Employers Must Post Injury/Illness Summaries by Feb 1st (source: OSHA)

Beginning Feb. 1, employers must post a summary of the total number of job-related injuries and illnesses that occurred last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced today. Employers are only required to post the Summary (OSHA Form 300A) -- not the OSHA 300 Log -- from Feb.1 to April 30, 2006.

The summary must list the total numbers of job-related injuries and illnesses that occurred in 2005 and were logged on the OSHA 300 form. Employment information about annual average number of employees and total hours worked during the calendar year is also required to assist in calculating incidence rates. Companies with no recordable injuries or illnesses in 2005 must post the form with zeros on the total line. All establishment summaries must be certified by a company executive.

The form is to be displayed in a common area wherever notices to employees are usually posted. Employers must make a copy of the summary available to employees who move from worksite to worksite, such as construction workers, and employees who do not report to any fixed establishment on a regular basis.

Employers with ten or fewer employees and employers in certain industry groups are normally exempt from federal OSHA injury and illness recordkeeping and posting requirements. A complete list of exempt industries in the retail, services, finance and real estate sectors is posted on OSHA's Web site.

Exempted employers may still be selected by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics to participate in an annual statistical survey. All employers covered by OSHA need to comply with safety and health standards and must report verbally within eight hours to the nearest OSHA office all accidents that result in one ore more fatalities or in the hospitalization of three or more employees.

Copies of the OSHA Forms 300, 300A and 301 are available on the OSHA Recordkeeping Web page --http://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/index.html -- in either Adobe PDF or Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet format.

Employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. OSHA's role is to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

OSHA 300A Annual Summary for Calendar Year 2005 (Postal Bulletin 1/19/06)

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires all Postal Service installation and establishment heads to prepare and post the OSHA 300A Annual Summary for Calendar Year 2005 by February 1, 2006.

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 Excerpts from the Employee Labor Relations Manual (ELM)

821 Actions in the Event of Accident, Injury, or Illness
821.1 Injury, Illness, and Accident Reporting

821.11 Overview of Overlapping Postal and OSHA Reporting and Logging Requirements
The Postal Service is required by OSHA regulations to record occupational injuries and illnesses in a log and summary format and maintain a supplementary record of occupational injuries and illnesses. In addition, the Postal Service maintains the Human Resources Information System (HRIS) Safety and Health Subsystem, to meet safety and health program and business needs. To avoid duplication, PS Form 1769, Accident Report, is used both for inputting accidents into the Safety and Health Subsystem, and conducting subsequent analyses and for fulfilling OSHA requirements for a supplementary record of occupational injuries and illnesses (in lieu of the OSHA form). This extended use of the PS Form 1769 is accomplished by using the "Narrative" block to record the additional information required by OSHA. See 822 for additional OSHA and postal serious accident and fatality reporting.

821.122 OSHA Requirements

Requirements for recording OSHA recordable injuries and illnesses and maintaining a supplementary record (using PS Form 1769 in lieu of the OSHA form, see 821.131) are published in OSHA Publication OMB 1218 0176, Recordkeeping Guidelines for Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. This publication is available through field safety professionals, and is also available on the OSHA Website at http://www.osha.gov

821.131 Completing Form 1769
The manager or supervisor of the employee or operation reports all accidents and occupational injuries and illnesses on PS Form 1769 within 24 hours, using the "Narrative" block to record the employee's home address and the full circumstances of the accident - the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the injury or cause of illness

821.14 Maintaining Logs and Summaries
821.141 Postal Accident Log
Each facility, i.e., plant, associate office, station, branch, etc., must maintain an accident log, by fiscal year, of all accidents recorded in the Safety and Health Subsystem, using PS Form 1772, Accident Log, or electronic equivalent (see 821.34). Enter accident information within 5 working days after receiving PS Forms 1769. Make entries in sequential order and number as necessary.

Exception: Maintenance of station and branch accident logs at the appropriate plant or associate office level is permitted if provisions are made for at least semiannual feedback of data to each station or branch for local management, employee representatives, and employee access. (An OSHA log and summary must be maintained for every facility, however.)

Note: This form is not the OSHA log and summary, but a separate log of all accidents recorded in the Safety and Health Subsystem

821.142 - OSHA Annual Summary of Injuries and Illnesses

Each facility must maintain a log and summary, by calendar year, of OSHA recordable occupational injuries and illnesses from Forms 1769. All such injuries and illnesses must be recorded on the log within 6 days of receipt of the information. A copy of the log, updated within 45 calendar days, must be present at all times in the facility. Post copies of the summary for a minimum of 30 consecutive days (NLT

February 1 to March 1)  in a conspicuous place (s) at every facility. Maintain and retain the OSHA log and summary for 5 years following the end of the calendar year.

Judge Orders Agency to Disclose Injury/Illness Rates-A federal judge has ordered the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to disclose for the first time the company names and the worker injury and illness rates of the American workplaces with the worst safety records. Up to now, the agency has published the names of the sites with worker injuries above an established norm, but not the injury rates for specific sites or any ranking to identify the worst offenders. In practice, it was difficult for reporters or the public to know where it was riskiest to work and whether the agency was effective in bringing about improvements (8/3/04)

From PR Reader:  Postal Facility Regulations for Heating & Cooling Temperatures

Energy Conservation, Utilities, Heating Fuels, and Bulk Vehicle Fuel

ASM 541.11 states:

"All installation heads must follow these energy conservation measures:

b. Maintain a maximum heating temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit during working hours and 55 degrees Fahrenheit during nonworking hours.

c. Maintain a minimum cooling temperature of 78 degrees Fahrenheit during working hours and no cooling during nonworking hours."

In addition to the obvious grievance of reducing the workroom floor temperature to 78 degrees, the employees should also grieve (and publicize) those individual managers who are cooling their offices below 78 degrees.  It is not authorized and the managers are wasting energy and dollars.  Since they are sedentary, they are less prone to heat stress than the workers.

If a person is experiencing symptoms of heat stress and mitigating factors are not helping, they should see a doctor.  The doctor can impose a temperature restriction above which the employee may not work or give the employee a few days off.  Heat stress varies by the amount of physical work a person does and by a number of personal factors.

I kept a digital thermometer at work for the purpose of resolving heating and cooling complaints from employees.  You can get them at Radio Shack.  Many stores also carry small digital clocks with digital thermometers built in. (6/26/04)

Resources on HEAT STRESS:

USPS Policy Letter by Patrick Donahoe Re: Personnel Cooling Fans

OSHA Technical Manual, Chapter 4 Heat Stress http://www.osha.gov/dts/osta/otm/otm_iii/otm_iii_4.html

Protecting Workers in Hot Environments

Heat Stress http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/heatstress/index.html

Heat Stress Card http://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3154.pdf

Working in Hot Environments http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hotenvt.html
 

OSHA Requirements When a Worker Experiences a Job-Related Injury or Illness

Over the past three decades, occupational injuries and illnesses in the U.S. have declined by 42 percent, even though employment has more than doubled. Nevertheless, every year, nearly five million workers experience an occupational injury or illness on the job. More than half of these injuries and illnesses are severe enough to cause the worker to spend time away from work.

OSHA, along with safety and health professionals around the Nation, is working with employers and employees to move toward zero injuries and illnesses in U.S. workplaces. And the agency will not be satisfied until every worker in America goes home safe and sound each day.

This is one in a series of informational fact sheets highlighting OSHA programs, policies or standards. It does not impose any new compliance requirements. For a comprehensive list of compliance requirements of OSHA standards or regulations, refer to Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations. This information will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. The voice phone is (202) 693-1999; teletypewriter (TTY) number: (877) 889-5627.

CARDIAC SCIENCE SELECTED TO PROVIDE THREE GOVERNMENT AGENCIES WITH AUTOMATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATORS

Powerheart AED automatically monitors the patient's cardiac rhythm and determines if the patient requires a defibrillation shock.

U.S Postal Inspection Service, Alabama Army National Guard, Texas State Health Agency Purchase Total of 727 Units for a Combined $1.5 Million

IRVINE, CA (September 5,2003) . . . . Cardiac Science, Inc. (Nasdaq: DFIB), a leading manufacturer of life-saving automated public access defibrillators (AEDs), today announced it has been selected by three government agencies, including the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, to outfit various facilities around the nation with Powerheart®-brand Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs). In aggregate, the government agencies purchased 727 AEDs at a total cost of approximately $1.5 million.

Along with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which purchased 300 AEDs for deployment in 40 locations throughout the country, the other government agencies included the Alabama Army National Guard and the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. The Alabama Army National Guard purchased 220 AEDs for deployment in all 200 armories throughout the state, and for its headquarters in Montgomery as well as in mobile military units used in active drills. The Texas state health agency purchased 207 devices that will be deployed in its nine state mental health facilities around the state to safeguard its employees and patients from sudden cardiac arrest.

All three agencies selected the Cardiac Science Powerheart® AED over those of its competitors based on their ease of use and reliability, among other determining factors.

“The missions of these organizations include safeguarding the lives of their employees while they carry out their duties. Having an AED in the workplace is a key element in that kind of protection,” said Cardiac Science President and CEO Raymond W. Cohen. “It is now nearly universally recognized that working people in all walks of life, be it active military duty or civil service work in a government office, need the benefit of the only immediate protection against sudden cardiac arrest – an AED.”