December’s Meeting

Season Greetings Roundtable folks,

The next CSREM Roundtable Alliance safety professional development meeting is Tuesday, December 12th at 10:00. This month’s Speaker is Bob Kunz, Corporate Safety Director, Dimeo Construction Company.

Bob will present 3 hours.  Includes storytelling, professional development and integrity, detail matter and how leadership, technology and and Lean practices will present the greatest opportunity to industry. 

Sponsor for this month’s meeting is Elizabeth Will of A. A. Will and meeting hosted by Dan Lavoie of Liberty Mutual.

Meeting is being held at Liberty Mutual Conference Center, Riverside Office Park, 20 Riverside Road, Weston, MA 02493. If ya get lost, call Nancy.

As customary, please RSVP to Nancy Hughes of OHS Training & Consulting Inc. at nancy.ohstc@gmail.com, by noontime this Friday December 8th to insure we have security badging for all, accurate head count for the luncheon and correct seating arrangements for this meeting (room capacity is 90). if you don’t RSVP, you won’t have a badge, you won’t get into the meeting.

November’s Meeting

The next CSREM Roundtable Alliance professional safety development meeting is Tuesday, November 14th at 10:00 AM. This month’s Speaker is Tim Irving and topic is annual OSHA update.

The meeting is sponsored and hosted by Joanne Cameron of National Lumber. The meeting is being held at National Lumber, 245 Oakland St, Mansfield MA facility in upstairs 2nd floor training room. If ya still get lost, call Joanne.

As customary, please RSVP to Nancy Hughes of OHS Training & Consulting Inc. at nancy.ohstc@gmail.com, by noontime Friday November 10th to insure we have an accurate head count for the luncheon and correct seating arrangements for this meeting. FYI – room capacity at National Lumber is 82.

PARKING NOTE – please do not park in the front of the building as this is reserved for store shopping customers. There is plenty of parking on the side of the building and along both sides of adjacent Oakland street. Please respect their walk-in customers.

 

From Glenn:

Hello Roundtable folks,

Tim Irving, Assistant Regional Administrator for Cooperative and State Programs, US DOL/OSHA Region 1 Office, JFK Federal Building, Room E 340, Boston, MA, 02203, will present the ever popular “Annual OSHA Update” and recap the agency’s fiscal year enforcement and outreach results for FY 2017.  The review will cover the national, regional and local inspection and citation information as well as the regional fatal accident statistics. The CSREM has been instrumental in the success of the OSHA outreach efforts and other campaigns. Tim will give an update on how the success of these local events have national implications and how we can support upcoming training.

As submitted by Peter Barletta CAS  to The OSHA Quick Takes an article on the OSHA and CSREM Alliance Renewal signing:

  • The Construction Safety Roundtable of Eastern Massachusetts renewed a five-year agreement with OSHA’s offices in Braintree and Andover, Mass., to encourage a dialogue between OSHA and local industry. Members will share safe work practices, provide updates on OSHA procedures and policies, promote involvement in OSHA safety stand-downs, and create safety and health communication tools. Since 2000, the Alliance delivered the OSHA 10-hour Construction Outreach Training Program to more than 10,000 vocational high school students throughout Massachusetts.

The open renewal membership expired with last month’s meeting – we will move forward with our regular protocols whereas one needs to be sponsored by an existing member to join our Roundtable group.

October’s Meeting Announcement

From Glenn:

Hello Roundtable folks,

The next CSREM Roundtable meeting is Tuesday, October 10th at 10:00. This month’s topic is the new Silica Standard that went into effect 09/23/17. Yes, the agency said it will not begin issuing fines and citations for another 30 days. The Roundtable has had this standard explained to us twice now once March 2016 by Susan Shepherd (State view) and again on December 2016 by Bob Kunz (contractors view). This month’s speaker is Lisa J. Sullivan, Regional Industrial Hygienist, USDOL – OSHA, Region 1 (will present the Federal view).

Member of the Roundtable will learn about OSHA’s new standard for Occupational Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica. The dangers and health risks of silica exposure will be described, and the requirements for Construction will be explained.  The phase-in period and effective dates for various aspects of the standard will be covered during Lisa’s presentation.

This is not just a review of the Standard. The rule reduces acceptable exposure limits to airborne silica and requires a written plan, training and, in some cases, medical monitoring to manage the dust. Lisa is prepared to answer the tough questions i.e. as they pertain to:

  • Medical Surveillance. Do I just create a form outlining the reason for the medical surveillance and have any person who would be potentially wearing a respirator more than 30 days annually sign it stating either yes or no to the exam?  Or do I offer it to all of the guys that we have fit tested regularly?  We do have a core group of guys that work with asbestos that have received chest x-rays, would they be covered under this as well since they do wear respirators?

 

  • Respirators. When fit testing is to be completed and the 30 day requirement and the medical surveillance that is to take place. When does a chest x-ray take place and can the person refuse that? Additionally my biggest question is what if a person wears the respirator for 20 minutes one day is that considered a day? How are you counting the thirty days – is it 8 hours or is it just use in a day? There appears to be two interpretations of the time clock. What do you do if an employee leave for a period of time and comes back? What do you do if a worker wears their respirators one week then don’t use it again for a month how do you monitor that is it thirty consecutive days or any thirty days? The “30 days” in a year of respirator use is unclear.  Does this mean that if worn for 30 separate days this applies? Or does it mean that 240 hours of respirator use in a year?

 

  • Medical Examinations – chest X-ray requires a B- reader, there is a physical exam, there is a pulmonary function test required and a TB test which requires a second medical visit because they have to read the test two days later.

 

This month’s meeting is being sponsored by Nancy Hughes of OHS Training & Consulting Inc & Glenn Narrow of Greenwood Industries and hosted by Dan Lavoie of Liberty Mutual. Meeting is being held at Liberty Mutual Conference Center, Riverside Office Park, 20 Riverside Road, Weston, MA 02493. If ya get lost, call Nancy on her cell phone # 617-959-4414.

ADDITIONALLY: As you know, we renewed our OSHA Alliance September 01, 2017 at last month’s meeting. The new Alliance Agreement will be available at this month’s meeting for those of you who could not attend last month’s Alliance renewal resigning ceremonies.

As customary, please RSVP to Nancy Hughes of OHS Training & Consulting Inc. at nancy.ohstc@gmail.com, by noontime this Friday October 6th to insure we have planned security badging, accurate head count for the luncheon and correct seating arrangements for this meeting. It is pretty simple, if you don’t RSVP, we will not spend our valuable time leaving Lisa’s presentation to vouch for folks held up at the security desk who did not bother to reply to this invitation of their planned attendance.