Assignement II

Legal Aspects of Safety and Health

Unit II Assignment

You receive a follow-up call from the area director saying the employee filing the original non-formal complaint has provided additional information about the alleged health situation and submitted a formal complaint using the OSHA-7 form, making the complaint a formal complaint. A few days later, an OSHA compliance officer shows up at your facility to perform a comprehensive inspection. The compliance officer presents the proper credentials, and you verify that the compliance officer is employed by OSHA and assigned to the local office.

During the opening conference, the compliance officer provides you with the formal complaint, alleging that employees are exposed to hazardous concentrations of metal fumes in welding areas of the plant, that you have not performed any air sampling to determine exposure levels, that adequate ventilation is not present in welding areas, and that adequate respiratory protection has not been provided to welders. As a part of the inspection, the compliance officer requests the following documents:

· chemical inventory list;

· OSHA 300 logs;

· Hazard Communication Program, including training records;

· any sampling data that you have;

· Respiratory Protection Program, including medical clearance letters and training records;

· written hazard assessment for personal protective equipment (PPE) used at the facility;

· Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) for the metals you use in the production process and any welding rods/wire used in the welding area; and

· any other written programs you have that are required by an OSHA regulation.

The compliance officer takes a walk-through tour of the facility, spending extra time in the welding areas. During the walk-through, the compliance officer points out several issues believed to be apparent violations. The issues are as follows:

· Heavy haze is present in the welding area.

· Individuals wearing half-mask air-purifying respirators have full beards.

· Employees are using chemicals that could be injurious to the eyes, and no emergency eyewash is present.

· Eyewash is present in another area of the plant that is covered in dust, and there is no indication of recen

· operation or inspection.

· Employees are using chemicals that could be absorbed through the skin and are not using any gloves.

· Employees are performing maintenance inside a press with no lock-out/tag-out applied.

· No written lock-out/tag-out program is available at the time of the inspection.

· Welding operation is performed near flammable materials, and no fire watch present.

· There is no record of training for fork truck drivers.

· Extension cords are stretched across walkways.

· Three containers are present in the plant with no label present on any of the containers.

· An employee could not find a SDS for the chemical he or she was using.

The compliance officer asks for a private conference room and a list of non-managerial employees. He tells you that he intends to interview four non-managerial employees before leaving for the day. He also states that he will return the next day to collect some air samples at the facility.

You are worried about the number of citations and penalties that you may face. Provide a document summarizing the steps you would take as soon as the compliance officer leaves, and the steps you believe you could have taken during the walk-through that may have resulted in a quick-fix penalty reduction.

Your document must be at least three pages in length, not counting the title or reference pages. You must also include at least one reference using appropriate APA style.

***Below was the answer for Assignment I

Part 1

Jerry Raskind,

Manager Welding Plant.

90-1234 Fresno-Ca

20th June 2016

The OSHA Director,

Fresno Area, California.

90-1225 Fresno-Ca

Dear Sir/Madam

First and foremost, let me take this opportunity to thank for your email which you sent in regardto complaints about the safety and health of my employees. It has was an important reminder andperspective into our company’s safety precautions and regulations in the welding plants andmachinery chambers. I want to inform you personally that the company has established safety guidelines the company and we buy quality equipment from certified and standardized vendors.

In regard to the complaints you received from one of our employees, I can ascertain that the safety issues in the welding sections are fully secured and we apply the OSHA safety and health rules precisely. The complaints you received are inadequate since the complaints have not reached my

office or neither is the safety personnel and health officer not aware of any complaints.

I want to Loading...take this opportunity to apologize in behalf of my employees regarding the complaints and I willmake it my mission to ensure that in the future there are no such as complaints from my employees. In regard to the purchasing of equipment such as welding and dust masks, the company has

vendors who are certified and will always have a supplier diversity program to help in sorting and selecting the ideal suppliers of equipment to our factory. There are no reports in this regard and about the issues warring the employees. Therefore, there is no sufficient reasons and alarm for conducting an on-site inspection since I personally will conduct the inspection and get to the bottom of these issues. I take it my responsibility to ensure all employees are work under good conditions of safety and health. I promise the company will look into these issues and if any issues and challenges, I will sort them immediately and will great care for my employees’ safety and health being. I thank you for reaching out to and I hope to hear from you in the future.

Yours faithfully,

Jerry.

Part 2

The complaints fits the priority criteria of OSHA. This is a third based priority since it involves a complaint from employees regarding the welding safety of the company. There is also a complaint about the company’s lack of proper ventilation and supporting the overall Loading...safety of the employees. Therefore, its priority for inspection falls under the third priority of OSHA’s inspections.

There are many and different factors which could have made the complaint informal. For instance, there is no proper communication from the company such as an officer of health and safety sending a letter of notification or complaint. The lack of elaborate sign off from employees and any evidence could make the complaint informal. Due to the lack of clear communication from the necessary safety and health reporting from the company, it makes the complaint to be informal.

The initial step is to inform the employees about the complaint and ask if there are any complaints in regard to their safety and health. It is important to present a mutual understanding platform. This platform is to engage and develop a discussion about the importance of being democratic. Finally, it is easier to view opinions and perspectives of each employee. It could also be reclassified as a formal complaint since it originated from the employees

of the company. The origin of the complaint presents a lot of validity in terms of reporting and sensing the danger. The employees are among the most affected by poor working conditions, which could result in health issues which could affect their normal working and health

complications.