OSHA Update - 

"Construction" or "Maintenance," What OSHA Standards Apply?

I found the following article in the Contractor Supply web site and thought you might be interested. 

Most OSHA guidelines are pretty clear: this distinction isn't.

In most cases, deciding what OSHA standard applies to the work in question is straight forward.  When it comes to deciding whether certain work is "construction," subject to OSHA's Construction Standards, or "maintenance," subject to OSHA's General Industry Standards, however, the answer is not always so clear.  A new OSHA Directive on Highway Construction Work Zones, CPL 02-01-054, issued in October 2012, offers some new insights on how to answer this question.[1]

Correctly deciding whether particular work comes under OSHA's Construction or General Industry Standards is essential to an employer's efforts to assure compliance and its ability to limit its legal liability.  While some OSHA safety and health requirements are identical under both the Construction and General Industry Standards - Hazard Communication is one example - many are very different.  For instance, OSHA's recent Crane and Derrick rule issued in 2010 applies to cranes used in construction work, but not when the same equipment is used in general industry work. 

Another area where the standards differ depending upon the type of work involved is confined spaces.  If the work is considered "maintenance," confined space entries are extensively regulated by OSHA's General Industry Permit-Required-Confined-Space Standard, 29 C.F.R. § 1910.146.  If, on the other hand, the job is considered "construction," only minimal training requirements for confined space entries apply.  29 C.F.R. § 1926.21(b)(6).[2] 

Many other OSHA requirements -- including fall protection and work zone protection -- significantly differ depending on whether the General Industry or Construction Standards apply.

Click here to read the entire article.

Source: jdsupra.com

Construction Fatalities Decrease in 2011

According to the Bureau Of Labor Statistics, fatal work injuries were down in 2011.  An interesting note is that fatal work injuries in the private construction sector declined to 721 in 2011 from 774 in 2011.  This is a decline of 7% and the fifth consecutive year of lower fatality counts. Fatal construction injuries are down nearly 42% since 2006.  However, even with the number of fatalities declining, construction still accounted for the second most fatal work injuries of any industry sector in 2011. Falls, slips or trips resulted in 666 worker deaths in 2011, about 14 percent of all fatal work injuries. Falls, slips and trips were the cause of 35 percent of workplace fatalities in the construction industry.  Struck by accidents caused a total of 472 worker fatalities and made up 10 percent of construction industry deaths in 2011. To see the complete article   http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.nr0.htm.  

OSHA Residential Construction

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will extend for three months its temporary enforcement measures in residential construction through December 15, 2012. The temporary enforcement measures include priority free on-site compliance assistance, penalty reductions, extended abatement dates, measures to ensure consistency, and increased outreach.

OSHA has been working closely with the industry to assist employers in complying with the new directive. Since October 1, 2011, OSHA's On-site Consultation Projects performed more than 2,500 on-site visits, conducted 925 training sessions and delivered 438 presentations related to fall protection in residential construction. OSHA’s regional and area offices also conducted more than 800 outreach activities on the directive. The Agency will continue to work with employers to ensure a clear understanding of, and to facilitate compliance with, the new policy.

OSHA will also continue to develop materials to assist the industry, including a wide variety of educational and training materials to assist employers with compliance, which are available on the Web pages for residential construction and the Fall Prevention Campaign.

Scaffold Safety Refesher

Here is a list of safety tips you should pass on as reminders to your employees to keep them safe on scaffold:

• Ensure scaffold is sound, rigid and sufficient to carry its own weight plus four times the maximum intended load without settling or displacement.
• Erect the scaffold on solid footing
• DO NOT use unstable objects, such as barrels, boxes, loose bricks or concrete blocks, to support scaffold or planks
• DO NOT erect, move, dismantle or alter scaffold except under the supervision of a competent person.
• Equip all scaffold with a guardrails, midrails and toeboards.
• Immediately repair or replace scaffold accessories, such as braces, brackets, trusses, screw legs or ladders, that are damaged or weakened from any cause
• Ensure scaffold platforms are tightly planked with scaffold plank grade material or its equal.
• Make certain that a competent person (per OSHA) inspects all scaffolding and re-inspects it at designated times. 
• Instruct employees about the hazards of using diagonal braces as fall protection.
• Access scaffold only by using ladders and stairwells.
• Keep scaffolds at least 10ft. from electric power lines at all times.

Narrow Scaffold Brake System

Granite Industries has recently introduced their new Roll Stop Safety Brake System (patent pending). This unit, attached to your narrow span scaffold (Snappy, Sonny, Perry, BilJax, Baker,Import Copy) helps you comply with OSHA standard 1926.452-(w) Mobile Scaffold (2-3) and also Section 1926.451-(f) Use-(5). Sold in pairs and easily attached to most narrow scaffold, you can apply a braking system to you scaffold while on the platform. www.birdladder.com