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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Safety Corner, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Division of Worker's Compensation (DWD-WC) Safety Blog!
I'm using this forum to share some of the current, pertinent safety news and information that I receive from my EHS network of workplace safety professionals, and to pass the information along to employers and workers across Wisconsin.
January's Safety Blog reminded Employers to update and refresh their required annual US Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) safety training obligations. See the January Safety Blog for a listing of the 11 most frequent OSHA annual training topics common to the majority of employers/establishments.
To help guide and prioritize one's OSHA safety training focus, OSHA's Top 10 - Most Frequently Cited Standards and NSC S&H Mag - OSHA Top 10 Most Cited Violations - FY 2021 guidance information can be accessed, detailing the past most cited OSHA Sub-Parts / Standards. Related informative OSHA Sub-Parts / Standards 'MFC Serious Violations' PowerPoint (PDF) presentations links include:
Again, vetted and published OSHA fiscal year summary data typically runs 1-1.5 years behind current year activities, but remains fairly consistent in content and standards violations conclusions over their fiscal years.
Since last month's Safety Blog, OSHA has released its updated 2022 OSHA Safety Violations maximum penalties, adjusted for inflation. Below are the current 2022 maximum OSHA Citation penalty amounts, accessible by OSHA after January 15, 2022 (See below table or OSHA Memo, January 13, 2022).
These 2022 penalty increases represent a 6.2% increase over last year's penalty rates, based upon the current CPI index. This increase is the largest annual percentage increase since 2016, when the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, authorized and mandated all Federal Agencies to update their CPI inflation stagnant penalties.
| Type of Violation | Maximum OSHA Penalty – 2022 |
|---|---|
| Serious Other-Than-Serious Posting Requirements | $14,502 per violation |
| Failure to Abate | $14,502 per day beyond the abatement date (typically capped at 30 days) |
| Willful or Repeated | $145,027 per violation |
OSHA.gov: OSHA Civil Penalties_2022 Annual Adjustments_01-13-2022
(OSHA Penalties' annual adjustment for CPI inflation are typically published in the Federal Register the 2nd or 3rd week each January)
A reminder that Establishments' annual workplace OSHA 300A Summary form/information (for the prior 2021 year) is to be posted for the Establishment's workforce's review – February 1 to May 1, then retained on file for 5 years, for possible OSHA compliance inspection review, upon request.
Also, March 2, 2022 is the deadline for select Employers to electronically report their OSHA Form 300A data (for calendar year 2021) through the OSHA online ITA portal. OSHA Recrdkeeping / ITA reporting requirement details can be reviewed online at OSHA Injury and Illness Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements and Injury Tracking Application.
February is the 58th annual American Heart Heath Month. Join NHLBI, The Heart Truth® and organizations around the country in support of National "Wear Red Day" on Friday, February 4th to raise awareness about cardiovascular disease and to save lives - NHLBI.nih.gov: Feb Heart Month_'Wear Red Day'. "Wear Red Day" is observed annually the first Friday of February each year – this year's observance is - February 4, 2022.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States.
One person dies every 36 seconds in the United States from cardiovascular disease.
About 659,000 people in the United States die from heart disease each year—that’s 1 in every 4 deaths.
Heart disease costs the United States about $363 billion each year from 2016 to 2017. This includes the cost of health care services, medicines, and lost productivity due to death - CDC.gov: Heart Disease_Facts
Learn more about heart disease and its risk factors. It’s important for everyone to know the facts about heart disease.
Also check out the American Heart Assoc: AHA_Heart.org resources, and others, including your local medical clinics and hospitals web sites for a host of "healthy heart" month awareness promotional ideas and materials.
On a related note, February Heart Month is yet another good time to "refresh" one's CPR/AED training skills. Sudden Cardiac Awareness (SCA) remains an ongoing concern, especially for our teens/high school athletes as evidenced by a January 2021 successful SCA recovery/outcome for a Southeast Wisconsin high school basketball player victim.
Sudden cardiac arrest is caused by an abnormality in the heart’s electrical system/structure and is both the leading cause of death on school campuses and the No. 1 killer of student-athletes. It is estimated that 1 in 300 youth unknowingly have an underlying, undetected heart condition.
Learn more about teens/athletes sudden cardiac arrest phenomenon at - Commotio Cordis CPR-AED Success Stories, and the Eric Paredes Save a Life Foundation website, or read Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation survivor stories. The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, National Red Cross, American Heart Association and various First-Aid/CPR/AED vendors and local hospital/medical organizations can provide additional SAC training and guidance.
February also includes Burn Safety Awareness Week, with its awareness activities focused for the week of February 6-12 - Ameriburn.org: Burn Prevention Awareness Week. Burn Awareness Week presents the opportunity for employers and community organizations to educate and mobilize their burn, fire and life safety first-aid education and prevention messaging with the workforce/community. The 2022 theme is Burning Issues in the Kitchen! This afford a good platform and forum to review NFPA kitchen cooking fire safety and fire extinguisher use - Fire Ext - P.A.S.S.- Method.
For our Agriculture readers, Nationwide Insurance has been collaborating with industry leaders and agricultural professionals since 2014 to host Grain Bin Safety Week. Held the third full week each February - February 20-26, 2022 - Grain Bin Safety Week raises awareness to the dangers of working in and around grain bins and the importance of implementing and following safe work procedures.
Win grain bin safety equipment for your local fire department. The Nominate Your Fire Department Contest runs from January 1 through April 30 and awards grain rescue tubes and hands-on grain bin rescue training to help first responders save lives.
The contest has attracted over 7,000 nominations and awarded tubes and training to 207 fire departments across 31 states. At least five fire departments have utilized their rescue tubes and training to successfully rescue entrapped workers.
Local Fire Department nominations are accepted from January 1 to April 30, 2022, and can be submitted one of three ways:
Grain Bin Safety Week is a pre-curser to the larger Stand Up for Grain Safety Week, which will be held the first full week of April this year. Both events coincide with grain bin inventories being seasonally emptied and bins cleaned out in anticipation for next season's crops.
As a look ahead, March is Ladder Safety Month. Severe weather safety regarding tornados and thunderstorms lightning emergency action plans (EAP) drills are also on the docket. The GrainSafety.org and OSHA also promote their Grain Safety Stand-Down Week, typically held mid-or at the end of the month, as grain bin inventories are emptied for our agriculture, farm, coop businesses. More to follow as we approach March.
Have a Safe Day, Always!!
Dave Leix, CSP, Safety & Risk Manager - Bio: Dave Leix - CSP, Safety & Risk Manager
Dave brings over 40 years of professional safety and health (EHS) consulting and managerial experience to his role as Safety & Risk Manager for DWD's Worker's Compensation Division. He presents at a variety of association/industry trade group safety and risk management training events.
DWD Contact Information
201 E. Washington Ave
P.O. Box 7946
Madison, WI 53707
(608) 266-3131
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