OSHA encourages major retailers to provide crowd management measures to protect workers during Black Friday, other sales events

Check out Summit's Retail Safety program at http://www.safetyontheweb.com/products/detail.asp?ProductID=1498

OSHA News Release: [11/03/2010]
Contact Name: Dianna Patterson or Jason Surbey
Phone Number: (202) 693-1898 or x4668
Release Number: 10-1520-NAT

US Labor Department’s OSHA encourages major retailers to provide crowd management measures to protect workers during Black Friday, other sales events

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is encouraging CEOs of 14 major retail companies to take precautions to prevent worker injuries during Black Friday and the holiday season's other major sales events. Toward that end, OSHA has sent a letter and fact sheet on "Crowd Management Safety Tips for Retailers" to the CEOs.

In 2008, a worker was trampled to death while a mob of shoppers rushed through the doors of a large store to take advantage of an after-Thanksgiving Day Black Friday sales event. The store was not using the kind of crowd management measures recommended in OSHA's fact sheet, which is available online at https://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/Crowd_Control.html.

"Crowd-related injuries during special retail sales and promotional events have increased during recent years," said Assistant Secretary for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. "Many of these incidents can be prevented by adopting a crowd management plan, and this fact sheet provides retail employers with guidelines for avoiding injuries during the holiday shopping season."

The fact sheet provides employers with recommended elements for crowd management plans. Plans should include having trained security personnel or police officers on-site, setting up barricades or rope lines for pedestrians and crowd control well in advance of customers arriving at the store, making sure that barricades are set up so that the customers' line does not start right at the entrance of the store, having in place emergency procedures that address potential dangers, and having security personnel or customer service representatives explain approach and entrance procedures to the arriving public.

OSHA also recommends not allowing additional customers to enter the store when it reaches its maximum occupancy level and not blocking or locking exit doors.

For a copy of the letter sent to the CEOs and a list of the retailers they represent, visit http://www.osha.gov/ooc/blackfridayletter.pdf.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, OSHA's role is to promote safe and healthful working conditions for America's men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, outreach and education. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov/.

Exclusive Survey: 36 States Address Greenhouse Gases from Sprawl, Building Construction

Exclusive Survey: 36 States Address Greenhouse Gases from Sprawl, Building Construction

Summit Wins Top Honors from OH&S Magazine New Product of the Year Awards

Grand Rapids, MI- Summit Training Source is proud to announce top honors from the Occupational Health & Safety magazine, which held its second annual New Product of the Year contest at the 2010 National Safety Conference in San Diego. Summit surpassed competition to win the award in the product category for Best Online Training with its product line Summit Elements. Summit Elements are short video clips and graphics that you can purchase, download, and use to customize any training presentation.

The New Product of the Year contest recognizes innovation, quality, and excellence in customer service by many leading manufacturers in the safety and health industry during one of the biggest U.S. trade show of the year. Every entry in the 2010 contest was a product introduced to the market between Aug. 2, 2009, and July 2, 2010. This second annual contest attracted a new high of 42 products in 17 award categories, with an independent panel of three highly qualified judges choosing the winners.

Summit Elements joins the long line of Summit’s award winning programs. More than 45,000 industry leaders worldwide trust Summit training programs to protect their most valuable resources from risk, danger, and loss. With more than 600 environmental, health, and safety training titles in multiple formats, Summit provides proven content that delivers the business results expected in today’s competitive global environment.

Learn about Summit Elements at http://elements.safeytontheweb.com/

Find out more information on Summit’s products today by visiting http://www.safetyontheweb.com/ or call 800.842.0466.

Workplace Safety Rules a Part of Notre Dame Death Probe (Manfuacturing.net)

http://www.manufacturing.net/News/2010/11/Safety-Workplace-Safety-Rules-A-Part-Of-ND-Death-Probe/

Pontiac Out of Business After 84 Years (from Manufacturing.net)

http://www.manufacturing.net/News/2010/11/Automotive-Pontiac-Out-Of-Business-After-84-Years/

Big Rapids officials detail how they prevented 18,000 gallon Haworth paint spill from reaching Muskegon River

Published: Wednesday, October 27, 2010, 10:27 PM Updated: Thursday, October 28, 2010, 12:45 AM

Julia Bauer
The Grand Rapids Press

BIG RAPIDS -- Nearly all the 18,000 gallons of black water-based paint that escaped from Haworth Inc. via a city sewer Saturday was diverted into big holding tanks at the Big Rapids sewer treatment plant, officials say.

The accidental release of paint was discovered Saturday night at the steel components plant, 300 N. Bronson Ave.

Share 3 Comments "The paint has been contained in the Big Rapids sewage treatment plant, and 'very, very little' got out of the plant. In fact, our staff says none got in the river," said Mary Detloff, spokesperson for the state Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

Haworth's plant prepares steel parts for a variety of filing cabinets and storage units, and was closed overnight Saturday. It gradually began to resume operations Sunday, as city, state, and company officials launched investigations.

"We think we retained a fairly significant part of that (paint) within the (sewer) plant," said Don Greiner, director of public works for Big Rapids. "We had basins that were empty, so we diverted it into those until we filled them up.

"We went for a 13-hour period, without anything into the river at all."

The 600,000 gallons of storage capacity could handle the flow of paint-tainted sewage, Greiner said. But city and company officials are scrambling to figure out how to dispose of the polluted water.

After a two-hour meeting Wednesday, Haworth environmental engineer Steve Kooy said a decision is near on the right way to handle the tainted water in the city's sewer tanks.

"It's waiting there for us to take care of this," Kooy said. "We'll either send it to a treatment facility or treat it onsite. We want to ensure all the paint solids are taken out, and the rest of water sent through the treatment plant."

Haworth discovered the problem Saturday evening, when an employee checked the plant's paint tank and saw it was lower than it should be. When workers looked inside the paint department's onsite containment tank, they found it empty. Next, they realized the black paint was making its way down the city sewer that empties into the Muskegon River.

Fortunately, Kooy said, the gravity-fed sewer line had a slow flow rate during the weekend spill. When city officials were alerted, they diverted the paint-laden sewage into empty holding tanks at the city facility.

On Wednesday, Haworth was preparing its report on the paint spill for Big Rapids officials, who will submit their own report to the state DNR.

One suspected cause is a drain valve that was stuck open when it should have been closed. Kooy said some plumbing failure is likely to be the origin of the problem. The paint spill at the Big Rapids plant will drive inspections and safety checks at plants around the globe, he said.

In the short term, another concern is rain, Greiner said. With overflow tanks already filled with paint-laced sewage, a heavy rainfall could stress the sewer plant's capacity to fully treat incoming effluent.
"We typically run at about half the plant's rated capacity. If we got a rainfall, depending on its intensity and duration, we would not be able to fully treat the water because we don't have other basins to fall back on," Greiner said.

Worst case? Some sewage would flow out without being fully treated. But none of the paint-polluted storage tanks would be in play, he said.

E-mail Julia Bauer: jbauer@grpress.com and follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/jbauer5800

OSHA News - Company Fined more than $2 Million for Lead Hazards

Shooting range cleanup company fined more than $2 million for overexposing workers to lead


OSHA fined E.N. Range in Miami, Fla., $2,135,000 after the employer failed to protect workers who clean gun ranges from serious overexposure to lead. OSHA inspectors found that E.N. Range had not provided workers proper protective equipment, changing rooms or showering facilities. Air samples taken by OSHA inspectors found that these workers were exposed to lead levels as high as 10 to 19 times the permissible exposure limit. The company also provided workers with non-FDA-approved treatments for lead exposure without required medical supervision, misleading employees--most of whom had limited knowledge of English--into believing they were receiving appropriate medical treatment. OSHA issued E.N. Range more than 50 citations for disregarding workers' health and safety, including 28 citations for multiple egregious violations that include failing to provide workers with properly fitted respirators and control measures to limit workers' exposure to lead, and failing to ensure that workers were given required medical evaluations or blood lead level tests. See the news release for more information.

Lead poisoning can cause many serious health issues including brain damage, paralysis, kidney disease, and even death. Long-term overexposure may result in severe damage to the nervous, urinary, reproductive and blood-forming systems. Visit OSHA's Lead Safety and Health Topics Page for more information.

Check out Summit's training programs on Lead Safety:
Lead Safety
Lead Safety: Uncovering the Dangers