally friendly product used to absorb chemical spills. The product can absorb over 325 liquids and chemicals allowing for a broaden HazMat response (visit http://www.divalsafety.com/ for more information).
All the presentations were held in the Tuscarora Room. My favorite presentation was by Mr. Kevin Cannan, President of AAC Contracting Inc, also a former President of PACNY. Mr. Cannan's presentation was a discussion of the industry and a look back and a look forward. I enjoyed it so much I forgot to take notes. Well done Mr. Cannan!
The other presentations included:

• The return of Mr. Craig A. Benedict, Assistant U. S. Attorney, and Mr. Justus J. Derx, Special Agent of the EPA, both discussing recent cases and their current focus in the industry. Both mentioned that their success has led to increased responsibility into new Districts. The major points of their presentation were:
• They view their work in the abatement industry as fighting a spiral down effect. Preventing the degradation of the quality of work in the abatement industry due to contractors/consultants not following the regulations.
• They have now done over 100 individual prosecutions and have not lost one.
• They are now focusing on air sample technicians and project monitors as aiders and abettors of violations of the Clean Air Act rule and making them culpable under standard.
• They are also focusing on the culpability of owners/general contractors on ensuring the legitimacy of the asbestos contractor/consultant.
• Other issues in the industry they discussed include:
• insurance fraud and the use of foreign workforces that are not on your payroll.
• contractors using foreign workforces not on their payroll.
• reminded asbestos companies should have policies on workers moonlighting and using their equipment and inventory.
• Ms. Kimberly Castillon, Assistant Area Director of OSHA, updated the attendees on current remediation industry enforcement actions, she discussed:
• Enforcement has become OSHA's number one priority.
• OSHA expects to perform 750-800 more inspections per year utilizing 130 new compliance safety and health officers. that have been hired nationwide.
• New/revised regulations that are in the pike include Hazard Communication, Silica, Cranes and Derricks, confined space entry for construction and combustible dust.
• The OSHA Region 2 statistics include 5,600 inspections in 2009. 26% of those inspections were in compliance. 13,000 violations were issued averaging 3 violations/inspection. 81% of violations issued were serious violations. The average penalty per serious violation was $1,024.
• Typical remediation industry violations - respiratory protection, recordkeeping, hazardous waste and emergency response, and asbestos.
• Mr. Andrew McClellan, President, Environmental Education Associates, spoke on the impending EPA Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Regulation going into effect on April 22, 2010. The major points included:
• Lead abatement is not covered by this rule.
• The rule includes kindergartens and childcare centers.
• If the amount of material impacted is under six (6) square feet interior or twenty (20) square feet exterior, it is considered a minor repair or maintenance and is not covered by the rule.
• Each project requires records be created and filed that must be maintained for three (3) years (recordkeeping requirement).
• Mr. Sean Hickey, Senior Vice President, Rose & Kiernan discussed the Insurance Market. His major points were:
• The insurance market is currently a buyers market.
• Commercial rate changes are averaging -5% with general liability dropping 6% and workmen's compensation dropping 3.7%.
• There is more competition in the Environmental insurance industry. In 2009 there were 15 carriers, now there are 30.
• Mr. Chris Alonge's presentation was exactly the same as the one presented to Metro-AIHA meeting in November (see our entry at http://futureenv.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html for the specifics). Mr. Alonge presented a revised schedule for the proposed new Industrial Code Rule 56. Submission to GORR by April 2010. Publish proposed revisions in May 2010 in NYS register. Finalized revisions take effect August 2010. Though I suspect that may be overly ambitious. We will see.

All in all the conference was very informative and well worth the trip. Turning Stone Casino was an excellent venue for the event, even though the weather did not cooperate this year. We attended the Pro Boxing Fight Night, the main event being a Super Middleweight fight between Brian Vera versus Isaac Rodrigues. It was my first live boxing match and the main event was a slugfest. The overall experience was outstanding and enjoyable. It was a pleasure to get together with old friends, and make some new ones. Thank you to the PACNY organization for honoring me by including me on the industry roundtable at the end. PACNY did a great job on the conference as usual, they deserve much credit and accolades for their hard work. We look forward to next year’s conference and hope to see you there next year.

Related articles by Zemanta

• PACNY Conference Opens on Thursday, February 25, 2010 (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• Results of the Metro NY AIHA's EHS Global & Local Update Meeting (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• Caution: Stats May Be Slippery (businessweek.com)