Archive for the 'safety' Category

So, it's not Thursday. This story couldn't wait. Please take a few minutes to click through and read the next link on the Toledo crane collapse that killed four people.

Now that OSHA has completed their report on the Toledo crane accident and fined Frucon $280,000, the story behind the story is getting out. Once-model bridge project had cracks behind scenes. Behind the praise, tensions flared. In the words of an ODOT inspector, it was a "tirade."

Projects needn't be contentious. If they get that way, then act fast to (re)build relationships and trust. The cost of not doing so just might be another Toledo crane collapse.

Read about Construction Safety in the News on the Safety Everyday page.

What is the OSHA law? What is every employee's rights? OSHA has a poster that describes that. I've reprinted it here. Essentially every person working in the private sector is covered by OSHA or a state-run equivalent.

The following is a text extract of the OSHA 3165 Publication. The official full color publication is a 12.5″ x 17.5″ portrait presentation in PDF format. If you would like to download a copy of the PDF version, please [RIGHT-Click Here] to save the file to your local workstation.

• You have the right to notify your employer or OSHA
  about workplace hazards. You may ask OSHA to keep
  your name confidential.
• You have the right to request an OSHA inspection if you
  believe that there are unsafe and unhealthful conditions in
  your workplace. You or your representative may participate
  in the inspection.
• You can file a complaint with OSHA within 30 days of
  discrimination by your employer for making safety and health
  complaints or for exercising your rights under the OSH Act.
• You have a right to see OSHA citations issued to your
  employer. Your employer must post the citations at or near
  the place of the alleged violation.
• Your employer must correct workplace hazards by the date
  indicated on the citation and must certify that these hazards
  have been reduced or eliminated.
• You have the right to copies of your medical records or
  records of your exposure to toxic and harmful substances
  or conditions.
• Your employer must post this notice in your workplace.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act), P.L. 91-596, assures safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women throughout the Nation. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in the U.S. Department of Labor, has the primary responsibility for administering the OSH Act. The rights listed here may vary depending on the particular circumstances. To file a complaint, report an emergency, or seek OSHA advice, assistance, or products, call 1-800-321-OSHA or your nearest OSHA office: • Atlanta (404) 562-2300 • Boston (617) 565-9860 • Chicago (312) 353-2220 • Dallas (214) 767-4731 • Denver (303) 844-1600 • Kansas City (816) 426-5861 • New York (212) 337-2378 • Philadelphia (215) 861-4900 • San Francisco (415) 975-4310 • Seattle (206) 553-5930. Teletypewriter (TTY) number is 1-877-889-5627.

To file a complaint online or obtain more information on OSHA federal and state programs, visit OSHA’s website at www.osha.gov. If your workplace is in a state operating under an OSHA-approved plan, your employer must post the required state equivalent of this poster.

Read Safety Everyday's construction safety in the news sideblog.

Silence is the principal source of dysfunction in organizations.

Clarke Ching sent along the latest VitalSmarts whitepaper Silence Kills, by Joseph Grenny. The paper is one in a series on Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High, Patterson, et al. I've authored a paper with Greg Howell on wastes in organizations and on projects. There certainly is no greater waste than death. Greg and I argue that the two sources of great waste are not speaking and not listening. While you'll have to wait for publication of our paper on August 3rd, don't wait reading Grenny's take on silence.

Silence is the principal source of dysfunction in organizations. Using examples of deaths in hospitals, the downfall of companies, and the gross tragedy of the Columbia shuttle, Grenny describes how a habit of silence during crucial conversations kills.

Choose speaking rather than silence to keep people alive.

Everyday on jobsites people avoid speaking about hazards, the recklessness of others' actions, and the inattention to the sanctity of life. The consequence of that silence is 1,300 injuries and 3 deaths each day. I've been quick to place responsibility for that silence at the feet of management. Grenny reports on a study of hand-washing in hospitals. The single greatest factor in having medical staff wash their hands at the appropriate frequency is the hand-washing example set by the senior staff. It is not training, nor is it the availability of sinks. What safety example do you set when you walk a site, in your conversations with workers, and in the actions you take? If we can generalize from hospital hand-washing, then your conversations and actions have more significance to the safety on the jobsite than the safety program.

Having said that, silence is a choice. What is the threshold at which we refuse to remain silent. Is it self interest? Must your life be threatened before you cross that threshold? Or, can you choose to speak at the first recognition that we are not doing all we can to care for the sanctity of all life? Can you do that? Sure you can. And I can. And everyone on our jobsites can.

We lack neither the know-how, nor the capability — speaking — for avoiding the needless deaths of construction workers. Perhaps, it is only a lack of love that is preventing those deaths. Love is the one resource with an endless supply. Giving love creates more love. Show your love to keep everyone safe. Choose speaking rather than silence.

• Why do people work at the edge of safety?
• Why do smart people take crazy risks?
• Is there such a disregard for ones life and others' lives?
• Is construction just a tough guys' business?

I don't think any of those questions are answerable from a rational perspective. At one very safe construction firm a person was recently observed working without fall protection. He knew what to do. His life had been saved just a few years earlier when the fall protection worked. Yet here he was working without fall protection alongside of another person working without fall protection on a day their foreman was absent.

People do what they do, just as they always have done.

This is unacceptable. And it happened. And it will happen with someone else someplace else in the future. We cannot understand this as a rational act. At what time will we face squarely that people are just not rational? Not that we are always not rational. We aren't. But we are capable of doing what is not rational. If you want to understand this just look at Martha Stewart. That woman was on top of the world when she traded her stock (with less than 1% of her net worth at stake). She was offered a plea bargain but declined it. She is now convicted of four counts of obstructing justice and lying. This woman's pride, arrogance, and obstinacy brought her down. And Martha was just doing what Martha does and had always done.

Read the rest of this entry ¶

After OSHA concluded that Linda Moeves', owner of Moeves Plumbing, willful inherent disregard of safe work practices led to the death of 22 year-old Patrick E. Walters when he was buried alive in the cave-in of a trench, OSHA then negotiated away the willful designation, reduced the fine, and set-back safe work practices in the process. The New York Times thankfully has taken up the cause. In the first of three articles in the series When Workers Die, David Barstow reveals the collusion and ineptitude of the federal agency chartered to protect workers from unscrupulous and irresponsible actions of employers. You must read this article and return each day for the following two articles.

The article describes the inspectors' actions to bring about training and safe practices at Moeves Plumbing. I don't understand what training is necessary. The information is readily available and understandable to all in OSHA's Construction Industry Digest. Here's the relevant text from pages 26 and 27:

Each employee in an excavation shall be protected from cave-ins by an adequate protective system except when:

• Excavations are made entirely in stable rock, or excavations are less than 5 feet (1.5 meters) in depth and examination of the ground by a competent person provides no indication of a potential cave-in. 1926.652(a)(1)(i) through (ii)
• Protective systems shall have the capacity to resist, without failure, all loads that are intended or could reasonably be expected to be applied or transmitted to the system. 1926.652(a)(2)

Employees shall be protected from excavated or other materials or equipment that could pose a
hazard by falling or rolling into excavations. Protection shall be provided by placing and
keeping such materials or equipment at least 2 feet (0.6 meters) from the edge of excavations,
or by the use of retaining devices that are sufficient to prevent materials or equipment from
falling or rolling into excavations, or by a combination of both if necessary. 1926.651(j)(2)

Daily inspections of excavations, the adjacent areas, and protective systems shall be made by a competent person for evidence of a situation that could result in possible cave-ins, indications of failure of protective systems, hazardous atmospheres, or other hazardous conditions. An inspection shall be conducted by the competent person prior to the start of work and as needed throughout the shift. Inspections shall also be made after every rainstorm or other hazard increasing occurrence. These inspections are only required when employee exposure can be reasonably anticipated. 1926.651(k)(1)

Where a competent person finds evidence of a situation that could result in a possible cave-in, indications of failure of protective systems, hazardous atmospheres, or other hazardous
conditions, exposed employees shall be removed from the hazardous area until the necessary
precautions have been taken to ensure their safety. 1926.651(k)(2)

A stairway, ladder, ramp, or other safe means of egress shall be located in trench excavations that are 4 feet (1.2 meters) or more in depth so as to require no more than 25 feet (7.6 meters) of lateral travel for employees. 1926.651(c)(2)

Patrick E. Walters did not have to die. Nor do over 1,200 other people who die in construction-related incidents each year. Swift prosecution is the only thing that will have company managers take their responsibilities seriously. OSHA knows that and doesn't do it.

In a page from OSHA's website OSHA Saves Lives they describe an incident just like Patrick Walters. They make no mention of levying fines.

"Get out of that trench," OSHA Inspector Robert Dickinson ordered a worker in an unshored, unsloped, unsafe trench by the side of the road near El Paso, Texas. Good thing El Paso Assistant Area Director Mario Solano had spotted the trench earlier on September 13, 2001 and sent Dickinson and Elias Casillas to check it out. Because 30 seconds after the employee left the trench, the wall near where he had been standing collapsed. Heeding the compliance officer's warning and order to leave the trench kept the worker from experiencing a serious, perhaps life-threatening injury.

It read's like OSHA believes it's own PR. OSHA inspectors are not there to prevent an injury. They are there to see that systems and practices are in place for preventing all injuries. Nothing has changed just look at the numbers: 2002 (1,121), 2001 (1,225), 2000 (1,155), 1999 (1,191), 1995-1999 Avg (1,115) (collected from US BLS 2000, US BLS 2001, US BLS 2002).

Please join David Barstow and the New York Times bring about a reform at OSHA. Link to the article. Link to this posting. Write Russell B. Swanson, OSHA's Director of Construction, at bswanson@dol.gov, John L. Henshaw, Assistant Secretary of Labor OSHA, at this form, or Elaine Chao, Secretary of Labor at this form. And write members of congress.