Download Available: Incentive Safety – Feb 2010
Dealerships’ incur extra liability when they hire an outside contractor. The purpose of this Alert is to discuss some avenues of liability the dealership may encounter and certain remedies that may address those liabilities.
OSHA Issue I: Continue reading
Download Available: FLU
What are the symptoms of Swine Flu?
Cough, Fever/Chills, Sore Throat, Fatigue/Body Aches, and Decreased Appetite
Less common: Runny Nose, Nausea, Vomiting, and Diarrhea.
Is there treatment for swine flu? Continue reading
Download Available: Recordable Injuries – LH
The Workers Compensation (W/C) premium paid by your dealership depends upon payroll, work function of the employee and the X-Mod. The X-Mod is computed upon the severity and frequency of injuries reported. Some dealerships have entered into programs with their insurance company where the first $250 expense for the treatment is paid by the dealership aka a deductible. While this financial agreement may be acceptable, it does not relieve the dealership to record the injury that later will reflect in their premiums! California Department of Insurance wrote a memo (a copy is attached) on this matter sometime ago notifying employers of their obligations. We seriously recommend that you discuss the matter of WHAT INJURIES NEED TO BE REPORTED AND WHICH ARE EXEMPT with your W/C insurance company. Some general guidance between recordable injuries and first aid as follows: Continue reading
Download Available: Exemption to Phase II EVR Upgrades LH
California Air Resources Board (CARB) has adopted regulations that require Phase II Enhance Vapor Recovery (EVR) upgrades to the gasoline dispensers on underground tanks by April 1, 2009. Approximate cost of the upgrades is running from $20-30K. We last wrote to you on this issue on April 10, 2008 and this Dealer Alert discusses how to get exemption from the upgrade. The Air Pollution Control Districts who are spearheading the compliance phase of the state law are willing to issue exemptions to dealers provided certain conditions are met. We discuss those conditions in this Dealer Alert. Continue reading
Many Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) health & safety standards require employers to provide their employees with protective equipment, including personal protective equipment (PPE), when such equipment is necessary to protect employees from job-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. These requirements address PPE of many kinds: hard hats, gloves, goggles, safety shoes, safety glasses, goggles, face shields, chemical protective equipment, and so forth. They state that the employer is to provide such PPE. However, these provisions do not specify that the employer is to provide such PPE at no cost to the employee. Continue reading
Every so often, a dealership has a spill of oil/ATF from their bulk storage tanks on the floor of the shop area during after-hours or on a weekend. The leak source can be attributed to equipment failure as follows:
The fires raging through seven counties in Southern California have burnt through thousands of acres and have resulted in widespread loss to property. The intense smoke and ash generated by the fires have resulted in health & safety issues that must be addressed by the employers. A brief summary of the concerns and the employer response is as follows:
Background: Since July 1992, regulations promulgated under the CAA require that motor vehicle air conditioning refrigerant be recycled. Last week, auto dealers in San Francisco area were penalized for violations arising under this act. We must note that these CAA regulations are federal regulations and are applicable to all auto dealers in the US and not to San Francisco dealers alone. To achieve compliance under this regulation, dealers must act as follows:
Background: Present US law requires that most hazardous waste be transported from hazardous waste generators (dealerships) to permitted recycling, treatment, storage, or disposal facilities (TSDF) by registered hazardous waste transporters, and that each shipment be accompanied by a hazardous waste manifest. The manifest is the document that provides information for “cradle-to-grave” tracking of the hazardous waste.
The good new is that the dealers in California and other states do not have to manifest used oil, used coolant, used oil filters or any of the Universal Wastes. The only waste that is regularly manifested to disposal from dealerships’ is their clarifier sludge. As of July 2000, manifests were no longer required in California for parts cleaning solvent (both water based and petroleum based) even though certain haulers continue to manifest the parts washer waste.
Every state had a different manifest and believe me; they were as different as they could be. California had a six-page manifest with blue, white and yellow colors. Texas, Arizona and Alabama each had them in different colors and formats. In summary, keeping track of manifests was a state-to-state mission and confusing at best. Now the Feds have marched in with a new manifest applicable to one and all in every state.
Background: As summer approaches, and the mercury rises, the probability of an employee illness due to heat stroke/stress rises as well. We write this memo to make you aware of these issues so you can minimize or rather eliminate loss time and other losses due to heat illnesses.
Celly Services Inc. 