Construction & Safety Acronyms

The newly revised 2010 edition of "Construction & Safety Acronyms" is now available for purchase. For details, visit www.lulu.com/product/paperback/construction-safety-acronyms/13052749

OSHA's Semiannual Regulatory Agenda is Available

OSHA's regulatory plan contains a statement of the Department's regulatory priorities and regulatory actions. It can be viewed at www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=FEDERAL_REGISTER&p_id=21872

Among other things, OSHA will be continuing its review of the Bloodborne Pathogen standard. It will also be looking at exposure to Crystalline Silica, Confined Spaces in Construction, Electric Power Transmission and Distribution; Cranes and Derricks, and Methylene Chloride.

Click the hot-link above to get the details and time schedules for various actions.

OSHA Appoints New Head of the Construction Directorate

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Michaels, Ph.D., MPH, has appointed Jim Maddux as the new director of the agency's Directorate of Construction, effective 20 December 2010. Maddux most recently served in OSHA's Directorate of Standards adn Guidance as teh Director of the Office of Physical Hazards adn Acting Director of the Office of Engineering Safety. Maddux has held several leadership positions at OSHA, including Director of the Office of Maritime and Acting Deputy Director for the Directorate of Standards and Guidance.

He began his career with OSHA in 1990 as a statistician in the Office of Statistics, and joined the Directorate of Standards and Guidance in 1998. Maddux has been a project director, author and contributor to numerous OSHA standards and guidance projects, including the payment for personal protective equipment standard, injury and illness recordkeeping regulations, ergonomics guidelines, and several maritime standards and guidance products. He has a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Maryland, University College, an associate's degree in computer information systems from Laramie County Community College, and an associate's degree in chemistry from Northern Wyoming Community College.

"Jim has been a valuable member of the OSHA team for over 20 years," said Michaels. "I congratulate him on his new position, and I am confident that he will be an effective leader in construction safety working to accomplish the agency's mission of protecting America's workers."

I will withold judgement on his appointment until I see how he performs, but I don't see any field experience listed in his credentials. Although field experience may not be necessary, it certainly gives an individual a different perspective.

Fatal Fall From Scaffold

Trying to convince workers on construction sites that scaffold platforms must be "fully planked," and to get them to understand just what that means, can be difficult. Often, they cannot understand why it is so important.

Well, you can tell them about the guy in Canada who fell 20 feet to his death because he stepped through an opening in the scaffolding on which he was working.

Canada's "Journal of Commerce" reported yesterday that a 60 year old worker was found dead after the accident - there were no witnesses to the accident.

Read the whole story at www.journalofcommerce.com/article/id41936/