New silica standard intended to protect workers in engineered stone industry.

• The Cal/OSHA Standards Board has unanimously adopted revisions to the Title 8 silica standard that are intended to protect workers in the engineered stone industry.
• If approved as expected by the Office of Administrative Law, the emergency temporary standard becomes effective on December 29th and will remain in effect for one year. Cal/OSHA intends to make the changes permanent by the time the ETS ends.
• The existing standard, General Industry Safety Orders §5204, “is not adequate to address the hazards of engineered stone,” according to Eric Berg, deputy chief for health at the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, and Senior Safety Engineer Michael Wilson.
• The move comes as silicosis cases continue to come to light from the fabrication of the increasingly popular engineered stone for countertops.
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Chimney sweep group reaches OSHA settlement

• The National Chimney Sweep Guild, a trade association consisting almost entirely of small businesses, reached an agreement with OSHA to resolve its legal challenge to the 2016 Final Rule amending OSHA’s Fall Protection Standards for General Industry.
• The settlement describes how those standards will be applied to employees in the chimney service industry with roof top work on the 99% plus of single-family homes and similar structures that lack fall protection anchorages.
• The settlement is the authorized use of alternative ground-based anchors to secure fall protection lifelines and equipment for employees working on roofs.
• While the terms of the Settlement Agreement are expressly limited to the Chimney Service Industry, they are likely to have applicability to other commercial sectors performing General Industry work on residential roofs.
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CBIA named OSHA ambassador

• The Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) has named an OSHA Ambassador as part of the agency’s Alliance Cooperative program.
• Through the program, OSHA collaborates with partners to help prevent workplace fatalities, injuries, and illnesses and these ambassadors include trade and professional associations, labor unions, educational institutions, community and faith-based groups, and government agencies.
• OSHA and alliance participants collaborate to provide workers and employers with information, guidance, and resources to promote workplace safety and health.
• They also raise awareness of workers’ rights and employers’ responsibilities under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Alliance participants do not receive exemptions from OSHA inspections or any other enforcement benefits.
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Denver cargo workers strike over safety concerns

• Cargo handlers at Denver International Airport walked off the job over workplace safety concerns and marched outside the airport’s main terminal for several hours.
• Organizers of the strike were helped by the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, chapter for Colorado, which represents roughly 1,200 workers at DIA.
• The workers said managers had failed to respond to repeated requests for safety improvements.
• Passenger flights were on schedule at the airport that serves over 70 million passengers a year and employs roughly 40,000 people.
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