Safety Tidbit #34 – Religious Freedom

Safety Tidbit #34 – Religious Freedom

I had an interesting question this week while touring a job site.  My client was worried about his workers after they told him they were not going to wear certain personal protective equipment due to their religious beliefs. Now, I’m not advocating that the employer violates the worker’s First Amendment rights. However, I would like to discuss the rationale behind the employer’s concern.  Most of us are aware of the long standing exemption that OSHA has given to the Amish exempting them from having to wear hard hats as it conflicts with their beliefs.  However, OSHA has gone back and forth as have the courts on this issue as you might well imagine.  Until ultimately, in 1993 President Clinton signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which, simply put, laws "neutral" toward religion may burden religious exercise as surely as laws intended to interfere with religious exercise, and that governments should not substantially burden religious exercise without compelling justification.  Therefore, OSHA current directive STD 01-06-005 grants “an exemption from citations to employers of employees who, for reasons of personal religious convictions, object to wearing hard hats in the workplace. There may be, however, circumstances in the future that would involve a hard hat hazard sufficiently grave to raise a compelling governmental interest for requiring the wearing of hard hats, notwithstanding employee personal religious convictions.” 

    So where does that leave us, well, if the employer has compelling reasons for having the workers wear hard hats the employer can have the worker wear a hard hat. A reason would be that a hazard of objects falling from above exists.  Remember; the employer has a duty to protect the worker from hazards and provide a safe and healthful workplace. That said, most of our heads do not meet the ANSI requirements for hard hats (although some folks might think they have pretty hard heads!). There was a time we couldn’t get construction workers to wear a hardhat, ever. Now, the culture is they put one on as soon as they set foot on the job sites and site rules mandate this practice.  Also, PPE manufacturers are making hard hats that look like cowboy hats so why couldn’t they make one that looks like the Amish straw or felt hats? I guess then the question becomes would these hard hats be acceptable to the Amish community?  If the hats were available and the Amish community accepted them, then they would be able to wear hard hats like everyone else, problem solved.  However, until the hard hats are available, a risk assessment may be in order to ask the question: does the hazard from falling objects exist everywhere on the job site?  If the look alike hard hats are not acceptable then deciding the areas the vulnerable workers may become a very real issue. I have spoken to a few groups at job sites over the years and when the hard hat area is well defined (not just a blanket statement: when you step foot onto the job site) the Amish workers have not had a problem with wearing hard hats then changing back into their traditional hats once out of the area. 

    So enough about hard hats, my client’s issue and why I found it interesting was that his employee said his religious belief required his to have a beard and could not wear a half-face air purifying respirator.  First, I hate respirators and don’t like to see anyone have to wear them.  However, I advised the client that there were alternatives available that allow the worker to keep his beard while still protecting him (e.g., a loose-fitting hood with powered-air purifying or inline respirators).  OSHA makes this clear in their letter of interpretation dated August 5, 2011.  Ultimately, a good risk assessment with proper ventilation and changing their work practices actually reduced their exposures to “safe” levels, and a respirator was no longer necessary.

    The bottom line is that the employer sometimes may not be able to take the easy path. Their safety policy should not be just to dictate the wearing of PPE.  Sometimes you need to dig deeper to look for a more realistic approach one with a longer lasting effect.  A risk assessment should be the starting point. And personal protective equipment is always the last line of defense. Oh, did I mention that really hate respirators??

Hope you learned something!  Thanks for reading!

Safety Tidbit #33 – Observable Forklift Safety

Safety Tidbit #33 – Observable Forklift Safety

As many of you know, a pet-peeve of mine is forklift safety.  Proper maintenance and diligent supervision of forklift operation play a big part in ensuring no workers get hurt.  OSHA’s Powered Industrial Truck (AKA forklift) Standard delineates what training is to be provided (see Safety Tidbit #19).  However, really I am interested in the day to day execution of the training.  As I conduct my site walk-through, looking for hazards and getting a general sense of the company’s safety program and culture, I pay particular attention to several environmental and material forklift issues.  Interestingly, OSHA’s standard actually states twice that if a forklift in need of repair, defective, or in any way unsafe, that the truck is removed from service and fixed [1910.178(p)(1) and 1910.178(q)(1)] and that an authorized person makes these repairs.

Since many of my clients are small businesses, some of them only use their forklifts occasionally, such as, weekly or even monthly.  For them, I recommend they inspect the forklift before use or before putting the forklift into service.  Note, the forklift standard views “placed in service” as a daily evolution.  Therefore, all forklifts must be inspected before being placed in service, at least, daily or at the end if each shift if used for multiple shifts during the day [1910.178(q)(7)].  Some examples of unsafe conditions include broken welds, missing bolts, or damage to the overhead guard or tires that are missing large pieces of rubber. Is the alarm loud enough to be identified above the noise in the workplace?  An unsafe condition I see quite often is a missing tank locator pin on propane forklifts.  The pin lets the operator know the when fuel tank correctly positioned.  Although the fuel tank can be attached to the feed hose without being in the proper place the stress on the hose connection or the improper securing of the hose to the fuel tank may lead to leaks and subsequently an explosion or fire hazard.

As I noted above, during my walk-through I also am observing the operators for safe operation.  So, are they slowing down and sounding their horn when crossing aisles, turning corners or where vision is limited [1910.178(n)(4) & 1910.178(n)(15)]? Are grades or ramps ascended or descended slowly [1910.178(n)(7)]?  If operators are loading trailers are the trailer wheels blocked to prevent movement [1910.178(m)(7)]?  Also, have they inspected the floor of the trailer for weakness [1910.178(m)(7)]?  If they are loading highway trucks, have they set the brakes and chocked the rear wheels to prevent the trucks from rolling [1910.178(k)(1)]?

Do drivers keep their hands and arms inside the uprights of the mast [1910.178(m)(4)]? Is anyone riding on the forklift that is not the driver [1910.178(m)(3)]?  If workers must be lifted using a personnel cage attached to the forklift is it approved by the forklift manufacturer [1910.178(q)(6)]?

And last but not least, is there adequate lighting or does the forklift have auxiliary lighting where the area is less than 2 lumens (which, in my opinion, is too dark).

I hope you found this helpful and thanks for reading.

Safety Tidbit #32 – Frequent Crane Inspections

Safety Tidbit #32 – Frequent Crane Inspections

So how many times have you inspected a work site and there was some sort of crane?  Cranes come in many shapes and sizes to help us handle all kinds of materials.  Usually, when I ask the client if they’ve inspected the crane they promptly answer “Yup every year we have a guy come in and check it out.”  However, crane inspections, as specified by OSHA 1910.179(j)(1)(ii) are split into two general classifications (frequent and periodic) based on the performance interval of the inspection based on the risk of the failure due to deterioration, wear or malfunction.

“Frequent inspections” or done typically daily, however, if the crane is not used daily the employer must inspect the crane before each use or, at least, monthly.  “Periodic inspections” are done monthly to annually.  I’d like to take a little time to talk about the “frequent” inspections as they are the inspections I most often find that employers forget.  Frequent inspections are less comprehensive than periodic inspections and include careful examination of all functional operating mechanisms for proper operation.  They also include reviewing for deterioration or leakage in lines, tanks, valves, pumps, and other of the air or hydraulic systems.  Also, looking at hooks for deformation or cracks and hoist chains and end connections for excessive wear, twist, distorted or stretched links.  OSHA [1910.179(j)(2)(iii) and (iv)] requires the hook and hoist chain inspections be recorded at least monthly in a written format.  The record must include the date of the inspection, signature of the person who performed the inspection and the serial number or unique identifier of the hook or hoist chains.

1910.179(j)(3) delineates that periodically or annually complete inspections of the crane are required.  However, remember earlier OSHA said these inspections are done every 1-12 months not necessarily “annually.”  Which brings me the reason for this Safety Tidbit – When do I have to inspect my crane?  Well, let’s look at a few scenarios of crane usage which I think illustrate when the employer needs to inspect their cranes.  First, cranes used every day (or even multiple shifts in a day – a pre-shift inspection may be advisable) need to be visually inspected each day, and the results of the visual inspection recorded, at least, monthly (weekly might be good). These cranes then must be comprehensively inspected yearly.  The hope is that the frequent visual inspections and the daily use of the cranes provides much more familiarization with the crane and knowledge if something becomes worn or deteriorated. 

If a crane is not used every day but at least within the last six months (so maybe every other month or possibly quarterly) it must be visually inspected as specified in 1910.179(j)(2).  And, remember, you need to record the results of this inspection since frequent inspections get recorded monthly when you used the crane daily as we just discussed. 

Lastly, if you use the crane even less frequently than monthly but at least annually you must conduct a complete periodic inspection before using the crane.  Therefore, if you only use your crane about every seven or eight months you must perform a comprehensive inspection each time you use the crane. 

On a slightly different note, if you have a standby or backup crane, it must have a complete periodic or comprehensive inspection every six months. And, oh, by the way, you will need to complete the frequent inspection before each use and you may as well record the results of the inspection since you don’t know when you will next use the standby or backup crane.

Hope this was informative and thank you for reading.