ASSE-AIHA Alliance Presentation
Annual OSHA Update:Technical Support and Emergency
Management
Thomas Galassi, MPH, CIHDirector
Directorate of Technical Support and Emergency Management
Directorate of Technical Support and Emergency Management (DTSEM)
Mission
– To provide safety and health expertise to OSHA’s National Office and field organizations
– To fulfill OSHA’s role as designated under the National Response Framework
Salt Lake Technical
Center
National Office
Wash, D.C.
Cincinnati Technical
Center
DTSEM Offices and Centers
• Occupational Health Nursing • Occupational Medicine• Science and Technology Assessment• Technical Programs and Coordination Activities• Emergency Management
• Technical Data Center• Salt Lake Technical Center• Cincinnati Technical Center
Directorate of Technical Support and Emergency Management services
• Integrated Solutions • Complex and Emerging Technical Issues• Resource Capabilities Including:
– Safety / Industrial Hygiene professionals– Engineers– Librarians– Health Scientist – Occupational Nurses– Occupational Physicians– Analytical Chemists
Health Response TeamOSHA's Health Response Team (HRT) can help assess
the source and extent of exposure.
• Chemical hazards • Biological hazards • Physical energy • Ergonomics
Health Response TeamSelect Activities
• Silver reclamation from photo and x-ray film
• Mold contamination in a document storage unit
• Boiler explosion at a refinery
• Nanotechnology
• Ionizing Radiation in a biotechnology facility
• Ergonomics/Vibration evaluation
Health Response TeamSelect Activities
• Hydrogen Sulfide fatality investigation – Environmental and forensic testing
• Referred to OSHA occupational physicians for association of exposure and outcome
Hydrogen Sulfide Exposure:What Happened?
• A rendering plant employee was tightening a gasket close to a machine that was known to produce hydrogen sulfide– Worker collapsed in cardiac arrest– Supervisor attempted assistance – collapsed and
recovered– 5 responding EMTs also affected
• Paramedics noted a “strong rotten egg odor”
Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) Poisoning
• No post-mortem information was available
• Causality based on history of event & multiple medical records
• Testing for thiosulfate in blood and urine would have been helpful
Arsine Exposure: What Happened?
• Water treatment facility re-engineering electro-coagulation (ECU) process to improve arsenic extraction
• Four employees standing over vat were admitted to local hospitals for bloody urine (hematuria)
• Two required dialysis treatments• Safety & health effects were not
considered in re-engineering process• Causal relationship confirmed
between arsine exposure and health effects
Arsine Poisoning
• Most cases occur when arsine is produced unintentionally
• Active metal + strong acid = fresh hydrogen• Newly formed hydrogen reacts with arsenic
compounds to form Arsine gas
IH Chemistry
Our AIHA (ISO17025) accredited laboratory analyzes over 400 chemicals. Over 16,000 laboratory samples analyzed per year.
Analytical Investigative Services
Mass Spec Analysis - unknowns
Combustible Dust testing
Sampling and Analytical Methods Development Material Failure Testing
and Investigations
Blood Carboxyhemoglobin to Environmental Carbon
Monoxide Concentration Back Calculations
Soil Testing
Engineering and Program Support
Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories (NRTL) Program
• NRTLs test and approve products to assure they are safe to use in U.S. workplaces and are recognized by OSHA’s NRTL Program.
• 2008 American Council of Independent Laboratories (ACIL) Alliance increased awareness of OSHA's NRTL-approval requirements.
• Three alliance products of interest. – Registered Certification Marks of NRTLs – pocket
card– "Identifying Counterfeit Items – Quick Tips" – "The Threat of Counterfeit Product Approval Marks
Warrants Aggressive Detection and Enforcement Action"
Emergency Management
• Coordination with Emergency Management Community
• Defined roles for FEMA and OSHA in emergency response situations
• National Exercises
OSHA’s role is to ensure that worker safety and health issues are not overlooked or inadequately addressed
National Response Framework:Worker Safety and Health Support Annex (WSHSA)
• OSHA is the Coordinating Federal Agency for Worker Safety and Health
• Theatre-wide mechanism for Federal, State, and local entities to request worker safety and health technical assistance
Emergency Preparedness and Response
Significant Outreach Issues
• American Recovery and
Reinvention Act (ARRA)
• 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic
ARRA website directs users to OSHA resources
“In Focus” section:
• Pandemic Influenza page
• Resources (e.g., Quick Cards, Fact Sheets) are available in HTML or PDF formats as well as English or Spanish versions
22
Pan Flu Quick Cards and Fact Sheets
Worker and Employer guidance for 2009 H1N1 published in November
Safety and Health Information Bulletins, Best Practices and other products on:
• Skid Steer Loaders• Cable Trays• Stand-up Forklifts• Special Purpose Particle Accelerators• Mechanical Power Presses• Nationally Recognized Testing Labs• EMS Responders• Nail Guns
OSHA E-Products WEB-based Resources
• Safety and Health Information on over 170 selected topics
– New Electric Power eTool• Hazard Assessment and Job Briefing,• Energized vs. De-energized work,• Grounding,• Overhead Line work, and more….
• Exploring new technologies – forums, blogs, wiki-pages
“…agencies should harness new technologies
to put information about
their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public.”
President Obama January 21, 2009
Open Government Directive December 8, 2009
• Open Government Directive (OGD)
• Directs Agencies to be more:
• Transparent in our work
• Participatory in seeking the ideas and expertise of citizens
• Collaborative in how we use new technology and processes for developing government policies
Change How Government Works
Command & Control Organization
No expectation of response
Formal, information based information
Limited communications channels
Distributed Organization
Real time or near real time response
Casual, multimedia-based information
Multiple communications channels
Open Government: Social Media as a Tool
Status:
• Identifying which tools support our needs (and work) and which tools do not
• Learning how to use the tools
• Exploring how we balance resource demands associated with these tools against the benefit of interacting with the public
OSHA Datasets on Data.gov
• OSHA Data Initiative - Establishment Specific Injury and Illness Rates (Raw Data)
• Weekly Fatality Reports (Tool)
• OSHA Exposure Sampling Results – Under development (Tool and Raw Data)
Public Engagement
• OSHA Listens – March 4
• National Action Summit for Latino Worker Safety and Health – April 14 – 15 in Houston
• Open Government Planning– Idea Scale
Questions??
Thomas Galassi, DirectorDirectorate of Technical Support and Emergency Management (DTSEM)
(202)693.2300
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