Whether giving or getting arc flash training, have you considered whether the trainer is “qualified,” “effective,” “proficient” or “competent” for the job?  Is the training content “adequate?”  How can we tell?  Does it matter?

Many OSHA standards require employee training, but are vague on trainer qualifications.  HazCom requires only “effective” training.  HAZWOPER specifies that trainers have “the training and/or academic credentials and instructional experience necessary to demonstrate competent instructional skills and a good command of the subject matter.”  The Bloodborne Pathogens standard requires only that the training record include “the names and qualifications of the persons conducting the training.”  No definition of credentials or “effective” training other than by performance failures, i.e., accidents.  “Competent” or “proficient” are often decided by incident investigations or lawsuits.  Remember, paperwork is the first place “they” look!

A Presidential Directive established the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as the “common language” for coordinated multi-agency responses for all Federal, state and local responders, including healthcare.  Hospitals are required by The Joint Commission (TJC) to implement 17 specific NIMS activities ranging from formal adoption to updated EOPs to mutual aid agreements, training and multi-agency exercises.  Coordination, planning and communication are key elements.

In the May 6, 2010 Federal Register, OSHA published a Request for Information (RFI) to collect information from the healthcare industry on “occupational exposure to infectious agents in settings where healthcare is provided.”  This includes hospitals, outpatient clinics, clinics in schools and correctional facilities and “healthcare-related” settings ranging from laboratories that handle potentially infectious materials to medical examiner offices to mortuaries.  OSHA is specifically interested in current infection control strategies and practices and will use the information to “determine what action, if any, the Agency may take to further limit the spread of occupationally-acquired infectious diseases in these settings.”  The deadline for comments is August 4, 2010.  Download our Healthcare Alert for a brief summary.

Hospitals are covered under the OSHA/NFPA 70E requirements.  Arc flash/blast incidents can cause severe employee injury and loss of electrical power to key functions of patient care, while the cost of injury treatment may exceed $1,000,000 per case with permanent disability and probable litigation.  As one Director of hospital engineering services recently told us, “There are systems in the hospital that we just can’t shut down, and must perform our inspections on live parts.”

A regulation change by OSHA in 2003 all but banned lift platforms.  Are you still using them?  Many are.  Do you have the required written approval?  Can you even get it?  Download our illustrated safety alert for the latest details on how to handle this issue.

The 33rd annual Occupational Safety and Health Summer Institute in Norfolk, VA is scheduled for July 26-30, 2010.  The Institutes, part of the North Carolina OSHERC continuing education program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, are designed for industrial hygienists, safety and environmental managers, occupational physicians and nurses and anyone else involved in EHS management.  There are about 30 courses covering everything from regulations to healthcare hazmat to environmental health, all eligible for recertification points toward your CHMM, CIH, CSP or other professional certs.

IESO, LLC announces a new OSHA 30-Hour General Industry course customized for healthcare. Many healthcare personnel have noted that the standard 30-hour OSHA course seems to have little in common with their needs.  This healthcare-customized course will familiarize you with applicable OSHA standards while focusing on hazard recognition and prevention.  Special emphasis is placed on those areas that are the most hazardous, using OSHA standards as a guide.  What is unique about this course is that it was designed from the ground up to meet the specific needs of the healthcare industry, and we firmly believe it is currently the first and only one of its kind. It meets all OSHA-511 requirements for time and content, and attendees who successfully pass the course will receive their 30-hour completion card.

On October 21, 2009 OSHA announced a proposed rule to address combustible dust explosions.  The rule would cover an estimated 16 million employees at approximately 426,000 facilities.  OSHA first addressed this issue in 1987 by promulgating 29 CFR 1910.272 for grain handling facilities.  In the 10 years prior to adopting that rule, there were 20.5 grain handling-related dust explosions per year in the U.S.  For the next 10 years there were 10.3, and from 1998-2007 there were 6.3 per year.

The 30th annual UNC Winter Institute in St. Petersburg, FL is scheduled for February 14-19, 2010.  The Institute is designed for industrial hygienists, safety and environmental managers, occupational physicians and nurses and anyone else involved in EHS management.  There are about 30 courses covering everything from regulations to healthcare hazmat to environmental health, all eligible for recertification points toward your CHMM, CIH, CSP or other professional certs.

IESO will be there instructing Fundamentals of Environmental Health, and co-teaching two new courses, Managing Hazmat Responses in Healthcare and Environmental Health and Safety Management Systems in Healthcare.

Do you have structures with lightning protection?  Is it properly installed?  How can you tell?  While conducting a recent mock VPP audit, IESO discovered that a lightning protection system being installed did not comply with NFPA 780, the Standard for the Installation of Lightning Protection Systems.

Down-conductors were exposed inside the structure and improperly bonded to surrounding ground systems, which could have caused a sideflash during a strike.  Anchor points were set in mortar joints,