Safety

Getting Back to Safety Basics

By Darcy Cook, Safety Trainers

As we enter the fourth quarter of 2020, we have endured many new obstacles as it relates to the safety, health, and continuity of our businesses. For many of you, safety management and compliance are added to your already full-time job responsibilities. With the additional local, state, and federal requirements being added due to the national pandemic, you must be overwhelmed and exhausted trying to keep up with the pace and demands of your day-to-day operations, in addition to navigating the alphabet soup of new and old regulations.

We recommend that you sit with your team and assess your company’s environmental, health, and safety program status. What got pushed aside? What did we miss? What needs to happen right now? And then begin to put a plan together to get back on track for 2021.

We know that many of you appreciate the "cliff note" version of getting back on track with safety. So, we listed below a list of most common high-risk areas in manufacturing and suggest you start your team’s conversation on these areas of concern.

Remember that we are here to support you. If you need a "time -out," a "life raft," or just someone to get some things off your "to do list," reach out to your MassMEP consultant and we will help bridge the gap of where your organization’s EH&S program is today and where it needs to be at the start of 2021.

The following is a list of the top 10 most frequently cited standards following inspections of worksites by federal OSHA. In manufacturing, you start with 29 CFR 1910 standards. Any standard that is 29 CFR 1926 applies to the construction industry. And for some of you, your facilities and maintenance department perform tasks that apply to both.

1. Fall protection, construction (29 CFR 1926.501) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
2. Hazard communication standard, general industry (29 CFR 1910.1200) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
3. Scaffolding, general requirements, construction (29 CFR 1926.451) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
4. Control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout), general industry (29 CFR 1910.147) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
5. Respiratory protection, general industry (29 CFR 1910.134) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
6. Ladders, construction (29 CFR 1926.1053) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
7. Powered industrial trucks, general industry (29 CFR 1910.178) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
8. Fall Protection–Training Requirements (29 CFR 1926.503) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
9. Machinery and Machine Guarding, general requirements (29 CFR 1910.212) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]
10. Eye and Face Protection (29 CFR 1926.102) [related OSHA Safety and Health Topics page]

Other programs for you to review include forklift, overhead crane, welding, scissor lift and scaffolding, waste management, and your OSHA record keeping.

Reference
OSHA:  https://www.osha.gov/