The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has released a list of the 10 most frequently cited safety and health violations for the fiscal year of 2017; compiled from thousands of inspections of workplaces by federal OSHA staff. One remarkable thing about the list is that it rarely changes. Year after year, thousands of the same on-the-job hazards are cited, any one of which could result in a fatality or severe injury.
Hazards
Old Rules Relaxed & New Rules Added (CALIFORNIA ONLY), January 2017
TO MIX OR NOT TO MIX – OLD RULE
SEPARATION OF PAPER & METAL: In 2016, California EPA started to enforce hazardous waste regulations regarding used oil filters. While crushed metal oil filters could be recycled as scrap metal, paper cartridge filters and metal oil filters (with free flowing used oil upon puncture) were to be disposed of as hazardous waste. Dealers started to separate the two types of oil filters and dispose of them as two different streams.
Top 10 OSHA Citations of 2016, October 2016
Every October, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration releases a preliminary list of the 10 most frequently cited safety and health violations for the fiscal year, compiled from nearly 32,000 inspections of workplaces by federal OSHA staff. One remarkable thing about the list is that it rarely changes. Year after year, thousands of the same on-the-job hazards are cited, any one of which could result in a fatality or severe injury.
Foot Protection Requirements, October 2015
BACKGROUND: Safety inspections of the shop, parts, and car wash area have revealed that many employees are not wearing appropriate footwear that will protect them from foot injuries caused by crushing or falling objects, such as a rotor or a battery. Penetrating actions may happen from a sharp object left on the shop floor. Also, footwear in the shop area must be slip resistant when employees are working on slippery surfaces, since slip hazards are common due to accidental spills of lubricants in the shop. The porters in car wash are also subject to slip and fall hazards created by water and/or soap on the floor, and as such, their shoes must provide traction.
Jail Time? May 2004
There are a few acts of omission or commission by the management that can get them to jail, i.e., the act is considered criminal in nature. Consider the case where a hoist in the shop is “jumping” (mal-functioning). The technician walks into the office of the Service Manager and informs that the hoist is not working and needs immediate repair. The Service Manager is busy in his every day chores and burdened with mounting expenses for the month, delays the repair of the hoist to the next month. Two weeks later, a car falls off the mal-functioning hoist and the operator employee is killed.
Celly Services Inc. 