OSHA’s Mobile-Friendly Publication on Training Requirements is Easy to Use on the Job

OSHA's comprehensive guide to Training Requirements in OSHA Standards is a valuable reference to help employers, safety and health professionals, and training directors comply with the law and keep workers safe. However, at more than 250 pages, the printed version can be cumbersome to carry on some jobsites. That’s why the guide available in digital (MOBI and EPUB) formats; it can be read on a smartphone or tablet and easily searched for the standards that apply to specific industries or activities. Visit OSHA’s website to download a copy

What is an OSHA Intervention in Time of Emergency?

On September 9, a team of OSHA responders offered assistance to contractors, volunteers, and residents in Friendswood, Texas, who were recovering homes devastated by the floods from Hurricane Harvey. OSHA’s Simon Cabello and Justine Callahan provided volunteers from a local community church with personal protective equipment such as safety glasses and respirators for the work they were doing. The OSHA team focused on safety and health precautions, but offered help to local residents in other ways when needed. While doing their outreach, an elderly couple told inspectors Cabello and Callahan that they didn’t have flood insurance and they weren’t sure how to get information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The OSHA inspectors connected the homeowners with a FEMA representative, who met with them to assist in their recovery efforts.

OSHA Actively Engaged in Hurricane Harvey Recovery Efforts

OSHA is working closely with local, state, and federal response partners to protect all workers involved in Harvey cleanup and recovery operations.

At FEMA’s request, OSHA staff joined the Joint Field Office in Austin, Texas, and is developing an incident-specific health and safety plan to protect workers during the cleanup and recovery operations. OSHA has been planning and conducting outreach with interagency partners and stakeholders by providing worker safety and health resources, such as the agency’s preparedness, response, and recovery webpages on hurricanes and floods.

To date, OSHA staff have conducted dozens of interventions in the Coastal Bend area to assist employers and workers in identifying unsafe or potentially unsafe working conditions. OSHA response teams have removed approximately 350 workers from hazards, and provided outreach at shelters and work camps where workers assembled and began preparing for recovery activities.

U.S. Labor Department to Provide Immediate Grants and Assistance for Hurricane Irma Recovery Efforts

In cooperation with state and local partners, the Department of Labor is setting aside funding and will be making grants to assist in disaster response efforts after Hurricane Irma. The Department has initially committed up to $40 million in Disaster Dislocated Worker Grant funding to Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The amount of total funding may increase as the needs and impacts on state and local partners are assessed following the hurricane.

OSHA is actively engaged with the National Response Team and the interagency response to the hurricane and flooding. It is working with the Federal Emergency Management Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and other federal agencies to coordinate strategies for the recovery.

As the severity and extent of the damage becomes known, the Department will monitor activities and take additional actions as necessary. For more information on the Labor Department’s assistance to those recovering from Hurricane Irma, see the news release.

NIOSH to Hold Webinar on Occupational Safety for the Aging Workforce

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health will host a webinar Sept. 28 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. ET on best practices for addressing occupational safety and health challenges posed by an aging workforce. The webinar will feature presentations on: research to address age differences at work; coaching to help workers manage and reduce the strain that chronic illness may present; and translating scientific knowledge on aging and its societal implications into policy-focused practice. For more information and to register, visit NIOSH's website.

This webinar is the second annual installment of the Total Worker Health: Productive Aging and Work series. The first webinar, “Theory, Health Data, and Practical Solutions,” examined the concept of productive aging, designing aging-friendly workplaces, and hands-on methods organizations can take to meet workplace safety and health needs of workers of all ages.

New OSHA Publications Examines Cause of Fatal Fall

A new addition to OSHA's Fatal Facts series emphasizes the importance of using manufacturer-approved lifting equipment to prevent falls. Warehouse Fall from a Pallet Lifted by a Forklift, examines the root causes of an incident in which a worker died in a fall from an improperly raised pallet while pulling stock from elevated shelves. Fatal Facts describe cases in which there was a failure to identify and correct hazardous working conditions before they resulted in fatalities at the worksite.

OSHA Urges Recovery Workers to Stay Safe in Areas Affected by Harvey

As thousands of workers and volunteers courageously mobilize to help victims recover from the catastrophic storm damage in Texas and Louisiana, OSHA advises workers and those helping in recovery efforts to take proper safety and health precautions to avoid injury.

Following a natural disaster, recovery and cleanup workers can be exposed to many dangers, including downed power lines, carbon monoxide and electrical hazards from portable generators, confined spaces, fall and struck-by hazards from weakened and damaged trees, mold, high water levels, toxic chemical exposure, and more.

OSHA has resources to help employers keep their workers safe when hurricanes and floods strike and during cleanup and recovery operations. For more information visit OSHA.gov or the Department of Labor’s Hurricane Recovery Assistance webpage.