Why Should Your Organization be an Evergreen Safety Council Member?

Contributed by Star Conrad, Director of Operations, Evergreen Safety Council 
“Member Only” Benefits:

John D. Spellman Safety Award:
Be recognized for your organization’s safety achievements. Tell us about your safety efforts undertaken for the year, including examples of employee involvement and management commitment that helped foster a positive safety culture within your organization. Applications are being accepted until February 24, 2012.


2010 Award winner: IMCO General Construction
employees  with John D. Spellman (right)


General Membership Meeting & Luncheon
Date: Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Location: Mirabella, 116 Fairview Avenue N, 10th Floor West Dining Room, Seattle, WA 98109
Time: 10am – 1pm
Cost: $25, includes plated lunch
Agenda: Business Meeting, Spellman Safety Award Presentation, ESC 80 Years Young, Special Recognition of long term supporting members, Workplace Safety guest speaker

Scholarships
Monty C. Lish & Stanley O. McNaughton Scholarship for Safety & Health Careers
Employees of a member company of ESC, children or stepchildren of employees, or children or stepchildren of member company owners are eligible to apply. Two awards of $1,000 each can be granted. Applications are due February 15, 2012

American Association of Safety Councils Scholarship
A maximum scholarship of $500 per year. Eligibility:

• Any employee or family member of an AASC Safety Council or any individual, whose parent, or legal guardian, is employed at an AASC Safety Council for a period of not less than twelve months.
• Any member or family member of an AASC Safety Council who has been a member of not less than twelve months.

Application deadline is March 12, 2012

Consultation Services
Does your safety question start with:

• Do I need...?
• What does __________ mean?
• How often do I need to...?
• LNI visited me, what do I do about…?
• How do I make a plan to...?
• I'm the new Safety Manager, how do I...?
• Does the ESC have training on...?

We can match our expert trainers / consultants to your organization and the topics you need or the situation you're facing. Their expertise in regulatory compliance, ergonomics, industrial hygiene, commercial vehicle issues, and traffic safety can help you answer questions and address critical workplace safety needs. Use any of our many consulting services:

• On-site consultation and training
• Walk-through evaluations
• Safety program revisions/audits
• Policy development assistance

If this kind of assistance will help your organization's safety environment and you want more information, contact Stephanie Dyck or Eric Tofte or call 800-521-0778

Workplace safety - Respiratory Protection

Contributed by Eric Tofte, Director of Training, Evergreen Safety Council

Respirators protect the user in two basic ways. The first is by the removal of contaminants from the air. Respirators of this type include particulate respirators, which filter out airborne particles; and "gas masks” which filter out chemicals and gases. Other respirators protect by supplying clean respirable air from another source. Respirators that fall into this category include airline respirators, which use compressed air from a remote source; and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), which include their own air supply.

Respirators should only be used when engineering control systems are not feasible. Engineering control systems, such as adequate ventilation or scrubbing of contaminants are the preferred control methods for reducing worker exposures.

If engineering controls cannot protect employees, then an employer must provide respiratory protection and develop and implement a respiratory protection program and you need to address the following:

• Selecting respirators
• Medical evaluations
• Fit testing respirators (applies if tight fitting respirators are required)
• Maintaining and caring for respirators
• Using respirators including routine and emergency use procedures
• Supplied Air quality (applies if airline or SCBAs will be used)
• Training users and supervisors
• Evaluating the Respirator Program

This can be confusing, but necessary to ensure the protection of your employees.

If you do need to develop a program there are several avenues you can take to get help. Both OSHA and DOSH have great resource pages on this topic, or you can give Evergreen a call. We can help with training, fit testing and more 800-521-0778.

Job Opening: Compliance Coordinator – Seattle, WA

Responsibilities:
• Promotes the maintenance of a safe, accident free, and healthy work environment at all work locations (2 Bakeries, 16 depots, 16 outlet stores, 2 satellite truck repair shops) in Western Washington.
• Ensures safety policies and procedures are followed by all bakery personnel in compliance with company, state and Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules and regulations.
• Support corporate Safe Work Methods (SWM) in all aspects of employment and increased use of and adherence to Smith Safe Driving System by Sales and Transportation teams.
• Lead injury/accident investigation and procedural adherence and train specific Safe Work Methods on return-to-work.
• Participate in development of the Annual Safety Program and manage/coordinate Safety Programs and incentive celebrations for all locations.
• Coordinate administrative and operational departments within bakeries to ensure Safe Quality Food (SQF) standards and compliance; SQF Code specialist and regulatory (HACCP and MSDS, etc.) expert.
• Direct site certification processes, internal audits and compliance standards/certification direction.
• Assist with Corporate policy, manuals and work with outside agencies.
• Obtain regulatory/policy certification.

Desired Skills:
• BSc degree in safety is preferred; valid driver’s license and insurance.
• Previous safety experience, food manufacturing experience is a plus.
• Ability to read and interpret documents and write routine reports and correspondence.
• Speak effectively before groups and regulatory agencies.
• Solve practical problems and deal with a variety of variables in situations where only limited standardization may exist.
• Ability to interpret a variety of instruction furnished in oral, diagram or schedule form.

Email resumes or fax to: 206-726-7546

Franz Family Bakery is an AAP/EEO employer. All qualified applicants will be considered regardless of race, sex, age, religion, nationality, disability, veteran status. Visit US Bakery for company details and depot locations.

UW Seminar to Commemorate 100th Anniversary of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

The UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) has organized a special seminar to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911. The tragic fire killed 146 garment workers and sparked a new era in regulation and labor activism focused on worker rights, health, and safety. The seminar is co-sponsored by the Harry Bridges Labor Center and the UW-Bothell Master of Arts in Policy Studies program.

Responding to Disasters in the Workplace:
Lessons from the Past, of the Present, and for the Future.
A symposium marking the 100th anniversary of The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Date: Thursday, March 31st
Time: 4:00pm-6:00pm
Location: South Campus Center, Room 316
Post Event Reception: South Campus Center, Room 354 (Crow's Nest)
More info: contact Sean Schmidt, 206-543-2837

Speakers:
The Past: Gerald Markowitz. "The Revolution in Workplace Safety and Health: The Triangle Fire and its Aftermath."
Gerald Markowitz is Distinguished Professor of History at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Together with David Rosner he has authored books and articles on the history of public health, environmental health, and occupational safety and health, including Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution (University of California Press, 2002).

The Present: Tom O'Connor. "Confronting the Anti-Regulatory Agenda: Current National Advocacy Campaigns to Advance Worker Health and Safety Protections."
Tom O’Connor is the Executive Director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, the umbrella organization for 20 state and local “COSH” groups, or Coalitions on Occupational Safety and Health. He has over 20 years of experience working as an advocate for workers’ health and safety. He has been involved with the “COSH” groups since 1994. He also coordinates the national policy advocacy efforts of the Protecting Workers Alliance, a broad-based group of worker health and safety advocates.

The Future: Interdisciplinary panel of students from across UW, including DEOHS and the Harry Bridges Labor Center.

Safety & Health Solutions Newsletter - April edition

Evergreen Safety Council produces a monthly newsletter covering a variety of safety topics. Each month we will provide a link here to the online PDF.

Inside this Issue:
Lead Article – Enforcement vs. Compliance Assistance
People in Safety – IMCO General Construction
It Will Get Hot Again, We Promise!
Stopping at Intersections
Improving Response to Major Incidents – Part 3 of 3

Regular Features:
Membership Corner
Forklift Corner
Calendar of Events
Safety Gallery
And more....

You can also sign up to receive an electronic copy via email or hard copy via the mail. This link will also take you to a full archive with over four years of past issues.

So pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit back and read all about what's going on in the world of safety & health.

FMCSA is sending out Warning Letters now

Many carriers may not know what to do. These letters drive the need for carriers to review safety practices and training, as well as to shore up possible deficiencies. The Evergreen Safety Council Online Institute, which features courses designed to cover the training required by the FMCSA.

FMCSA BEGINS ISSUING 23,000 CSA WARNING LETTERS
FMCSA has begun sending an initial batch of 23,000 Compliance, Safety, Accountability program warning letters to fleets as the agency begins concrete interventions in its new program. Over the next several months, a total of at least 50,000 warning letters will be sent, Boyd Stephenson, manager of safety and security for ATA, told Transport Topics.

Warning letters advise carriers that their performance merited “alert” status by falling below acceptable levels on at least one of CSA’s Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories, or BASICs. Those BASICs, such as unsafe or fatigued driving, form the statistical heart of CSA’s safety measurement system, which assigns a percentage ranking on each BASIC and establishes thresholds. Warning letters are sent when threshold levels are exceeded.

“A review of [insert carrier name] safety data shows a lack of compliance with motor carrier safety regulations and suggests that your safety performance has fallen to an unacceptable level,” John Van Steenburg, director of FMCSA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance, writes in these alert letters. Agency spokeswoman Candice Tolliver said both trucking and bus companies will receive letters over the next two months, but she couldn’t say exactly how many went to truck fleets. About 8% of carriers will receive warning letters, based on FMCSA statistics that count 650,000 carriers.

Stephen Keppler, executive director of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, said the warning letters are an important step because they quadruple the number of carriers facing active FMCSA intervention. Under the former SafeStat system, the agency took action against just 2% of carriers. Keppler said it was difficult to judge industry safety levels based on the number of warning letters because there is no earlier point of comparison to show whether progress was being made.

Warning letters can be followed by off-site or on-site investigations if carriers’ performance doesn’t improve. There is no time limit for responding to the letters. The agency’s enforcement options include creation of a cooperative safety plan, imposition of civil penalties, suspension or revocation of vehicle registration or revocation of operating authority.

“Just because you get a warning letter doesn’t mean you are a bad carrier,” Keppler said, noting that the agency’s tightest focus will be on 7,900 highest-risk carriers with the worst safety performance. “The important thing is that folks who get these things pay attention,” he said, adding that he was encouraged that more than half of carriers who received warnings during the CSA pilot test period took effective remedial action.

The letters are an expected step, based on the gradual implementation of CSA. FMCSA chose the gradual approach to mailing the letters, ATA’s Stephenson said, because “the agency was concerned about overwhelming both the industry and their [own] staff by sending them out all at once.”

Fleets receiving the letters are subject to increased roadside inspections. To help fleets improve compliance, the agency posted a Tip Sheet on its website that advises what they can do after a letter arrives. Fleets are advised to conduct a detailed analysis of their safety data and take steps to improve compliance. Those steps include checking data for accuracy, correcting any errors, understanding the Safety Measurement System used to compute the scores and using a detailed analysis to improve compliance. A factsheet about the warning letter intervention provides a sample warning letter and some frequently asked questions.

Meanwhile, a new report highlighted FMCSA’s plan to sharply increase funding and staffing for CSA. The Feb. 25 report by the Government Accountability Office said the agency requested $78 million in its CSA budget for fiscal 2012, compared with $9.5 million it spent in fiscal 2010. The report was requested by the Republican and Democratic chairmen of the congressional transportation appropriations subcommittees as well as their ranking minority members, who expressed concern about past funding levels. In total, FMCSA contemplates having 696 employees working full time on the program, the report said. By comparison, 45 people worked on the program in 2009, with just five of them full-time employees.
(From: Transport Topics Online, 3/7/11)

FMCSA ADMINISTRATOR DISCUSSES CSA WARNING LETTERS
In the most recent edition of CVSA's Guardian, Anne Ferro, Administrator of the FMCSA, addressed the issue of warning letters for the new Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) enforcement program for commercial trucks and buses. She characterized the letters as “an important part of the CSA intervention process” by notifying carriers of their safety performance issues so they can take corrective action, “sort of like a first-level intervention.” FMCSA issued warning letters only in nine pilot-test states in January. Carriers located in the remaining 41 states will receive warning letters during the first quarter of 2011.

“We expect to send about 27,000 warning letters during this timeframe,” she said. “After the initial round, FMCSA anticipates sending about 3,100 each month nationwide.” She noted that states can expect more DataQs requests as a result of warning letters. The DataQs system is an electronic means for filing concerns about federal and state data released to the public by FMCSA. Through this system, data concerns are automatically forwarded to the appropriate office for resolution. The system also allows filers to monitor the status of each filing.
(From: SC&RA Newsletter, 2/18/11)