Employers must notify when hazards are resolved
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in Washington, DC, has issued a new rule requiring businesses to notify OSHA and inform employees that they have abated workplace hazards identified by inspectors. Though the new rule adds a reporting requirement for employers, the government predicts that it actually will decrease the administrative burden.
OSHA has long required that employers report when hazards are resolved, but the new rule eliminates some previous requirements while adding new ones. If employers eliminate hazards during the course of an inspection, OSHA will no longer require them to prepare and submit abatement certification documents for those cases. Employers also will not have to document actions taken to correct relatively minor violations, as well as many violations classified as serious.
The new regulation requires that workers be notified of hazard abatement, in addition to the federal regulators. These are the highlights of the new rule:
• Violations that are immediately abated require no abatement certification.
• For other-than-serious violations, and for many serious violations, only a simple abatement letter is required to verify abatement. OSHA estimates that 90% of all abatements will require this simple letter.
• Employers are required to provide additional proof of abatement only for the more serious violations (willful, repeat, and serious violations).
• Abatement plans and progress reports may be required for more serious violations with abatement periods that exceed 90 days.
• Affected employees must be informed about specific abatement activities.
• For movable equipment that have serious hazards, a copy of the citation or a warning tag containing information that conforms with a sample tag supplied by OSHA, must be placed on the cited equipment to alert employees to the presence of the hazard. For hand-held equipment, the tag must be applied upon receipt of the citation. For non-hand-held equipment, the tag must be applied before the equipment is moved.
OSHA estimates that the new rule will save employers $6 million per year.
Gorell JM, Johnson CC, Rybicki BA, et al. Occupational exposures to metals as risk factors for Parkinson’s disease. Neurology 1997; 48:650-657.
These researchers studied the potential role of occupational exposure to iron, copper, manganese, mercury, zinc, and lead as risk factors for Parkinson’s disease. They found that chronic exposure to some of the metals and some metal combinations were associated with a significant increase in Parkinson’s disease.
Increasing age is the risk factor most commonly associated with Parkinson’s disease, a common idiopathic neurodegenerative disorder. Earlier studies had investigated the relationship of Parkinson’s and certain occupations or residential proximity to industries that use metals as raw material.
For this study, the researchers studied everyone in the metropolitan Detroit area who were receiving primary medical care from the Henry Ford Health System. They selected out 1,243 people who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and found that 144 had records complete enough to study and met clinical requirements that provided a uniform study group. They also selected 464 control patients who did not have Parkinson’s disease.
The participants were interviewed and asked a series of questions that focused on occupational history. The questions addressed the job titles and tasks, materials, machines, protective measures, ventilation, cleanliness, and other factors. An industrial hygienist then studied each job history and assessed the possible occupational exposure to six different metals.
Of the 608 subjects, 28.6% were exposed to iron, 15.1% to lead, 11.5% to copper, 4.4% to zinc, 3.3% to mercury, and 2.1% to manganese.
There was a significant association between Parkinson’s disease and occupational exposure to manganese. Though the number of workers exposed to manganese was low, the researchers said the associations with Parkinson’s is "very striking." There was a significant association with more than 20 years’ exposure to copper, and a marginally significant association with lead for the same time period.
There was no association with mercury, zinc, or iron, even though a large number of subjects were exposed to iron. The highest association with Parkinson’s disease came from a combination of metals: lead and copper, lead and iron, or iron and copper. Exposure to any of those combinations had a higher association with Parkinson’s than any single metal.
The researchers suggest that the findings indicate the need for closer monitoring of metal exposure in the workplace.
Rizzo TH, Pelletier KR, Serxner S, et al. Reducing risk factors for cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs): The impact of preventive ergonomic training on knowledge, intentions, and practices related to computer use. Amer J Health Promotion 1997; 11:250-253.
Employee education and training is frequently cited as a primary way to prevent cumulative trauma disorders in the workplace, so these researchers sought to determine whether they have any impact in actually reducing injuries. The benefits of education and training have been proven in preventing back injuries, but the authors could find no studies that specifically examined the effectiveness of ergonomics training in computer-related tasks.
The study subjects were three similar groups of workers in three separate buildings at a single employer in Northern California. Workers at the first site received attended a 60-minute seminar led by an instructor. Workers at the second site attended a 45-minute seminar using the same video and print materials as the first group, but there was no instructor to lead the group in interactive training. The third group received no training.
Afterward, both of the first two groups demonstrated significant improvement in knowledge of correct computer equipment placement and usage. The control group did not. The first two groups also reported correct workstation adjustments and positive habits.
The researchers conclude that ergonomic training has positive effects whether it is self-directed or led by an instructor.
Smith EM, Hammonds-Ehlers M, Clark MK, et al. Occupational exposures and risk of female infertility. JOEM 1997; 39:138-147.
This study examined the relation between occupational chemical and radiation exposures and the risk of medically-diagnosed infertility. The researchers found there is an association between fertility and a variety of occupational chemical exposures.
The subjects included 281 women diagnosed with infertility and 216 fertile women. There was an increased risk of infertility among women exposed to volatile organic solvents, chemical dusts, pesticides, and video display terminals. Women exposed to solvents, dusts, or pesticides were more like to have ovulatory factor fertility problems. Solvents and dusts also were associated with a higher risk of tubal factor infertility and endometriosis.
Video display terminal exposure was more likely to be found among those women with endometriosis and cervical factor infertility.
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