Have you ever been injured at work? - I have Did you report you injury? - I didn’t I’ll admit it, I have been injured twice at work, and both times I failed to report to my boss or the safety department about the injury. I will also admit that both incidents happened before I became a safety professional, so I think I should get some leeway. The first injury occurred while I was working as a cleaner in a bakery. It was Christmas time and I was in a rush to leave. I didn’t realize that the metal rack had just been pulled out of the oven, so as I was sweeping around the racks my right forearm pushed against the rack instantly burning and causing second degree burns. At that time, I was proud of myself, I just burned my arm and didn’t even let out a yell, I merely went to the bathroom placed a bandage on the burn and continued working. On this instance I more than likely prevented an OSHA recordable by not saying anything or going to a doctor. The second injury occurred while working as an environmental field technician. The injury occurred while working inside of a resin tank; the tank serious looked like something out of an alien movie. We did the correct procedure for confined space entry, but this tank was different. It was a top entry tank, but with a narrow opening – just big enough for my size 32 waist (with my arms up, while climbing down the ladder) to get in and no one else in the crew. The process involved hand cutting and scrapping the resin off the walls and agitator of the tank and put into a bucket. Within five minutes of being in the tank I cut my left index finger (through the latex and rubber glove) with the knife. I was not paying attention to the location of my hand in relation to the knife. I felt like an idiot. So, what do I do? I immediately took my glove off apply pressure and wrap the cut finger in the latex glove and continue working. I stay inside the tank cleaning it for the next 2 hours and get a band aid after I get out in which I failed to notify the safety manager. Although a deep cut, this one would have been first aid only, but, it had the possibility of being recordable if a doctor would have put me on restricted duty, which is possible since it was a labor type job that required the use of my hands every day. Although the stories seem like isolated incidents, the data shows that as much as 70% of injuries go unreported or underreported in the workplace. An estimated 50% of injures go unreported in the construction industry alone. That means either the individual who was injured doesn’t report it or the safety professionals fails to report the injury on OSHA logs. But, there could be a number of different factors. Reasons Why: Jail Time:
Although rare, more and more safety professionals are facing jail for falsifying injury data. Walter Cardin was sentenced to six and a half years in jail on 8 counts of major fraud against the United States for not reporting and misclassifying injury data. This falsification in the data allowed his company to receive $2.5 million in safety bonuses from the Tennessee Valley Authority. Conclusion: One of the goals of electronic recordkeeping is to flush out the information and get a greater sense at the real injury data. Whether that happens, remains to be seen, but any increase in injury data will more than likely create a trigger from OSHA. The best advice is to be as honest as possible for peace of mind and to avoid potential jailtime. Besides training tracking, the STAC system is designed to store and create your OSHA 300, 300A, and 301 logs based on the injury information. Electronic recordkeeping is the future and the STAC system can give you peace of mind through electronic recordkeeping of injury information. If you would like to know more about that OSHA logs in the STAC system let me know! Thanks, Craig Bengel Vice President of Safety & Customer Service C. 513-582-3888 O. 513-574-7822 cbengelstaccard.com https://www.staccard.com/
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As we make plans to wrap up this calendar year, we typically remember what we are thankful for throughout the year. As a country, we can be thankful from the most recent statistics released by the U.S. Department of Labor earlier last month. Although a lagging indicator, 2016 continued an ongoing decrease in nonfatal occupational injuries and illness rates for the private sector. The released total recordable incident rate for the private sector was 2.9 per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers, a decrease in 0.1 cases per 100 FTE workers from 2015 which results in 48,500 fewer nonfatal injuries or illnesses. While in one sense this is great news, the drawback is that of those injuries that did occur, nearly 1/3 of them were more serious and resulted in days away from work. Among the 18 private industry sectors provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4 had significant statistical changes. Focusing on the Manufacturing and Construction related industries specifically, each industry had significant change for the better—both experienced declines in the total recordable rate in 2016. Construction had a total recordable rate of 3.2 with the total days away from work, job transfer or restriction rate at 1.9. Manufacturing was slightly higher than construction with a total recordable rate of 3.6 and a rate of 2.1 for cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction. Manufacturing was only one of two sectors which had over 100,000 days away from work cases (118,050) yet it experienced a 4% decrease from 2015.
Although these are very broad numbers and aren’t down to the details, it paints a picture that as a country we are more aware and cognizant of safety in 2016 than we were in years past. In future articles we will drill down in the details and see what information we can glean from the information gathered over the past year. Check out the information for yourself at News Release USDL-17-1482 The new effective date for electronic submission has been extended to December 15, 2017. WHO: This applies to establishments with 250 or more employees and establishments with 20-249 employees that are classified in certain industries that have high rates of occupational injuries and illnesses. State Exceptions: California, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, and West Virginia – have not adopted the requirement to submit injury and illness reports electronically. WHEN 20-249 Employees: WHEN 250+ Employees: HOW:
There are three methods for data submission:
If this is something that you would be interesting in discussing let me know! Stay posted for me details. Craig Bengel cbengel@staccard.com Interesting Finds:
Good News: The good news is overall the number of citations written is down for the top 10 list besides Fall Protection training. But, with several months of data to go, there is still time left in the year and it will be interesting to see what the final citations numbers will be. Another positive from this list is that all citations can be avoided through proper training and ensuring employees are complying with the training. Another key aspect of training, is to ensure you have the proper documentations for the training. A record management system, like STAC, is a great resource that can be used to maintain all your employee training records. Thoughts: Is there anything that surprised you about the new Top 10 List? What areas in the Top 10 do you typically deal with, and what training do you provide in those areas? Is there something that you do not currently train on that you might need assistance? Craig Bengel 513-582-3888 cbengel@staccard.com |
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