Are you up to speed on OSHA’s protection regulations?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) now requires safety instructors who provide 10- and 30-hour OSHA cards to supply their students with 42 pages of new handouts, mostly concerning employee rights. The experts at MANCOMM, a compliance and safety training publisher, saw this paper-heavy initiative as a process in need of streamlining – so they did something about it.

“Important new directives make it mandatory for workers to receive the information in those handouts,” said Benjamin W. Mangan, president of MANCOMM. “But generating and sorting all those copies would consume far more time and paper than necessary. Handouts for 100 workers would mean dealing with 4,200 sheets of paper. So we decided to help business and industry safety trainers by providing them with a more compact training tool.”

MANCOMM’s compliance experts have condensed, rewritten for clarity, compiled and redesigned the information in those OSHA-required handouts so it now fits into a concise 16-page booklet called “Introduction to OSHA”.

“We want our safety training products to give employers a competitive advantage,” Mangan said. “In this case, we sought to create an efficient training tool which shows employees that their employers care about their well-being.”

Official government handouts covered by the booklet include:

1.   Weekly fatality/catastrophe report

2.   OSHA poster on worker rights

3.   Material safety data sheet (MSDS) example

4.   “Your rights as a whistleblower” fact sheet

5.   “Refusing to work because conditions are dangerous” handout

6.   OSHA 300 log example

7.   “Employers must provide and pay for PPE” handout

8.   How to read the OSHA standards: multiple handouts to cover general industry, construction and maritime industry

9.   “Safety and health resources” handout

10. “Navigating the OSHA Web site” handout

11. “Identifying safety and health problems in the workplace” handout

12. Filing an OSHA-complaint handout, including form: multiple handouts to cover general industry, construction and maritime industry

OSHA Employee Protection Quiz

How familiar are you with OSHA’s employee protection regulations? Take this quiz and find out. These questions and their solutions were derived from facts presented in MANCOMM’s “Introduction to OSHA” booklet. The answers are found at the end of the article.

1. On OSHA’s “Form 300, Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses”, what else might be written in the space marked “Employee’s name” instead of the actual name?
   A.) “Privacy Case” – in the event of a privacy concern case, where confidentiality is necessary.
   B.) The employee’s job title.
   C.) You must always put the employee’s first and last name, with no exceptions.
   D.) None of the above.
    
2. Which of these is an item of personal protective equipment (PPE) for which an employer must pay?
   A.) Rubber boots with steel toes.
   B.) Prescription eyewear inserts/lenses for full face respirators.
   C.) A and B.
   D.) Employers must pay for all PPE.
    
3. Stress is psychological, not physical, so it is not considered a common workplace health hazard. True or false?
    
4. Why is a confined space, such as a manhole, sewer or silo, considered a potential safety hazard?
   A.) It may contain too little oxygen.
   B.) It may contain too much oxygen, with potential for an explosion.
   C.) It may contain a build-up of carbon monoxide.
   D.) All of the above.
    
5. Work-related fatalities and catastrophes which have resulted in the hospitalization of three or more workers must be reported by employers to OSHA:
   A.) Within one hour.
   B.) Within eight hours.
   C.) Within 48 hours.
   D.) Within five working days.
    
6. A sedentary worker dies of a heart attack at his desk, but because it occurred in the workplace, the death must still be investigated by OSHA. True or false?
    
7. If an employer retaliates against an employee for engaging in whistleblower activity, the employee:
   A.) Has no legal recourse.
   B.) Can file a complaint with OSHA.
   C.) Has one year to file a complaint.
   D.) None of the above.
    
8. An employee has the right to refuse to do a task, if he or she has reasonable grounds to believe hazardous conditions or imminent danger exists. The employee can:
   A.) Walk off the job immediately, with full OSHA protection.
   B.) Use vacation time instead of doing the task.
   C.) Ask the employer for other work.
   D.) Remain on the worksite, even if ordered to leave by the employer.
    
9. If an employee files an OSHA complaint form, their write-up of the “Hazard Description/Location” should:
   A.) Describe the hazard clearly.
   B.) Identify chemicals involved and include copies of labels or material safety data sheets, if possible.
   C.) Include the approximate number of employees exposed to or threatened by each hazard.
   D.) All of the above.
    
10. Components of a material safety data sheet usually include:
    A.) Physical and chemical properties of the substance.
    B.) The flavor of the chemical, for accurate identification.
    C.) Sales phone number, so more of the substance can be purchased.
    D.) All of the above.
     
11. The OSHA Web site includes such features as:
    A.) The latest OSHA news.
    B.) A graphic slideshow of OSHA highlights.
    C.) Recent information on worker fatalities.
    D.) All of the above.
     
12. When reading OSHA standards, you will note that they:
    A.) Break down into parts, subparts and sections.
    B.) Are presented in chapters and paragraphs, like a novel.
    C.) Are copiously illustrated with photographs.
    D.) Are written in a friendly, conversational style.

How many wrong answers are permissible? In the workplace: zero. Employee protection is a serious issue with no leeway for error.

Simplifying the Training Process

“We want to make life easier for our customers by simplifying the training process,” Mangan said. “Now safety trainers can rest easy, knowing that when they hand out these booklets, each trainee will have all the new additional information as mandated by OSHA.”

For more information on the “Introduction to OSHA” booklet, visit www.mancomm.com/Products/Introduction-to-OSHA__36T-105-01.aspx.

Since 1996, MANCOMM has been committed to helping businesses by providing them with state-of-the-art compliance and safety training products. To order or for more information, call 800-626-2666 or visit MANCOMM.com.

SAFETY QUIZ  ANSWERS:
1. A
2. C
3. False
4. D
5. B
6. False
7. B
8. C
9. D
10. A
11. D
12. A