In a court settlement with Public Citizen, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has agreed to reissue the rules. Public Citizen and other groups had filed a lawsuit contesting the regulations.

Under FMCSA’s Nov. 19, 2008 Final Rule on Hours of Service for Drivers, driving hours expanded from 10 to 11  hours within a 14-hour window. Drivers could also restart their weekly on-duty limits after having at least 34 consecutive hours off duty.

Public Citizen and other groups claimed that commercial drivers would be less safe if they were allowed to drive more hours per week.

FMCSA has agreed to propose a new rule no later than July 2010. The agency has also agreed to publish a final rule by July 2011.

The court settlement is online here (PDF).

Police in Port Panama City say the explosion happened in two dust collectors. An investigation will determine what triggered it.

Authorities say it started in an area where a coating is put on pipes.

The facility will be shut down for several days while OSHA investigates.

After going from three shifts to one and briefly shutting down in December, Monday — the day of the blast — was the first time that all three shifts were up and running again.

Federal statistics show, in a 25-year period, 281 combustible dust explosions and fires killed 119 workers and injured 718.

This week, our SafetyNewsAlert.com Quick Poll was on combustible dust. We asked: Do you think OSHA needs a new standard on combustible dust?

• 51% said no, OSHA should use its existing regulations, and
• 49% said yes, current regulations aren’t enough.

A total of 430 readers voted. Check our home page for a new poll later this week.

And the rulemaking process is moving along.

OSHA has submitted the proposed regulation to the Office of Management and Budget for review.

That news comes in the wake of the Chemical Safety Board’s recent release of its investigation into the explosion and fire that killed 14 and injured 36 at the Imperial Sugar plant in Wentworth, GA.

In a 25-year period, 281 combustible dust explosions and fires killed 119 workers and injured 718.

A number of OSHA standards address aspects of combustible dust control, including those on housekeeping, emergency action plans, ventilation, spray finishing, permit required confined spaces and electric power generation.

Do you think a separate OSHA standard on combustible dust is necessary? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below, and take our Quick Poll on our home page.

In its final report on the explosion, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) said ongoing releases of sugar from poorly designed and maintained dust collection equipment, conveyors, and sugar handling equipment led to the blast.

Inadequate housekeeping allowed highly combustible sugar dust to build up throughout the plant’s packing buildings.

A conveyor had been enclosed, creating a confined, unventilated space where sugar dust could accumulate to an explosive concentration. It’s likely the dust was ignited by an overheated bearing.

The initial explosion caused a cascade of secondary dust explosions in adjacent packing buildings.

On top of these problems, the CSB said Imperial hadn’t conducted evacuation drills for its employees and that the explosions and fires disabled most of the emergency lighting, making it difficult for workers to escape.

A 2006 CSB study identified 281 combustible dust fires and explosions between 1980 and 2005 that killed 119 workers and injured 718, and extensively damaged industrial facilities. In April, OSHA started development of a combustible dust standard. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has recommended practices for preventing dust fires and explosions.

Specifically, OSHA is updating the references in its PPE regulations for general industry, shipyards, and longshoring and marine terminals. The regulations will now reflect more recent editions of the applicable national consensus standards that incorporate advances in PPE.

The incorporated American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards are over a decade old, and in some cases, two decades old.

These updated regulations involve eye, face, head and foot protection.

OSHA is using a direct final rule to update these standards, and says there are more updates to come. These updates take effect Oct. 9, 2009.

The specifics are in the 9/9/09 edition of the Federal Register.

The ACLU has filed, on behalf of the United Farm Workers Union, a lawsuit accusing the state of not being able to protect its 650,000 agricultural employees from heat injury and death.

The lawsuit also alleges that California hasn’t done enough to establish common-sense regulations that would provide water, shade and rest to farm workers who experience 100° conditions.

The ACLU and union also faults California for not having enough inspectors to enforce the heat stress regulations it has.

California was the first state to establish heat stress regulations in 2005. Washington is the only other state to do so.

However, the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board has failed twice so far this year to upgrade those standards.

Cal-OSHA wanted emergency amendments requiring employers to provide shade for at least 25% of their workers to rest in if temperatures exceed 85°.

When it met this summer, the board voted 3-3 on the proposed amendments. One member was absent. Governor Schwarzenegger supports the changes and criticized the board for not acting.

Cal-OSHA says it’s conducted 167 outdoor workplace inspections and identified over 200 violations between July 11 and 27. In all of 2009, it’s issued $415,398 in citations.

The lawsuit notes that California has 35,000 farms and only 187 inspectors, who also have to enforce safety and health regulations other than the ones about heat stress.

Should states have regulations regarding heat stress and outdoor workers? Or should OSHA just cite companies when they don’t provide enough water, shade and rest using the General Duty Clause? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

The provision has been on-again, off-again since 2008.

Recently, a federal court ruled that transportation safety was a compelling reason to mandate observation when employees who previously failed or refused to take a drug test are retested.

The rule requires observers to check people producing urine samples for prosthetic or other cheating devices. This provision takes effect Aug. 31, 2009.

The court took into account the recent development of a wide array of available cheating devices (see our previous article here). It also said the rule didn’t violate the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. The judges on the court stated unanimously that employees who had failed or refused a previous drug test had diminished expectation of privacy.

Transportation Department (DOT) data show that the violation rate for return-to-duty and follow-up testing is two to four times higher than that of random testing.

DOT’s rule negates any collective bargaining agreements that prohibit or limit the use of direct observation collections for return-to-work and follow-up testing.

(Click here for the Federal Register notice on the new regulation.)

Do you support DOT’s decision to require observed collections in these circumstances? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

The amendments would clarify when and how to provide shade, water and training for workers.

The changes would also set triggers of 85 and 95 degrees for steps to be taken by employers.

Cal/OSHA shut down eight employers in two weeks earlier this year, saying the heat protection they were providing for employees wasn’t adequate.

The agency says its findings show employers need more guidance on protecting workers from heat exposure.

The changes appear to be delayed for now. When Cal-OSHA’s standards board met on June 18, it refused to adopt the emergency amendments after labor and health advocates spoke out against some of the changes.

The amendments would allow grapevines in vineyards to be used as suitable shade. Also, shade could be as far as a five-minute walk away.

Click here for more on California’s heat-illness standard.

In Nevada, construction workers will have to complete a 10-hour OSHA safety course within 15 days of being hired. Supervisors will be required to take a 30-hour OSHA course. The new law takes effect Jan. 1, 2010.

Employers must fire any worker who fails to provide proof of completing the required course. Companies can be fined for employing workers who don’t have the training.

The new law was prompted by 12 construction deaths at projects along the Las Vegas strip during a 19-month period between 2006 and 2008.

State Assembly Majority Leader John Oceguera (D) helped draft the new law. He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Hopefully this will be a step in the right direction to have everyone recognize safety is the most important factor.”

The bill passed the Assembly 39 to 3 and the Senate 20 to 0.

Do you think safety training requirements like this one will help prevent worker fatalities? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

No one should really be surprised that OSHA under the Obama administration is stepping up enforcement.

But for anyone who had any doubts, Barab is making it pretty plain.

In a recent speech to the Maritime Advisory Committee, Barab noted the funding increase OSHA has already received to boost enforcement.

He capped off the budgetary summary by saying, “I want to be absolutely clear: OSHA is back in the business of standards and enforcement.”

Barab also noted that the funding increases aren’t over. The fiscal year 2010 budget proposes another $50 million increase for the agency.

OSHA plans to use part of that increase to hire 200 more employees: 130 more inspectors, 25 more investigators assigned specifically to whistleblower cases and 20 more staff who will help develop safety and health standards.

A transcript of Barab’s speech is here.

OSHA is establishing a Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) panel to review a proposed rule on occupational exposure to food flavorings that contain diacetyl.

The SBREFA process allows small businesses to review the proposal and comment before it’s enacted.

Workers in microwave popcorn and candy plants have come down with a sometimes fatal lung disease, bronchiolitis obliterans, after working with diacetyl.

OSHA has also started the process of drafting a rule regarding combustible dust in the workplace.

The agency expects to issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to evaluate possible regulations.

Since 1980, more than 130 workers have been killed and more than 780 injured in combustible dust explosions, including 14 deaths at an Imperial Sugar Co. plant in Georgia on Feb. 7, 2008.

You can find more information about diacetyl here, and more about combustible dust here.

The agency is redirecting funding from its Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) to free up more resources for enforcement in the tight economy.

OSHA doesn’t have to receive tons more federal funding to ramp up inspections. All it has to do is shift money away from the “helpful” programs established during the Bush administration and toward enforcement.

In testimony before the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, acting OSHA administrator Jordan Barab said, “We need to better utilize the resources that we already have. In order to direct more of OSHA’s existing resources into enforcement and to provide time to address concerns in an upcoming GAO Report on the efficacy of OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program, I have informed the field staff that we will suspend the previous administration’s practice of establishing goals for new Voluntary Protection Program sites and Alliances.”

What else is OSHA planning to do to beef up enforcement?

OSHA’s acting administrator Jordan Barab plans to work with the Justice Department on increasing prosecution of employers that repeatedly violate safety laws. Watch for more prison sentences for owners and managers who repeatedly flaunt safety regulations.

Barab also plans to replace the failed Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP) with a new Severe Violators Inspection Program. The EEP was recently criticized in an inspector general’s report which said it failed to adequately identify and inspect major companies with repeat violations.

Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress are pushing legislation to increase the amounts of OSHA fines and prison sentences for owners and managers in workplace fatality cases.

The guidelines were published in a Q&A on heat-illness prevention on Cal-OSHA’s Web site:

• Where unlimited drinking water is not immediately available from a plumbed system, the employer must provide enough water for every employee to be able to drink one quart of water, or four 8-ounce cups, per hour.
• If an employer chooses not to provide the full-shift quantity of drinking water at the start of a work shift, the standard requires effective procedures for drinking-water replenishment to allow each employee to drink one quart per hour.
• Water must always be readily accessible. Employer should build their water placement strategies around a sound understanding of the fact that the more an employee has to interrupt work to drink, the greater will be the likelihood the employee will not be drinking enough water to protect fully against heat illness. An employer may choose to augment maintaining a compliant readily accessible water supply by also providing a beverage container (preferably insulated to keep the water cool) to be carried and used by the employee while working.
• When temperatures exceed 90 degrees F, having ice on hand to cool the water is recommended.
• Having shade present is considered a requirement of the standard when the outdoor dry-bulb temperature high for the area closest to the location at which employees are to work is forecast, as of 5 p.m. the previous day, to be over 85 degrees F, according to the National Weather Service. Shade must be up at the beginning of the shift and present throughout.
• Regardless of what the predicted high is, employers are expected to know if the actual temperature is exceeding 90 degrees F at their worksite. If the temperature enters this range, shade must be present regardless of the predicted high.
• Cal-OSHA consider the amount of shade to be sufficient is enough to accommodate 25% of the employees on a shift so that they can sit comfortably in the shade without touching each other. However, if more than 25% of a shift’s workers require shade at the same time, the employer must provide it immediately.
• Shade must be located less than a 1/4-mile or five-minute walk away, whichever is shorter.

For the complete set of guidelines, click here.

Imagine this: One of your employees is on pain medication that could compromise his safety and productivity, as well as that of co-workers. But, because of state law, you have to accommodate the employee. Not only that, but federal law says the pain medication is illegal.

What medication are we talking about? Marijuana.

That’s the case in Oregon, and a business lobbying group is pushing a bill to exempt employers from having to accommodate medical marijuana patients.

House Bill 2497 would allow businesses to terminate employees who test positive for marijuana, even if they are legally authorized to use it for pain management.

Employers would also be notified when a worker applies for a “marijuana card,” under the measure.

Associated Oregon Industries (AOI) sees medical cannabis as a liability for employers.

AOI’s vice-president for government affairs, J.L. Wilson, told The World that many employers have horror stories about employing medical marijuana users and impairment on the job.

Wilson notes that marijuana remains federally illegal, but in Oregon, employers are forced to accommodate those who have been approved to use it for pain.

Wayne Haythorn with Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse says the bill is designed to stir up fear and punish people who need marijuana for pain.

In what situations do doctors approve pot use for pain?

One example: Jude Isaacson had back surgery in 2000 and developed a spinal infection. She was using a wheelchair.

“Cannabis has brought me back,” she said. “I can focus now.”

Dr. Michelle Petrofes who treats six medical marijuana patients says pot isn’t her first line of treatment by any means. She said patients have to have tried every other medication first for pain before she will consider marijuana.

Pain management expert Dr. Daniel Rusu says most patients who request cannabis for pain management don’t qualify for it.

He also believes this battle over marijuana will continue.

How can employers balance compassion for workers in severe pain with their employee drug policies? What do you think is the right course of action? And readers from Oregon, let’s hear from you, especially. You can leave comments in the box below.

The three have introduced a bill that would require OSHA to issue a rule regarding the explosion hazard.

The bill is similar to one that passed the U.S. House last year but wasn’t acted upon in the Senate.

OSHA would be required to issue an interim rule within 90 days and a final rule within 18 months after the bill is signed into law. It would also force OSHA to add combustible dust to its Hazard Communication standard.

Introduction of the bill comes about one year after the explosion at the Imperial Sugar plant in Port Wentworth, GA, that killed 14 employees and resulted in OSHA fines of more than $8 million.

The bill would have wide-ranging effect because of the types of dust that would be regulated:

• organic (sugar, candy, paper, soap and dried blood)
• plastics and rubber
• sulfur
• wood
• furniture
• textiles
• pesticides
• pharmaceuticals
• fibers
• dyes, and
• coal, metals and fossil fuels.

To read the entire bill, click here and enter HR 849.

Employers in another state may soon be facing mandatory rules to reduce the number of employees’ ergonomic injuries.

Michigan is in line to join California as the only states to require employers to have ergonomic programs.

Michigan’s rule would require that all employees be given ergonomic awareness training that covers:

• occupational risk factors
• signs and symptoms that indicate an ergonomic hazard may be present
• a process for reporting that an ergonomic hazard may be present, and
• a process for assessing and responding to ergonomic occupational risk.

Companies would have to document that training was performed.

Employers would also have to establish a process for assessing and responding to ergonomic occupational risk factors that includes:

• employee involvement
• assessment of ergonomic risks, and
• elimination, reduction or control of ergonomic hazards where economically and technically feasible.

The proposal continues to undergo state review, and a public hearing will have to be held. However, members of two key state commissions unanimously approved the measure in January.

The rule would take effect six months after it’s enacted.

From 2 states to 50?

While Michigan is working on its own rule, President Obama has said he favors restoring a federal ergonomics standard that would require employers to educate employees about musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), keep records on these types of injuries and determine their risks for MSDs.

Eliminating or reducing ergonomic injuries can save businesses significant costs. About $1 of every $3 spent on workers’ comp are spent on MSDs. Overall, U.S. employers absorb $20 billion in costs associated with ergonomic injuries.

Do you have an ergonomics program at your workplace? What do you think about state or federal rules to require employers to have ergonomic programs? Let us know about your program and opinions in the Comments Box below.

That’s because the administration is following a tradition started by Ronald Reagan in 1981: It has ordered all work halted on federal regulations left unfinished by the Bush White House until it can be reviewed by Obama’s team.

The White House will perform a legal and policy review of each pending regulation.

Among proposed rules in the OSHA pipeline:

• exposure to crystalline silica
• exposure to beryllium
• a review of the methylene chloride standard
• review of the bloodborne pathogen standard
• proposed confined spaces in construction standard
• revision of the electrical power transmission and distribution standard, and
• proposed revision of the cranes and derricks standard.

For more information on the order to halt work on federal regulations, click here.