Pages

Friday, January 1, 2010

NIOSH and OSHA, Divergent Paths to OSH Act

It's time for OSHA and NIOSH to work together in a comprehensive collaborative effort instead of the divergent manner that has been occurring in the past. The OSH Act 1970 mandated that NIOSH would carry out the policy set forth in Section 2 - Congressional Findings and Purpose of the Act and to perform the functions of the Secretary of Health and Human Services under Section 20 - Research and Related Activities and Section 21 - Training and Employee Education of the Act.

NIOSH has been conducting an excellent job in research, education, and outreach, providing stakeholders in the nation's workplace with their excellent products. The problem is that many of their products cannot be found on the OSHA Safety and Health Topics Pages. Many businesses are not aware of NIOSH, which is federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

OSHA in addition to conducting enforcement and inspection activities in the workplace also has many excellent occupational health and safety products. In contrast many stakeholders are aware of OSHA activities through citations and their collaborative outreach programs and educational resources available on the OSHA website. The problem with the OSHA and NIOSH educational resources and products is that they are located on two different websites.

For example, viewing OSHA's Safety and Health Topics Pages., one of the first topics in the search drop-down menu is Agricultural Operations There are many excellent links to:

In contrast, when comparing the OSHA Safety and Health Topics Pages to the NIOSH Safety and Health Topic Agricultural Page, many subjects that NIOSH has determined are important concerning occupational health and safety cannot be found on the OSHA pages. All the educational resources from NIOSH and OSHA are excellent, but wouldn't it make sense to combine the wealth of information that is currently located on two different website into one location?

Agricultural topics is just one example where the discrepancy arises. What about the dozens of other topics where OSHA provides helpful information on their Topic pages Index in addition to the NIOSH A-Z Index. With the technology on the Internet, an IT manager can combine the two in a seamless easy to use manner. Lets bring the OSH Act back as the Congress intended nearly four decades ago with OSHA and NIOSH working together in unison.

South Dakota Ethanol Safety Training-Jan. 20-21

two-day workshop includes an outline of OSHA standards, environmental health controls, fire protection, grain handling and conveyor safety, electrical safety, and railroad and materials handling safety.

Combustible dust hazards also present in ethanol production. Such as the secondary aspect of ethanol production where dryers are used to dry distillers grains. Or where dust particles can be be ignited by a heating system used in the drying process, which dries corn by-product prior to processing it into ethanol.

In 2009, according to media accounts, there were 14 fires and explosions at ethanol plants. Where either flammable gases, liquids, or combustible dust was involved in the incident. According to Ethanol Producer Magazine there are 184 ethanol plants in operation http://www.ethanolproducer.com/plant-list.jsp

For additional information on the Two-Day Ethanol Safety Workshop:
please contact or Email: James Manning, Program Director.Engineering Extension, SDSU, Brookings, SD 57007 Phone: 605-688-4101,, Email: james.manning@sdstate.edu
Website http://www.engineering.sdstate.edu/~engrext/index1.html

Posted via web from ComDust

OSHA Combustible Dust Rulemaking Comment Period

Docket ID: OSHA-2009-0023

Agency: OSHA

Have you provided comments yet concerning the OSHA Combustible Dust ANPRM? Submit electronically by the January 19, 2010 deadline. Participation by all stakeholders is needed. Still need input from the state and local fire protection service, insurance industry, NIOSH, U.S. Fire Administration, etc.

Enter OSHA-2009-0023 in the Keyword or ID search bar on http://www.regulations.gov Home Page. Or go directly to the Docket Folder.


Posted via web from ComDust

 

Questions, Problems, Feedback? Please send email by clicking this link...Thanks

©Copyright 2008-2012. Combustible Dust Policy Institute
The information in http://dustexplosions.blogspot.com/ is not meant to be a substitute for the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Federal Register, and other OSHA documents, which should serve as the primary source of regulatory guidance. The information on this site should not be used in place of appropriate technical or legal advice related to your company's specific circumstances. Combustible Dust Policy Institute tries to provide quality information, but we make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to this web site and its associated sites. Combustible Dust Policy Institute has no liability arising from or relating to the use, interpretation, or application of the information or its accuracy or inaccuracy. Copyright notice: All materials in this site are copyrighted by the Combustible Dust Policy Institute. No materials may be directly or indirectly published, posted to Internet and intranet distribution channels, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed in any medium without permission.