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Landscaping and Horticulture Safety

Introduction to OSHA

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What is OSHA?

• Occupational Safety and Health Administration

• Responsible for worker safety and health protection

• Created in 1970 by the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act

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What Has OSHA Accomplished?

• Help cut the work-related fatality rate in half.

• Worked with employers and employees to reduce workplace injuries and illnesses by 40%

• Reduced trenching and excavation fatalities by 35%

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What Does OSHA Do?

• Encourages employers and employees to reduce workplace hazards and implement or improve safety and health programs.

• Enforce safety and health standards

• Monitoring of job-related injuries and illness

• Provides assistance, training and other support programs to help employers and workers

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OSHA Standards

• OSHA develops and enforces standards that employers must follow.

• Where OSHA does not have standards,

employers are responsible for following the OSH Act's General Duty Clause.

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General Duty Clause

• Section 5(a)(1)

– Each employer “shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees”

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General Safety and Health Provisions

• 1910.22 – Housekeeping– All places of employment shall be kept clean

and orderly and in a sanitary condition– Floors of all rooms shall be kept clean and dry– Aisles and passageways shall be kept clear

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General Safety and Health Provisions

• 1910.132 – Personal Protective Equipment– PPE shall be provided, used, and maintained

when it is when hazards of processes can cause injury to any part of the body

– Employers shall assess the workplace and determine if hazards are present which necessitate the use of PPE, and provide workers with properly fitted PPE

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General Safety and Health Provisions

• 1910.132 – Personal Protective Equipment– The employer shall provide training to all

employees required to use PPE– Each employee should be trained to know:

• When PPE is necessary;• What PPE is necessary;• How to properly don, doff, adjust, and wear PPE;• The limitations of the PPE;• The proper care, maintenance, and useful life of PPE

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General Safety and Health Provisions

• 1910.212 – Machine Guarding– Guards shall be affixed to the machine where

possible and secured– The guard shall not pose a hazard in itself– Point of operation guarding shall be used

where the work is actually being performed on the material processes

Ex. (Shears, power saws, portable power tools)

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General Safety and Health Provisions

• 1910.151 – Medical and First Aid– The employer shall ensure the ready

availability of medical personnel for advice and consultation regarding health

– In the absence of a clinic or hospital in near proximity to the workplace, a person or persons shall be trained to adequately administer first aid

– First aid supplies shall be readily available

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Recordkeeping

• CFR 1904– If your company had more

than 10 employees at any time during the last calendar year, you must keep OSHA injury and illness records

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Recordkeeping

• CFR 1904– You do not need to keep OSHA injury and

illness records if: • Your company had ten (10) or fewer employees at

all times during the last calendar year

– All employers covered by the OSH Act must report to OSHA any workplace incident that results in a fatality or the hospitalization of three or more employees.

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Recordkeeping Forms

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Recording Criteria

• 1904.4 - Covered employers must record each fatality, injury, or illness that:– Is work-related, and– Is a new-case, and – Meets one or more of the criteria contained in

sections 1904.7 through 1904.12

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Work-Relatedness

• 1904.5 - A case is considered work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment:– caused or contributed to the resulting

condition, or– significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury

or illness, and– that the injury or illness resulted from events

or exposures occurring in the work environment

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Significant Aggravation

• 1904.5 - A pre-existing injury or illness is significantly aggravated when an event or exposure in the work environment results in any of the following (which otherwise would not have occurred):– Death,– Loss of consciousness,– Days away,– days restricted,– job transfer, or– Medical treatment.

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New Cases

• 1904.6 – A case is new if:– The employee has not previously experienced

a recorded injury or illness of the same type that affects the same part of the body, or

– If an exposure triggers the recurrence of an old case in which the employee had recovered completely.

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General Recording Criteria

• 1904.7 – An injury or illness is recordable if it results in one or more of the following:– Death– Days away from work– Restricted work activity– Transfer to another job– Medical treatment beyond first aid– Loss of consciousness– Significant injury or illness diagnosed by a PLHCP

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Workplace Inspections

• Establishments covered by the OSH Act are subject to inspection by OSHA compliance safety and health officers (CSHO's).

• Most inspections are conducted without advance notice.

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Inspection Process

• CSHO displays official credentials• Opening conference• Walk-around inspection• Closing conference

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After Inspection

• OSHA may or may not issue citations

• Citations inform employer and employees of the regulations and standards allegedly violated and of the proposed time for abatement

• Employer must post a copy of each citation at or near place where violation occurred, for 3 days or until violation is corrected, whichever is longer

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OSHA Inspection Priorities

1. Imminent danger

2. Fatalities/Catastrophes

3. Employee complaint

4. Referral from other agencies

5. Random Selection

6. Follow-up inspections

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Multi-Employer Worksites

• Who should get sited?

– The creating employer• The employer that caused a hazardous situation

that violates an OSHA standard

– The exposing employer• An employer whose own employees are exposed

to the hazard

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Multi-Employer Worksites

• Who should get cited?

– The correcting employer• An employer who is engaged in a common

undertaking, on the same worksite, as the exposing employer and is responsible for correcting the hazard.

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Multi-Employer Worksites

• Who should get cited?

– The controlling employer• An employer who has general supervisory

authority over the worksite, including the power to correct safety and health violations itself or require others to correct them.

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Landscaping and Horticultural Service Industry

• Approximately 1192 establishments with greater than 10 employees– 101 establishments in OSHA region III

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Inspection Summary (2005)

• 255 total inspections for all OSHA regions– 18 in OSHA region III

• 98 planned/programmed inspections

• 150 un-programmed inspections– 43 were result of accident– 45 were result of complaints– 49 were result of referrals

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Top Ten Citations

• 1910.132 - Personal Protective Equipment (51)

• 1910.1200 - Hazard Communication (49)

• 5(a)(1) - General Duty Clause (43)

• 1910.67 - Vehicle-Mounted Elevating/Rotating Work Platforms (31)

• 1910.133 - Eye & Face Protection (24)

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Top Ten Citations

• 1910.269 - Electric Power Gen/Tran/Dist. (22)

• 1910.135 - Occupational Head Protection (17)

• 1910.266 - Pulpwood Logging (17)

• 1910.305 - Electrical Wiring Methods, Components (16)

• 1904.39 - Fatality/Multiple Hospitalization Accident Report (10)

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Injury Statistics (2003)

• All recorded cases: 11,500

Sprains, strains 34.7%

Fractures 4.9%

Cuts, punctures 16.7%

Bruises 8.3%

Multi trauma total 4.6%

Back pain total 5.8%

Back pain/hurt back Only 2.2%

All others 22.6%

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Sources of Injury Statistics (2003)

Containers 4.3%

Machinery 8.6%

Parts and materials 6.3%

Worker motion 11.7%

Floors/Walkways 19.1%

Handtools 14.8%

Vehicle 9.7%

All other sources 24%

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Age Distribution16 to 19 5.2%

20 to 24 24.3%

25 to 34 30%

35 to 44 21.8%

45 to 54 14.3%

55 to 64 3.6%

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Event Leading to InjuryTotal Contact With Objects 37.7%

Struck By Object 22.9%

Struck Against Object 7.6%

Caught In Object 3.7%

Fall to Lower Level 10.2%

Fall On Same Level 6.7%

Slips Or Trips 3.0%

Overexertion In Lifting 9.0%

Exposure to Harmful Substance 4.7%

Transportation Accidents 7.4%

All other events 11.2%

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Some Other Statistics

• Days away from work with injury/illness.– Highest: 24.7% 31 or more days away from

work– Average days away from work: 12 days

• Length of service– Highest: 35.3% 1 to 5 years of service

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OSHA Potential Hazards of Landscaping Industry

• Sprains and strains

• Electrical hazards

• Noise

• Heat stress

• Falls

• Struck-by

• Manual handling of landscaping tools and materials

• Working in proximity to overhead power lines

• Powered equipment such as chainsaws, chippers, and trenchers

• Working for extended periods of time outdoors

• Working from bucket trucks, working in trees

• Working around motor vehicles, overhead hazards