The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced July 9 a 60-day temporary enforcement policy of its Confined Spaces in Construction standard, effective Aug. 3. The announcement postpones full enforcement of the new standard to Oct. 2 in order to allow for additional time to train and acquire the equipment necessary to comply with the new rule.

Throughout Safety Week 2015, May 3-9, ABC, its’ members and many other organizations within the construction industry partnered to highlight the importance of being safe both on and off the jobsite. To kick off both Safety Week 2015 and OSHA’s annual National Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction, ABC conducted a toolbox talk stand-down event in Washington, DC with members HITT Construction and Power Design, Inc. for more than 200 employees on a HITT and Power Design Atlantic Plumbing jobsite. The event covered personal fall arrest system orientation, personal protective equipment inspections, slips, trips and falls, and incorporated electrical loc

OSHA released its latest version of their “Job Safety and Health—It's The Law!” poster April 29 which employers must display if covered by the OSH Act or be subjected to citations or penalties if they fail to do so. Employers do not need to replace previous versions of the poster. The poster is free and can be downloaded on OSHA’s website. 

OSHA issued a final rule for confined spaces in construction on May 4, which mirrors the general industry standard but adds certain provisions tailored specifically to the construction industry including an emphasis on training, monitoring and evaluating, as well as communication on multi-employer sites. The rule is set to go into effect August 3.

In the construction industry, safety should be the number one priority on every jobsite and with the increased use of new technology such as BIM, the industry is finding ways to not only reduce onsite injuries, but to reduce the overall construction schedule at the same time. 

Every year, more than 80,000 workers suffer an injury on construction job sites across the U.S. One incident is one too many— life is too precious not to make safety the number one focus in the U.S. construction industry. With the common goal of building safety together, ABC is joining the Construction Industry Safety (CISI) initiative and the Incident and Injury Free CEO (IIF) Forum for the second annual Safety Week May 3-9. 

A new report released by the Construction Industry Safety Coalition (CISC) found that OSHA's proposed silica standards for construction will cost the industry $5 billion per year—roughly $4 .5 billion per year more than OSHA’s estimates. The coalition cautioned that the flawed cost estimates reflect deeper flaws in the rule and urged the federal agency to reconsider its approach.

Seventeen ABC member companies were honored as 2015 Greater Baton Rouge Industry Alliance (GBRIA) Contractor Safety Excellence Award recipients. Each year, the awards are presented to companies who have demonstrated a level of safety excellence that includes thousands and millions of hours worked without injury, a commitment by management to educate workers, and a culture where accidents do not happen.  The awards were presented on March 19 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

OSHA released an interpretation letter stating that construction contractors are allowed to require employees to pay a deposit for company-issued personal protection equipment (PPE) so that it provides an incentive for the employee to return the equipment. Contractors should be aware that this does not circumvent the requirement that employers provide protection equipment at no expense to the workers. 

OSHA issued a Letter of Interpretation Jan. 15 clarifying the new reporting standard for severe injuries on the jobsite which went into effect Jan. 1. The interpretation letter provides a definition of an amputation and also how to distinguish between an amputation and an avulsion. In addition, the letter goes on to discuss whether the loss of an eye includes the loss of sight.