World of Safety
OSHA Updates Hazard Alert on Formaldehyde Dangers
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a revised hazard alert to hair salon owners and workers regarding potential exposure to formaldehyde when working with certain hair smoothing and straightening products.
OSHA conducted air tests during recent investigations and determined that formaldehyde was present at hazardous levels in salons using Brazilian Blowout Acai Professional Smoothing Solution and Brasil Cacau Cadiveu. As a result of these findings, OSHA issued citations for alleged violations including failure to list formaldehyde on product labels and material safety data sheets (MSDSs) provided to the products’ users.
In late August of this year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning letter to the importer and distributor of Brazilian Blowout Acai Professional Smoothing Solution, stating that the product is adulterated and misbranded.
Although the solution contains methylene glycol, which can release formaldehyde during normal conditions of use, the product is labeled “formaldehyde free” or “no formaldehyde” and does not list formaldehyde on the MSDS.
“Misleading or inadequate information on hazardous products labels is unacceptable,” says OSHA Administrator Dr. David Michaels. “Salon owners and workers have the right to know the risks associated with the chemicals with which they work and how to protect themselves.”
Info to go: To read the revised OSHA hazard alert on hair smoothing and straightening products, click on the Info to Go safety links here
Safety Director Resigned One Month Prior to Workplace Fatality
A company safety director resigned because he was certain that a serious workplace accident would occur. One month later, David Lenihan’s fears were realized when a worker was fatally crushed in a machine.
Duco International Ltd., based in Salford, England, has been fined the British equivalent of $318,000 for failing to ensure the health and safety of a worker and failing to conduct a risk assessment. The company was also ordered to pay costs equivalent to about $69,000.
Worker Mitesh Prasher, 24, died at a Duco plant near London on Jan. 15, 2008, while operating a machine used to check rolls of rubber and cloth for flaws. Co-workers heard Prasher cry out and found him unresponsive with his left arm, shoulder, head and torso trapped between a rubberized blanket and a roller. He died at the scene.
An investigation by the United Kingdom’s safety authority, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), found that the company had not assessed the hazards of using the machine and that proper machine guarding wasn’t in place.
Furthermore, Duco International Ltd. is said to have failed to provide sufficient training to workers using the machine.
“This needless tragedy is typical of what can happen when health and safety management systems fail,” says HSE Inspector Ray Kelly. “Had the hazards been assessed, the lack of any guarding would have been highlighted and this death could have been avoided.”
Info to go: Read more about machine guarding in the Info to Go safety links here
US Workplace Fatalities for 2010 Similar to Previous Year
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released a preliminary total of worker fatalities for 2010, stating that 4,547 fatal work injuries occurred. A similar number of workplace deaths, 4,551, occurred across the US in 2009.
Fatal work injuries in the private construction sector declined by 10 percent in 2010, compared to 2009’s figures, while workplace homicides declined by seven percent.
Fatal falls declined by two percent in 2010 (from 645 in 2009 to 635 in 2010), while fatal injuries related to being struck by objects or equipment were down four percent, to 402 in 2010.
However, fire-related workplace fatalities more than doubled from 53 in 2009 to 109 in 2010 and the number of fatal workplace injuries among police officers soared by 40 percent from 96 in 2009 to 134 in 2010.
The latest figures for Canada show that 939 workers lost their lives in 2009, according to the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada.
Oncology Nurses Face Potential Exposure to Toxic Drugs
A new study of 1,339 oncology (cancer treatment) nurses working in outpatient settings in Michigan has found that nearly 17 percent of them have suffered accidental exposure to toxic chemotherapy drugs through their eyes or skin.
Researchers from the University of Michigan’s School of Nursing say that nurses who have been exposed to the toxic drugs also tended to report that their workplaces had limited staffing and resources.
Unintentional exposure to chemotherapy drugs can increase the risk of a person developing blood cancer, along with potentially causing damage to the nervous system and impairing the human reproductive system.
Such exposures can be as dangerous to a nurse’s health as being stuck by a needle contaminated with a bloodborne pathogen.
British Train Driver Suspended for Allegedly Reading Newspaper
First Great Western (FGW), an operator of high-speed trains in England, has suspended one of its train drivers pending an investigation of a photograph appearing to show the driver reading a newspaper while in control of a passenger train moving at about 60 miles per hour (97 km/h).
An FGW spokesperson told BBC news that the photo, taken as the train emerged from a tunnel in Devon, England, was “frankly astonishing and appears to show behavior that falls way short of the professional standards we expected from our train drivers.”
Info to go: Read more about distracted driving by clicking on the safety links in the Info to Go section.
Workplace Bullying Claims Skyrocket in Victoria, Australia
Bullying claims in the Australian state of Victoria have spiked, doubling to about 6,000 in the past year, but many of the claims have little merit, according to WorkSafe Victoria.
The safety agency attributes the increase in claims to awareness over the death of 19-year-old server Brodie Panlock, who committed suicide five years ago after being relentlessly bullied by four co-workers.
Panlock’s former colleagues and the restaurant’s owner were fined a total of $335,000 in connection with the tragic case. Workplace bullying-related calls to WorkSafe Victoria rose dramatically after the court case outcome was publicized.
However, Ian Forsyth, executive director of health and safety for Workplace Victoria, says that only about 10 percent of the 6,000 complaints were referred to the bullying response unit and only about 10 percent of those referrals resulted in workplaces being investigated by inspectors.
Forsyth told a reporter that the term bullying is used quite loosely “to describe something that has gone against me or that I haven’t liked or something that I haven’t wanted to do.
“As a result, we are seeing a mismatch between what is being labeled bullying and what would really constitute bullying under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.”
The Act defines bullying as repeated unreasonable behavior directed towards a worker or group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety. Under Brodie’s Law, a new bill, workers convicted of bullying others may face up to 10 years in jail.
Some of the complaints that have been rejected include the termination of a construction worker who assaulted his supervisor after a discussion about unsatisfactory work performance. The worker claimed that his firing constituted bullying and was unfair because his manager deserved to be punched in the face.
Another rejected complaint came from a worker who claimed that her supervisor had passed by in a lunch area and greeted two co-workers, but not her. She claimed that the supervisor was trying to isolate and exclude her.
School Bus Manufacturer Agrees to Pay Employee $176,000 Plus
The US Department of Labor has reached an agreement with Blue Bird Corp., a Georgia-based school bus manufacturer, to pay more than $176,000 in back wages and interest to an employee who was terminated for raising safety concerns.
The case began when Blue Bird asked the worker to use a bucket lift truck to install Christmas wreaths.
The employee requested training in the operation of the equipment, resulting in a disagreement with management over whether the employee was trained. That disagreement led to the worker’s termination.
An OSHA whistleblower investigation found that the worker had been illegally terminated for refusing to work under unsafe conditions.
Young Worker Safety Blitz Sees 181 Orders Issued
A month-long inspection campaign aimed at ensuring the safety of 15 to 24-year-old workers in Alberta resulted in 181 orders being issued. However, no stop-work or stop-use orders were issued, meaning no young workers were judged to be in imminent danger.
Of the 181 orders issued by Alberta Employment and Immigration, three-quarters of those related to inadequate first aid training, emergency preparedness, dealing with harmful substances and hazardous materials or a lack of proper hazard assessments.
BC Wood Products Company Fined
A wood products company has been fined $50,538 by WorkSafeBC in connection with an incident in which a worker fell unconscious after climbing down a ladder to access a shutoff valve at the bottom of a manhole.
Ardew Wood Products Ltd. of Merritt, BC, was charged with allowing a worker to enter a confined space whose oxygen-deficient atmosphere posed an immediate danger, along with failure to identify a confined space at the worksite, failure to implement an appropriate confined-space entry program and failure to adequately train and supervise the worker.
Fines Levied in Child Labor, Migrant Worker Violations Case
A blueberry farm in New Jersey, its owners and a crew leader, have been ordered to pay fines in connection with child labor and migrant worker violations.
The US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division investigated Columbia Fruit Farms Inc.’s Hammonton blueberry farm and cited violations of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, including the farm’s failure to post housing conditions and ensure housing safety and health. Other citations allege the use of an unregistered crew leader, overcrowding, failure to provide safe transport, failure to ensure drivers were licensed and failure to register employees.
The farm was also cited for employing children under age 12, failure to maintain a record of these minor employees and failure to meet field sanitation requirements under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Owners Anthony DiMeo and William DiMeo, along with crew leader Sorel Rinvil, have been ordered to pay $28,449 plus interest. The owners have also agreed to ensure that any facility or property they own or control that is used for housing migrant agricultural workers complies with federal and state safety and health standards.
