MSHA COVID Tips
Health
Happy Thanksgiving
OSHA COVID-19 Violations
Stepping into OSHA-land for a moment, a news release several days ago stated “U.S. Department of Labor’s OSHA Announces $2,851,533 in Coronavirus Violations.” Whether your job is in an OSHA or MSHA jurisdiction, OSHA provides some helpful enforcement and safety publications. Here are links to:
Common COVID-19 Citations (pdf)
The CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
If that sounds like a subscription you ought to have, you’re right. Seriously, I’ve was a subscriber even when it was only on paper… before the internet and email it was still free. Of course, I’ve long been accused of having a morbid sense of humor, but really there are loads of great charts and data here even when hospitalization rates weren’t something so many people were interested in.
If you think you’re interested in a subscription check out the MMWR online here and look for the blue subscribe envelope.
October is National Protect Your Hearing Month
There is no cure for hearing loss! The good news? You can prevent noise-induced hearing loss by protecting your hearing. Avoid loud noise whenever possible and turn down the volume on personal listening devices. If you can’t avoid loud noise, use earplugs or noise-cancelling earmuffs to protect your ears. – CDC
Get more materials from the CDC for Protect Your Hearing Month HERE!
National Preparedness Month
September is National Preparedness Month. Time to review or create your plans for responding to emergencies big/small, business/personal, human-made/natural, and accident/illness. Were you prepared for the pandemic?
Check out OSHA’s Emergency Preparedness and Response site for resources and guides.
Beat the Heat
It’s that time of year. That time when we’ve already had lots of heat and there’s more to come. It’s time to take it seriously. Check out the National Integrated Heat Health Information System.
Information from 8 agencies in one location gives you what you need to anticipate and prepare for heat in your area. Take it seriously.
OSHA reminds us that “employers are responsible for providing workplaces free of known safety hazards. This includes protecting workers from extreme heat. An employer with workers exposed to high temperatures should establish a complete heat illness prevention program.”
- Provide workers with water, rest and shade.
- Allow new or returning workers to gradually increase workloads and take more frequent breaks as they acclimatize, or build a tolerance for working in the heat.
- Plan for emergencies and train workers on prevention.
- Monitor workers for signs of illness.
Check out the NIHHIS site here.
The COVID-19 Facts
With so much false information going around and the politicization of mask wearing there are facts as best we know them at reliable sources like the CDC. The current bottom line is we accomplished much by protecting our communities but our work is not nearly over.
If you want to review some scholarly work on this you can check out Characteristics of Adult Outpatients and Inpatients with COVID-19 — 11 Academic Medical Centers, United States, March–May 2020 (pdf). Or like me you just might enjoy the tables of information the study provides,
OSHA Guidance on Returning to Work
OSHA has a guide available for employers or employees to assist them in assessing the workplace and instituting the appropriate controls to make the return safe. It “focuses on the need for employers to develop and implement strategies for basic hygiene (e.g., hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfection), social distancing, identification and isolation of sick employees, workplace controls and flexibilities, and employee training.”
Many areas have done a poor job of opening up, either reducing controls before evidence indicated or failing to continue with controls like physical distancing or the wearing of face masks which should continue until a vaccine is available and widely administered. Remember, under OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements, COVID-19 is a recordable illness, and employers are responsible for recording cases of COVID-19 that have evidence of being contracted at work.
