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.

Free Crane Standard Webinar

The new OSHA crane standard for cranes being used in construction takes effect on 8 November 2010. The OTI at UTA is offering a free webinar to help you understand the new law. It's on 21 September 2010 from 9 am to 11 am (presumably in the Central Time Zone). I don’t know how detailed this will be, but it is free. Click the link below to sign-up:
https://www.uta.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp1?~~oshawebcrane

Cranes Again?

Well, it looks like we just don't know how to operate cranes safely in New York City. Do you remember all that flap about tower cranes a couple of years ago? If you had cranes on your construction sites back then, you probably re-visited your crane safety policies and procedures. I know that I did. We were okay, but it certainly put the spotlight on how often I checked crane records. And I also found out that the State of Florida didn't require crane operators to be licensed. I also found out that the same was true in many parts of the country. But, that's another story.

To get back to the point, a couple of days ago in NYC, another crane collapsed into a building (read about it in the New York times of 3/27 and again on 3/28. Officials don't know what happened yet, but they believe that a contributing cause was that the crane operator did not lower the boom far enough before he left the site at the end of the workday. And, although they are not sure that there isn't another contributing cause, NYC officials suspended the crane operator's license.

Conclusions? Read the articles and you decide. But if I had a crane on my site, I'd be re-visiting my crane policies again.

Texas State House Proposes State Crane Certification

Well, here's another state that can't wait for OSHA to pass Crane Safety Reform Legislation. Texas HB 1807 was reported out of committee on 4/1/09 and will be scheduled for public comment. The bill itself isn't all that onerous, but their proposal to have crane operators, riggers and signal persons certified by 1/1/10 is just a little aggressive. Especially since there seems to be no companion bill in the Texas State Senate.

Another concern is for the necessity of the legislation. Not that we don't need meaningful crane safety rules, certification, etc., but OSHA is working on a national regulation for the same thing. Texas will run into some of the same problems as the national rulemaking - the lack of enough certification agencies to meet demand.

The other issue of concern is the need for State Legislation on this issue. What happens when OSHA's crane rules go into effect? If a crane operator is certified pursuant to the federal rules, will he/she have to get a state license too?

Anyway, it appears that the public hearing date for this Texas proposal has not yet been named. If you want to follow HB 1807's progress, click here.

Crane Collapse In Texas

At about 11:30 am EDT, this morning, a crane collapsed in Cleburne, Texas. Cleburne is about 50 miles southwest of Dallas. According to several news media, one man was injured and airlifted to a Fort Worth hospital. There is no word yet on the cause of the accident. The local NBC news channel posted the following photo:

Union Crane-Safety Teacher Admitted to Oversight Lapses

After two fatal tower crane accidents last year, New York City instituted a series of reforms to increase safety and oversight in the construction industry, including requiring a 30-hour class for crane operators and other workers on the safest way to raise and lower a tower crane.

But some sessions of the city-mandated class are being taught by a union official who has admitted that he helped unqualified people, including organized crime figures, get into his union, according to sworn testimony and investigative reports. He and other union officials helped some of those men secure licenses to operate smaller cranes at construction sites across the city, the testimony and the reports say.

Click Here to read the article in the New York Times

NYC Building Official Wants "Carfax" for Cranes

Engineering News Record (ENR) reports that "after six months and nearly $4 million, New York City’s Dept. of Buildings on Feb. 3 recommended 41 measures to increase regulations for crane, concrete and excavation work. But industry experts say the standards, if implemented, may create more headaches and unnecessary costs. The city assembled a team of more than 30 engineers, including experts from Skokie, Ill.-based forensic consultant CTL Group. The measures chiefly focus on crane and hoisting operations. At the top is a need “to track critical components of tower cranes,” an idea that area experts casually call “CraneFax,” referring to a similar service for cars." For more on this story, visit ENR.com

Aerial Lift Accident Results in Death

According to the Boston Globe, "Federal safety officials and city homicide detectives continued yesterday to investigate the death Saturday of a worker who was slammed into a Downtown Crossing building when the aerial lift he was working from tipped over.

James Williamson and a second worker, Greg Johnson, were inspecting the roof of a Suffolk University dormitory Saturday morning when the 110-foot-tall aerial lift toppled into a condo building on West Street.

Williamson was hurled into the building and died at Massachusetts General Hospital Saturday evening. The hospital upgraded Johnson's condition from serious to fair yesterday. Fire officials said Johnson fell or jumped onto a second-floor rooftop as the lift fell.

Suffolk University officials said the school hired Tremco Inc. of Lakeville to inspect some of the buildings' rooftops. Tremco in turn hired Reliable Roofing and Sheet Metal of Framingham to perform the work.

Deryl Kratzer, president of Tremco Roofing and Building Maintenance, which is based in Beachwood, Ohio, said in a statement yesterday that Williamson was an employee of Tremco, while the injured worker is employed by Reliable Roofing. Kratzer said Tremco is cooperating with authorities."

To read the whole story, click here.

Public Hearing on the Proposed Crane and Derrick Standard

You may have already heard, but OSHA has announced the scheduling of an informal public hearing on the proposed cranes and derricks standard published late last year. (Click Here for hearing details). Although I don't have a comment on the proposed standard, I do have one on the hearing date and the date by which you must notify OSHA of your intent to present testimony.

March 17th - the date of the hearing - is St. Patrick's Day. I'm not sure if that will interfere with participation or not. I guess that it is better than having it on March 18th when many might be "under the weather."

I'm not sure if the Friday the 13th (2/13/09) date to notify of your intention to testify is significant or not. If you are superstitious, it may not bode well for participation either.

Anyway, today is Friday (not the 13th) and I'm thinking about making a "Bacon Explosion" for Sunday's game.

Have a good weekend!

Crane and Derrick Hearing Announced by OSHA

Yesterday, OSHA announced that it will hold a public hearing on the "Crane and Derricks In Construction" proposal. To read more, click here.

OSHA Interpretations

Yesterday, OSHA published two letters of interpretation that you may find of interest.

The first - whether catch platforms must comply with the scaffolding requirements. The short answer is "yes." Click here to read the entire interpretation.

The second deals with re-qualification requirements for mobile crane operators on construction sites. The letter indicates that there are no specific "re-qualification" requirements, but the letter adds a "however" which you may wish to read. Click here to read the letter of interpretation.

OSHA Recommends Fines in July Crane Collapse

Reuters in Houston reported yesterday that OSHA "recommended $71,500 in fined against an industrial crane operating company for an accident that killed four workers in July at a Houston refinery." According to Reuters, OSHA's investigation concluded that the crane collapsed "when its boom reached an unsafe angle." The report goes on to say that the crane operator was "inadequately trained." To read the entire article, click here.

White House Review Touches Cranes, Diacetyl, Confined Space Rules

OHS reports that "Putting the long-awaited OSHA negotiated rule for safe operation of cranes and derricks into effect apparently will take longer than expected. Ditto for the agency's pending confined spaces in construction rule and the promised regulation, now at OMB, that would require workers to be protected from diacetyl exposure. A memo issued Tuesday (1/20/09) by Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's chief of staff, told heads of executive agencies and departments that regulations not yet published should be held for review by the president's appointees, and they should consider a 60-day extension of the effective date for published regulations not yet in effect."

Although I think we need a federal crane safety standard as soon as possible, I thing a review of the confined space proposal is a good thing. Based on the initial proposal, I think the originally proposed construction confined space standard is cumbersome and burdensome. For most of us construction safety guys who find a confined space hazard on one of our sites, we would turn to the General Industry Standard for help. I'm not sure why we don't simply adopt the GI standard for confined space in a fashion similar to the adoption of the GI HazCom standard.

Send me your comments. And, to read the entire OHS article, click here.