‘Best Practices’ Improve Outcomes for Injured Workers, Prevent Injuries

OSHA this January reported that a new study on occupational health care in Washington State has been released showing that improving medical care for injured workers can significantly lessen lost work time. The study, published in the December 2011 issue of Medical Care, a publication of the American Public Health Association, involved Dr. Gary Franklin, medical director for the Washington Department of Labor & Industries (L&I), which implements the state's and OSHA’s occupational safety and health standards.

The L&I program complements the OSHA 30 certification (for supervisors) and OSHA 10 hour training (for workers) that a majority of employers today require in Washington and elsewhere to improve health and safety conditions at worksites.

"Work-related disability is a major public health problem that's largely overlooked in the U.S.," Franklin pointed out. "This study shows that using occupational health best practices when treating injured workers can have an important effect on their recovery."

L&I's community-based Centers of Occupational Health and Education (COHE) coordinate with physicians, hospitals, and other medical providers to promote the best practices for treating injured workers. These "best practices" involve the best ways to effect the safe, healthy return of an injured worker to full function and full employment.
One of the highlights of the study was its discovery that injured workers treated by health-care providers who followed COHE protocols achieved 19.7 percent fewer disability days than other injured workers receiving treatment. That reduction translated to $510 per claim in total disability and medical costs. Workers with back strain, for instance, reduced their disability days by 29.5 percent.

Although most construction employers nowadays require OSHA 30 certification for supervisors and OSHA 10 hour training for workers (some even look for 40 Hour HAZWOPER training) to minimize or prevent worksite accidents, injuries, even fatalities, still happen every year due to faulty compliance. OSHA inspections are meant to effect full compliance with OSHA standards and regulations.

During a programmed inspection of an Illinois worksite under a Local Emphasis Program (LEP) on Falls, OSHA compliance safety and health officer Tony Nozzi ordered immediate remedies after he discovered that a roofing contractor's employees and a building-restoration employee were working on a church roof without any fall protection. The on-site remedies he required were for all employees to strap on harnesses and lanyards and for them to secure themselves with rope grabs.

After the inspection, an employee, by then properly strapped, started work on the church steeple. Shortly after, he slipped and would have slid right off the edge of the pitched roof had it not been for his lifeline and lanyard. The worker was shaken but unharmed, and he was able to carry out his task.

OSHACampus.com, a leading provider of online OSHA training, offers OSHAcampus.com safety 10 Hour Training and OSHAcampus.com 30 hour Certification Training for workers, supervisors, and contractors.

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OSHA Training and Safety Standards – Company Violations

You’d think that safety violations were limited to accidents only as far the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is concerned. But despite appearances, safety and health are not limited to accidents alone. This October, OSHA cited Bridgford Foods Corp. for 27 safety and health violations at its food manufacturing facility in Dallas. Among the infractions was the company’s failure to establish a hearing-conservation program for its workers who are exposed to unhealthy noise levels—a topic that actually comes up in online OSHAcampus.com 10 hour training and OSHA 30 certification.

Bridgford was also found to have failed to put up a measure called a lockout/tagout for energy sources to protect workers from machines unexpectedly starting up. These two major violations, plus 25 others, will cost the company in penalties totaling $422,600.

“Bridgford Foods has a history of failing to implement necessary safety and health,” said OSHA regional administrator John Hermanson in Dallas. “Under the law, it is the employer’s responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace.”

There are routine violators and there are occasional violators. And then there are the serial violators who repeatedly and wilfully violate the U.S. Department of Labor’s OSAHA requirements for safety and health at the workplace. One such is All-Feed Processing & Packaging Inc. One would think that the company never heard of OSHA 10 hour training, OSHA 30 certification, or 40 hour HAZWOPER training.

Recently, OSHA cited All-Feed Processing & Packaging for 23 safety and health violations at its pet-food production and packaging facility in Galva, Illinois, among them nine wilful infractions of OSHA’s air-contaminant, respiratory-protection, and hearing-conservation minimums. Other violations included failure to provide appropriate fire and explosion protection in locations of high concentrations of combustible dust. In all, OSHA proposed fines reaching $758,450.

All-Feed Processing & Packaging had been issued several citations for similar violations before, including one for a dangerous, potentially fatal dust explosion and fire that occurred at the same facility in 2009.
“By showing a blatant disregard for worker safety and health, this employer continues to expose workers to deadly hazards,” said OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels.

OSHA health and safety standards are a focus of training programs for workers, safety directors, foremen, and field supervisors at OSHAcampus.com, a leading online training resource for OSHA and HAZWOPER programs such as 10 hour OSHA training, OSHA 30 certification, and 40 hour HAZWOPER training.

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