Petrol Explosion and Burn Hazards Result in OSHA Fines

All manner of accidents threaten the American worker, and all are preventable. Sadly, every day across the country these same avoidable accidents cause dire consequences on health, or result in injury, even death. Although most employers now require Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) training, such as OSHA 30  hour course and 10 hour training, and 40 Hour HAZWOPER training, lapses (both unintentional and not) still frequently occur and put in great danger the health and safety of workers.

This February, OSHA cited Coomes Oil & Supply Inc. for safety hazards after an employee of Florida Rock & Tank Lines, the company that delivers petroleum to one of its gas stations, was burned in an explosion in August 2011.

OSHA reported that the delivery driver was refilling an above-ground gasoline storage tank that had a malfunctioning gauge. The tank eventually overflowed and caused an explosion. The subsequent OSHA investigation revealed that the gas station and Florida Rock & Tank Lines knew of the broken gauge and yet proceeded with refilling the storage tank.

Florida Rock & Tank Lines was cited for one willful violation for failing to provide a way for the delivery driver to determine if the storage tank was in danger of overflowing. The citation carried a proposed penalty of $70,000. Coomes Oil & Supply, on the other hand, was cited for one serious violation with a proposed penalty of $7,000.

"Unfortunately for the injured employee, the two companies involved in this explosion learned a safety lesson by means of a terrible incident instead of taking the steps they should have to protect their workers in the first place," stated OSHA area director Brian Sturtecky.

One company that may be luckier than either Coomes Oil & Supply Inc. or Florida Rock & Tank Lines is Miniature Precision Components Inc. Or maybe not.

For failing to provide the simple matter of personal protective equipment, Miniature Precision Components Inc. is looking at a proposed fine by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of $55,000.

The penalty came in the wake of an OSHA investigation at the company’s Richland Center facility which found that employees working mold machines were exposed to very hot temperatures without adequate personal protective equipment

"Failing to protect employees from burns while they are working with materials manufactured at high temperatures shows a disregard for their safety," pointed out Kim Stille, OSHA area director in Madison. Wisconsin. "Employers have a responsibility to be aware of the hazards that exist in their workplace and ensure that work environments are healthful and safe."

Miniature Precision Components' corporate headquarters is located in Walworth. The company's Richland Center facility had been inspected by OSHA five times since 1999, resulting in 11 citations.

OSHACampus.com, a leading provider of online OSHA training, has 10 Hour OSHA Training and 30 Hour OSHA Training, as well as 40 Hour HAZWOPER training for workers, supervisors, and contractors.

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OSHA Cites Ohio Company for Safety Violations

For a company’s failure to ensure that a shear was kept in good working condition, one of its workers has lost an arm and the company has been cited for workplace safety violations by OSHA.

Polymerics Inc., a rubber-manufacturing facility in Cuyahoga Falls and Kent, Ohio, was actually found guilty of four safety violations, including a willful violation that caused the accidental amputation.

Knowledge of OSHA safety requirements is required by law and OSHA training is now mandatory in many states. Most employers now require for employment OSHA 30 certification (for supervisors) and OSHA 10 hour training (for workers), and 40 Hour HAZWOPER training (in certain worksites) to improve safety and health conditions at worksites.

Following a complaint alleging a malfunctioning safety pin on a hydraulic shear machine, OSHA conducted an investigation in August 2011 and was able to verify the complaint. OSHA explained that a willful violation constitutes an “intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or plain indifference to employee safety and health.”

OSHA's Cleveland area director, Howard Eberts, said that "Failing to ensure that safety mechanisms on hazardous machines are working properly demonstrates a lack of regard for employees' safety and health."

In addition, OSHA cited Polymerics for one repeat violation for its failure to do the mandatory yearly review of lockout/tagout procedures, and for two serious violations for its failures to orient its employees on hazardous chemicals and to train workers in machine-specific lockout/tagout procedures. OSHA proposed fines totaling $74,900.

OSHACampus.com, a leading provider of online OSHA training, offers OSHAcampus.com 10 training and OSHAcampus.com 30 course for workers, supervisors, and contractors, as well as 40 Hour HAZWOPER training.

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OSHA and APCA Ally for Work Safety

OSHA announced this January 2012 that it has renewed its alliance with the American Pipeline Contractors Association (APCA) to line up with its objectives of protecting workers from work hazards associated with trenching and excavation, hydrostatic testing, and of course, during equipment operation.

Most employers, especially those engaged in pipeline projects, require for employment OSHA 30 certification (for supervisors) and OSHA 10 hour training (for workers), and 40 Hour HAZWOPER training (in certain worksites) to ensure safety and health conditions at worksites.

"[O]ne of our goals is to ensure that appropriate precautions are taken to protect workers during pipeline construction for the oil and gas industry," said David Michaels, assistant secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.

The two-year agreement entails sharing of information on occupational safety and health standards, and worker rights and employer responsibilities via such assemblies as fora and exhibits. The 14,000-strong APCA addresses safety, environmental and security issues within the pipeline industry among pipeline contractors, manufacturers and suppliers of pipeline-related products and services.

OSHA’s Alliance Program provides the federal work-safety watchdog another way to work closely with groups promoting workplace safety and health to prevent injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. OSHA coordinates with these groups to develop compliance-assistance tools and to educate workers and employers about their rights and responsibilities.

OSHACampus.com provides online OSHA training including OSHAcampus.com 10 Training and OSHAcampus.com 30 course for workers, supervisors, and contractors, as well as 40 Hour HAZWOPER training.

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Stop ICD-10 Implementation, Urges AMA

The American Medical Association (AMA) is strongly urging Congress to stop the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's implementation of the ICD-10 code set. The appeal, contained in a letter, also urged the lawmakers to call on stakeholders to find a replacement for ICD-9, the current code set.

Set for implementation on Oct. 1, 2013, ICD-10 will require doctors and their office staff to deal with a staggering 68,000 codes, five times more than the current 13,000 codes of ICD-9. Significantly, it also entails providers of medical billing and coding training to update their course contents.

AMA contended in no uncertain terms in its letter that ICD-10 is devoid of any direct benefit to individual patient care and will only hugely burden medical practice. It also pointed out that the implementation will only compete with other expensive transitions involving quality and health information technology (IT) reporting programs.

In the letter, AMA CEO James L. Madara, MD, said that derailing ICD-10 and finding "an appropriate replacement for ICD-9 will help to keep adoption of [electronic health records] and physician participation in quality and health IT programs on track and reduce costly burdens on physician practices."

Whether AMA is right or not in its protest, the transition to ICD-10 is a major industry undertaking. Meditec.com, a major provider of Meditec.com medical transcription and pharmacy technician classes, offers medical billing and coding training to those who want to take advantage of this suddenly-much-in-demand career.

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ICD-10 Implementation Delayed

The implementation of the ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases 10th Edition) diagnostic and procedural coding system has been pushed back indefinitely. This, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ICD-10, endorsed by the World Health Organization and already the medical coding standard in a number of countries, was to debut finally in the U.S. on Oct. 1, 2013 replacing the erstwhile and increasingly inefficient standard, ICD-9. Medical facilities and medical practices—as well as providers of medical billing and coding training—all over the country had been scrambling to orient their staff to the huge body of new codes that ICD-10 was going to introduce, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), to modernize healthcare delivery.

But some major healthcare providers and organizations balked at the timetable and doubted the advantages that CMS was claiming for ICD-10. The American Medical Association (AMA), for one, urgently petitioned Congress to stop the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's implementation of ICD-10.  

This February, HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the federal government has delayed the implementation of ICD-10. Sebelius explained that they were acting on providers' concerns regarding the administrative burdens ICD-10 would impose on them over the next few years. “We are committing to work with the provider community to reexamine the pace at which HHS and the nation implement these important improvements to our health care system."

Sue Bowman, director of Coding Policy and Compliance at the American Health Information Management Association, however, said that the need for replacement for ICD-9 remains. "Actually, the need for high-quality healthcare data has gotten bigger now with meaningful use and payment reform and value-based purchasing and ACOs and all the other initiatives."

However, proponents of ICD-10, including providers of medical billing and coding training, are raising some concerns about the delay—the second one, in fact, for the new and vastly expanded diagnostic and procedural coding system. Bowman, herself, warned that the delay in the implementation of ICD-10 delays the other benefits of better healthcare data. "Until we have a better coding system we can't really have a better healthcare system and achieve the goals of all of these other initiatives because they all pretty much come down to better data," she said. 

Bowman emphasized that implementing ICD-10 together with the other initiatives, including electronic medical records, accountable care organizations, and bundled payments, is the way to go. “I don't think we are going to see the anticipated benefits of all of the other initiatives unless we move to a better coding system."

Meanwhile, some health IT advocacy groups are strongly encouraging healthcare providers, payers, and technology vendors to push ahead with the ICD-10 compliance efforts that they have already started. The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), which earlier had taken issue with AMA’s stance and successful power play, is urging healthcare providers and practices to switch to ICD-10 as soon as they can despite the official postponement of its implementation.

However short or protracted the new lead time for the implementation of ICD-10 will be, Meditec.com, a major provider of medical billing and coding training—as well as medical transcription professional career training and pharmacy technician training—is continuing its efforts to get the medical coding community ready for the new ICD-10 environment.

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