Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards for Fiscal Year 2021 (Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021)

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) annually posts the top ten frequently violated standards.  The purpose of this posting is to give employers the opportunity to fix these violations before OSHA inspects your project site.  When we discuss these with our clients and students we call these violations the low-hanging fruit for OSHA.  

1. Fall Protection, construction (29 CFR 1926.501) [related safety resources]
2. Respiratory Protection, general industry (29 CFR 1910.134) [related safety resources]
3. Ladders, construction (29 CFR 1926.1053) [related safety resources]
4. Hazard Communication, general industry (29 CFR 1910.1200) [related safety resources]
5. Scaffolding, construction (29 CFR 1926.451) [related safety resources]
6. Fall Protection Training, construction (29 CFR 1926.503) [related safety resources]
7. Control of Hazardous Energy (lockout/tagout), general industry (29 CFR 1910.147) [related safety resources]
8. Eye and Face Protection, construction (29 CFR 1926.102) [related safety resources]
9. Powered Industrial Trucks, general industry (29 CFR 1910.178) [related safety resources]
10. Machinery and Machine Guarding, general industry (29 CFR 1910.212) [related safety resources]

OSHA in a sense is providing you with fair warning that during an OSHA inspection these are the first thing they will be looking at.  Many of these items can be easily resolved before OSHA arrives, such as respiratory protection, hazard communication, ladders, fall protection training, scaffolding, and powered industrial trucks.  Remember these items must be documented and this can be easily done, also.

Future Environment Designs together with SiteDocs can handle the documentation and training requirements for the above safety hazards and have this information easily documented.  With SiteDocs this documentation is readily available on multiple devices allowing inspections in the field to be documented, stored, and made available upon request.  Future Environment Designs can not only provide your staff the training and documentation required either in-person, virtual, or through e-learning, but we can also create the written programs and inspections required under the various standards.  So visit our website and click on Contact to start discussing how we can help you be better prepared for an OSHA inspection.

EPA Warns New York City Residents about Dangers of Illegal Pesticides

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), last week, conducted an investigation of businesses in several New York City neighborhoods revealing dangerous and illegal pesticides are widely available.  Federal and state experts conducted 47 inspections and found 16 different types of illegal pesticides.  The pesticides were not registered by EPA and consumers have no way of knowing how dangerous they are, because they were not subject to testing requirements or manufacturing controls that are required in the registration process. In all, nearly 350 illegal products were collected from the businesses in just three days.  Store owners and vendors found with the illegal pesticides were given a warning and told why selling these products are dangerous and illegal.  Separate but related criminal investigations conducted by EPA with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the U.S Attorney’s Office, U.S. Customs, the U.S. Postal Service and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office produced similar results and several charges were made against individuals last week, resulting in 12 arrests.

EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck said, "I encourage all New York City retailers to check their shelves and make sure all their pesticides have the required EPA labels.  Consumers should be careful to look for the EPA registration number printed on product labels, and to follow the directions for use, storage and disposal.  If a pesticide product does not have an EPA registration number, it should not be purchased.”
“The sale of illegal pesticides poses a direct threat to the health and safety of our community. In the cases charged by our Office, that threat was particularly imminent in the Chinatown neighborhood,” said District Attorney Vance. “Some of these illegal products look and smell like cookie crumbs, making them dangerously tempting to children.  Some of the other products are so toxic that one small vial can kill an adult male.  It is my hope that our collective criminal and civil law enforcement actions will prevent future injury or death.”
The inspections, which took place the week of September 12, targeted stores in neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.  Among the items confiscated were various rodenticides, mosquito repellants and mothballs.  These items will be safely destroyed.
Under federal pesticides law, all products sold in the United States that contain pesticides must be registered with EPA.  Before a pesticide product is registered, the producer of the product must provide data from tests done according to EPA guidelines, to ensure that the product does not make people sick.  EPA then examines the ingredients and the way in which the product will be used, and assesses a wide variety of potential human health and environmental effects associated with use of the product.  Distributors and retailers are responsible for ensuring that all pesticides distributed and sold fully comply with the law.
Pesticides have been linked to various forms of illnesses in humans, ranging from skin and eye irritation to cancer.  Some pesticides may also affect the hormone or endocrine systems. In many situations, there may be non-chemical methods to control pests.   EPA recommends considering and using these methods as part of an overall pest management strategy.

EPA has created an illegal pesticides fact sheet in multiple languages, which it will be distributing to businesses and community organizations in the targeted neighborhoods.
In a separate series of actions earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Justice charged two New York City-based individuals, who together had distributed and sold thousands of packages of illegal pesticides in recent months, with misdemeanor violations of federal pesticide laws.  The Manhattan District Attorney’s office also charged 10 retail sellers with selling dangerous and illegal pesticides and with reckless endangerment.  Agents seized many more illegal pesticides from the individuals during their respective arrests.
For more information on pesticide regulation and enforcement, please visit the EPA’s Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/region2/pesticides.

Related articles

• Officials Arrest 12 In NYC For Selling Toxic Pesticides (newyork.cbslocal.com)
• Illegal pesticide bust in Chinatown (nydailynews.com)
• Pesticides Directly Correlated With Increased ADHD Cases in Children | Health Freedom Alliance (habwwe.wordpress.com)
• Pesticides in food linked to ADHD in kids (msnbc.msn.com)

 

Chemical Accidents Sickens 54 in Bohemia, NY

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Just before the Hurricane, the above headline was in Newsday, on August 19, 2011, regarding a chemical accident where two cleaning chemicals were accidently mixed causing 54 workers to become ill and requiring some of them to be hospitalized.  Workers were treated for symptoms including convulsions, dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath and vomiting.  Unfortunately, the report does not discuss the specific chemicals that were mixed.  It does mention that the company was using a new chemical for cleaning and did not fully purge the old cleaning chemical out of the system.
This incident highlights the importance of providing training to staff when a new chemical is added to the facility.  This will ensure the hazards of the new chemical will be understood and any problems that may occur with mixing chemicals are fully understood.  The most important part of this training is the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).  The MSDS is created by the manufacturer to warn the users of its chemicals about the dangers of the chemical, the personal protective equipment (PPE) needed, first aid necessary if exposed, the path of exposure, and other important information.  The training on the new chemical should be on the specifics of handling the chemical including any PPE needing to be used when using the chemical, the first aid procedures should an exposure occur, proper storing of the chemical, and any other chemicals that should be avoided or prevented from coming into contact with the new chemical.  Maybe if this training was done the individuals responsible for purging the system would have been more cautious.

Related articles

• NY cellphone workers sickened in cleaner mishap (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Chlorine Leak Sickens 20 at Sacramento Water Park (shoppingblog.com)
• Fumes at McDonald's leave 2 unconscious, sicken 9 (ajc.com)

Future Environment Designs Sponsors Vapor Intrusion Video

Future Environment Designs is proud to sponsor this informational video on vapor intrusion.  This video is designed as a public service awareness video on the dangers and concerns regarding vapor intrusion.  We hope this video is helpful and informative.

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• Future Environment Designs sponsors Bacillus anthracis and Anthrax Video (futureenv.blogspot.com)

Parkway Village, Queens, NY is hit with $117,000 OSHA fine.

Parkway Village Equities Corp., a residential complex, located at 81-26 150th Street, Queens, NYwas cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for nine violations of health and safety standards following an inspection begun November 1, 2006 in response to a complaint.

OSHA found that Parkway employees entered into crawlspaces known to contain asbestos or presumed ACM. OSHA found that Parkway did not perform personal air monitoring to determine the employee's exposure leve when entering the crawl space. Parkway also did not inform the workers of the presence, location, and quantities of asbestos; did not institute a training program; and did not label the materials as asbestos containing materials. Fo the above violations, OSHA issued Parkway four willful citations carrying a proposed fine of $112,000.

In addition, OSHA also found five serious violations and fined Parkway an additional $5,000 for failing to provide appropriate hand, eye, and face protection; respirator safety deficiencies; a lack of quick-drenching eyewashes; the absence of a hazard communication program; and failing to properly label and dispose of asbestos-contaminated material.

"The Pollution Within" from Plattsburgh, NY

This week I'm in Plattsburgh, New York for asbestos awareness and refresher classes. On the way up, on the train, I read an interesting article in the October, 2006 issue of National Geographic. The article's name is "The Pollution Within" written by David Ewing Duncan (learn more about this article at http://ngm.com/0610). It certainly seems lately their is a theme on the information I've been reading or exposed to lately. "The Pollution Within" is an article about the chemicals we are exposed to on a daily basis and their ability to enter our body and possibly accumulate in the body. It is very interesting reading especially after seeing the 911 movie we discussed in our previous blog.
An interesting point the article makes is that many of the chemicals we are exposed to everyday, have little or no scientific research on their effects on humans. Some of these chemicals show varying effects in animals, such as impacts on neurodevelopment, thyroid function, and reproduction. But very little is known about their effects on humans. Our exposure to these chemicals can come from the food we eat, the plastics we use for wrapping and storing food, our clothes, furniture, and cosmetics. Though there are potential health risks, using these various chemicals have saved lives (such as fire retardants) and may be worth the risks.
From this article we learned that in 2005 the European Union gave initial approval to a measured called REACH - Registration, Evaluation, & Authorization of Chemicals requiring companies to prove the substances they market or use are safe, or that benefits outweigh any risks. Needless to say the bill is opposed by the Chemical Industry and the US Government. The measure would encourage companies to find safer alternatives to suspect flame retardants, pesticides, solvents, and other chemicals. This bill would give a boost to the green chemistry movement.
The United States should not be opposing this measure, but should consider how we can support this measure and update our own laws to meet the challenge of achieving safer chemical use. The United States Government should be promoting and exporting our environmental protection and conservation expertise. As Green Building movement picks-up momentum, more data will come out on how these buildings pay for the extra costs with reductions in energy, and maintenance costs, and their ability to attract occupants that are willing to pay premium prices for the apartments, condos, or offices.
We need a better understanding on the various effects that chemicals have on our bodies and the potential effects that the interaction of multiple chemicals have on our bodies. Let's hope if the US doesn't get its act together regarding chemical exposures, we might get information from the European Union or data from the Green Movement to assist us with a better understanding of these effects.