Missouri program helped improve safety

• A workplace safety program has helped correct more than 6,200 hazards and saved small businesses in Missouri a projected $26.7 million in federal fines over the past two years.
• The Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program, or SHARP, encourages employers to develop and maintain systems for managing workplace safety and health.
• In exchange, the business is exempt from certain inspections from inspections conducted by OSHA for up to three years.
• Still, only 31 out of 120,000 small businesses in the state of Missouri participated in the program.
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Incidents at county office building lead to safety inspection

• Michigan workplace safety inspectors are investigating incidents of shattered windows, a set-off fire extinguisher, and fights in a government building in downtown Ann Arbor.
• Violent incidents at the county annex building bubbled up in the summer of 2022 to a degree not observed in the past, the documents show, with employees and administrators pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic as a cause.
• The MIOSHA investigation found no violation of workplace safety regulations.
• Nonetheless, county officials implemented numerous training and security updates in response to employee concerns.
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OSHA to scrutinize government program

• The Star Program recognizes workplaces with strong safety programs and rewards them by curtailing the number of times government regulators show up randomly.
• The program is based on the theory that motivating companies to adhere to best practices on their own is more effective than punishing them when they fail.
• However, some of the Star Program facilities use asbestos and received limited unannounced OSHA visits.
• Now, OSHA is looking at ways to protect workers from occupational exposure to asbestos moving forward.
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Company cited for explosion risk

• OSHA found Sumitomo Bakelite North American Inc. — operating as Durez Corp. in Kenton — failed to follow required safety measures to protect workers from the dangers of chemical exposure and potential explosion.
• OSHA opened an investigation in December 2022 and found the company did not prevent resin accumulations from exposing control room workers to respiratory and fire hazards.
• The agency cited Durez Corp. for one willful violation for its failure to ensure the HVAC system effectively maintained a positive pressure on the control room and automatically shut off in the event of a formaldehyde release, which could lead to an explosion.
• OSHA has proposed penalties of $171,884.
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