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Region 1 News Release: 10-1792-BOS/BOS 2010-514
Dec. 29, 2010
Contact: Ted Fitzgerald
Phone: 617-565-2074

US Labor Department’s OSHA reminds New England employers of hazards
associated with snow cleanup, urges proper worker safeguards

BOSTON – In light of the recent snowstorm and in anticipation of more winter storms, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration wants to remind workers, employers and the general public in New England of the hazards associated with snow removal and recovery work.

“Cleaning up after a storm encompasses a variety of tasks, each of which can carry risks if performed incorrectly or without proper safeguards,” said Marthe Kent, OSHA’s regional administrator in Boston. “We want people to know what those risks are and what steps they can take to protect themselves against these hazards.”

Common hazards can include:

-Electric shock from contact with downed power lines or the use of ungrounded electrical equipment.
-Falls from snow removal on roofs, or while working in aerial lifts or on ladders.
-Being struck or crushed by trees, branches or structures that collapse under the weight of accumulated snow.
-Carbon monoxide poisoning from gasoline-powered generators in inadequately ventilated areas or idling vehicles.
-Lacerations or amputations from unguarded or improperly operated chain saws and power tools, and improperly attempting to clear jams in snow blowers.
-Slips or falls on icy or snow-covered walking surfaces.
-Being struck by motor vehicles while working in roadways.
-Hypothermia or frostbite from exposure to cold temperatures.

Means of addressing these hazards can include:

-Assuming all power lines are energized, keeping a distance and coordinating with utility companies.
-Making certain that all electrically powered equipment is grounded.
-Providing and ensuring the use of effective fall protection.
-Properly using and maintaining ladders.
-Using caution around surfaces weighed down by large amounts of snow.
-Making certain all powered equipment is properly guarded and disconnected from power sources before cleaning or performing maintenance.
-Using and wearing eye, face and body protection.
-Clearing walking surfaces of snow and ice, and using salt or its equivalent where appropriate.
-Establishing and clearly marking work zones.
-Wearing reflective clothing.
-Using engineering controls, personal protective equipment and safe work practices to reduce the length and severity of exposure to the cold.

Information on hazards and safeguards associated with cleanup and recovery activities after a storm or other major weather events is available online in English and Spanish at http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/hurricaneRecovery.html.

To report workplace accidents, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call OSHA’s toll-free hotline number at 800-321-OSHA (6742).

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

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U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audiotape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit http://www.dol.gov/compliance.

Region 1 News Release: 10-1758-BOS/BOS 2010-512
Dec. 29, 2010
Contact: Ted Fitzgerald
Phone: 617-565-2074
Email: fitzgerald.edmund@dol.gov

US Labor Department’s OSHA proposes $238,000 in fines against US Postal
Service for electrical hazards at Shrewsbury, Mass., mail processing facility

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the U.S. Postal Service for willful and serious violations of safety standards following an inspection at the Central Massachusetts Processing and Distribution Center in Shrewsbury, Mass. The Postal Service faces a total of $238,000 in fines, chiefly for exposing workers to electrical hazards.

“These sizable fines reflect the Postal Service’s knowledge of and failure to address these hazards,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. “For years, the Postal Service knew that allowing untrained employees to work on electrical equipment exposed workers to serious injury or worse. Despite this knowledge, the Postal Service did not take the necessary steps to change its practices and eliminate the hazards.”

OSHA’s inspection, which began June 29 in response to a worker complaint, found that unqualified employees at the Shrewsbury location were allowed to work on and test energized electrical circuits and equipment. In addition, electrical equipment had not been de-energized prior to maintenance being performed, and employees were not supplied with insulated tools and equipment.

These conditions resulted in the issuance of three willful citations, with $210,000 in proposed fines. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.

OSHA also issued the Postal Service four serious citations, with $28,000 in fines, for lack of employee training in safety-related electrical work practices, lack of personal protective equipment, inadequate voltage meters and failing to perform periodic inspections of the Shrewsbury facility’s energy control procedures. OSHA issues serious citations when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

The Postal Service has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with the OSHA area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. This latest inspection was conducted by OSHA’s Springfield Area Office in Massachusetts; telephone 413-785-0123. To report workplace accidents, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call OSHA’s toll-free hotline number at 800-321-OSHA (6742).

The U.S. Department of Labor has filed an enterprise-wide complaint against the U.S. Postal Service for electrical work safety violations. The complaint asks the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission to order the USPS to correct electrical violations at all its facilities nationwide. This complaint marks the first time OSHA has sought enterprise-wide relief as a remedy.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

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U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audiotape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit http://www.dol.gov/compliance.

Region 4 News Release: 10-1739-ATL (673)
Dec. 29, 2010
Contact: Michael D’Aquino       Michael Wald
E-mail: D’Aquino.Michael@dol.gov      Wald.Michael@dol.gov
Phone: 404-562-2076      404-562-2078

US Department of Labor’s OSHA cites US Postal Service in Duluth, Ga.,
with repeat and serious safety violations, $80,000 in penalties

DULUTH, Ga. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is proposing $80,000 in penalties against the U.S. Postal Service for safety violations found during an inspection at its facility on Boggs Road in Duluth.

The Postal Service is being cited with five repeat violations carrying proposed penalties of $75,000. The violations include deficiencies involving lockout/tagout to prevent accidental start-up of machinery; permitting material to be stored in front of the electrical and circuit breaker panel; having unused openings on electrical, fire and receptacle boxes; using flexible cords instead of fixed wiring; and missing the electrical strain prevention clamp on the dock lights. A repeat violation is issued when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.

The Postal Service is also being cited with two serious violations with proposed penalties of $5,000 for failing to mark exits visibly and having broken dock lights that exposed electrical wiring. A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

“This inspection points to the need for employers to develop, implement and maintain programs that ensure hazards such as were noted here are corrected, and that employee exposure to these hazards is eliminated,” said Bill Fulcher, director of OSHA’s Atlanta-East Area Office.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The site was inspected by staff from OSHA’s Atlanta-East Area Office, 2183 Northlake Parkway, Building 7, Suite 110, Tucker, GA 30084; telephone 770-493-6644. To report workplace incidents, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-6742.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov

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U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audiotape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit http://www.dol.gov/compliance.

Dec. 28, 2010—The Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML), a state- and private-funded research institute in Dortmund, Germany, is working with Rewe-Informations-Systeme (the IT arm of German food retailer Rewe), Mars Deutschland (the German division of food manufacturer Mars) and CHEP Deutschland (the German division of global pallet-pool service provider CHEP) to develop a system that will move goods through supply chains in an automated fashion, with higher data transparency and fewer failures.

Through what the partners call the smaRTI project, the group seeks to drastically simplify the implementation of smart reusable transport items (RTIs), says Björn Anderseck, Fraunhofer IML’s project manager for smaRTI, by creating standard transponders for three different types of shipment carriers, as well as a standard IT architecture and services that can be used throughout entire supply chains. In so doing, he indicates, they will pave the way for the implementation of self-guided logistics systems.

The hope, Anderseck says, is that the system will save time and money for supply chain participants through better automation of the flow of goods, and by enabling services such as real-time tracking to make supply chains more transparent and flexible, as well as less error-prone. The tagging of carriers will also help carrier owners better manage their inventories worldwide.

“Every supply chain partner,” Anderseck explains, “would know the exact location of the goods, in which process step they are, and if the goods are in the front store or in the back room.”

As part of smaRTI, the researchers and their partners are designing hardware and software for carriers used by three large German companies in three separate industries. These consist of pallets utilized by Rewe to transports goods sold in its stores, containers for transporting letters within Deutsche Post’s German network and energy-efficient, intelligent air-freight pallets for Lufthansa Cargo.

All three carrier types will employ RFID tags and readers for identification, as well as other forms of automatic-identification technologies, such as bar codes or GPS, for example. The project members are currently working to define which tags and interrogators will be used on which carriers.

In each case, carriers will be self-guided through the supply chain, since data pertaining to each carrier will be stored on the RFID chip itself, instead of in a central database. The information saved on the chips will indicate such things as where a particular carrier is headed, to whom it belongs and what it is carrying.

Region 8 News Release: 10-1714-DEN
Dec. 23, 2010
Contact: Rich Kulczewski
Phone: 303-844-1302
E-mail: kulczewski.richard@dol.gov

US Department of Labor’s OSHA forms alliance with
Lake Region State College in Devils Lake, ND
Alliance to focus on safety in wind power industry

DEVILS LAKE, N.D. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced an alliance with Lake Region State College in Devils Lake, N.D., focusing on safety training for workers in the wind power industry.

OSHA will provide assistance in the development of training related to working safely when exposed to hazards inherent to the wind power industry. Lake Region State College will offer training for students on the commissioning, operation and maintenance of electrical generation equipment and control systems for wind turbine generation systems.

“This is a great opportunity for OSHA and LRSC to work together to heighten the awareness of the hazards associated with the wind power generation industry,” said Greg Baxter, OSHA’s regional administrator in Denver, Colo.

Through the Alliance Program, OSHA works with groups committed to worker safety and health to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses. These groups include unions, consulates, trade or professional organizations, businesses, faith- and community-based organizations, and educational institutions. OSHA and the groups work together to develop compliance assistance tools and resources, and educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities. Alliance Program participants do not receive exemptions from OSHA programmed inspections.

Employers and employees with questions about this or other OSHA alliances or partnerships may call the agency’s Bismarck, N.D., area office at 701-250-4521.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

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U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audiotape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit http://www.dol.gov/compliance.