Safety | The Contracting Education Academy

May 18, 2018 By AMK

OSHA fines contractor and temp staffing agency $152,618

A worker died because a contractor failed to protect the worker, and a temp labor agency failed to ensure worker received safety training.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited All Power Construction Corporation of Huntsville, Alabama and staffing agency Labor Finders of Tennessee Inc. after a temporary employee installing sewer lines suffered a fatal injury in a trench collapse in Huntsville. All Power Construction Corp. faces $139,684 in proposed penalties and Labor Finders of Tennessee Inc. faces the maximum allowed $12,934 in proposed penalties.

OSHA issued willful and serious citations to All Power Construction on November 7, 2017 for allowing employees to work in a trench without cave-in protection, failing to provide a safe means to enter and exit the trench, and not having a competent person inspect the trench to identify potential hazards.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.constructionequipment.com/osha-fines-contractor-and-temp-staffing-agency-152618

See OSHA’s trenching and excavation standards at: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/trenchingexcavation/standards.html

April 3, 2018 By AMK

Lax oversight of VA project caused $17.7M overrun, construction collapse

The Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs issued a report that found both a contractor and VA hospital officials demonstrated “shoddy planning” and poor oversight of an $8.7 million generator project that is $17.5 million over budget.

The VA in June 2014 hired Florida-based BCI Construction for $8.7 million to install a generator system and accompanying structure to house the unit at the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center in Muskogee, Oklahoma. According to the inspector general, the VA did not submit an excavation plan for approval before beginning work. Subsequently, a hillside and parking lot collapsed, and the damage will cost $17.5 million to fix.

**Photos show noticeable deterioration of parking lot before collapse.** (photos by VA Medical Center employee)

In addition to supervisory and procedural errors, the inspector general also found that BCI’s worksite to be unsafe. Safety inspections were sporadic, and 49 safety violations were never reported to the government contracting officer, which is a violation of VA policy.

The inspector general recommended requiring contracting officer representatives are qualified and follow VA regulations and mandating that employees follow safety inspection guidelines. The current Muskogee hospital director, hired after the collapse, said the facility has implemented the recommendations.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.constructiondive.com/news/report-lax-oversight-of-va-project-caused-177m-overrun-construction-col/520242/

Read the article in The Oklahoman newspaper on this subject at: http://newsok.com/article/5588662/construction-collapse-at-muskogee-va-hospital-will-cost-17.5-million-to-repair-and-was-the-result-of-poor-planning-federal-report-finds

Read the VA’s full OIG report at: https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/oig-reports/VAOIG-15-04678-114.pdf

March 16, 2017 By AMK

Georgia Tech launches State’s first Professional Master’s degree in occupational safety and health

Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE), in collaboration with Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), has partnered with the Georgia Tech College of Design and its School of Building Construction to offer a Professional Master’s degree in Occupational Safety and Health (PMOSH), the first of its kind in Georgia.

The program is designed to prepare leaders in the field with the knowledge and skills to manage complex safety and health programs.

“This Professional Master’s degree in Occupational Safety and Health reflects how close we and the School of Building Construction faculty are to the building industry, and how as academics, we can address the needs of builders and building managers,” said Georgia Tech College of Design Dean and John Portman Chair, Steven P. French. “The same changes in technology that have impacted how architects and engineers design buildings are also affecting how construction safety specialists do their jobs. It’s exciting to lead the state in creating safer environments for people who work in the spaces we design.”

The professional master’s program was developed in response to a growing need in the state for a highly qualified workforce in the occupational safety and health (OS&H) field. According to the Georgia Department of Labor, employment for OS&H specialists is projected to grow 7.3 percent from 2012 to 2022, and only 18 percent of safety related professionals have a master’s degree. In 2013 alone, 2,753 positions in this field required a master’s degree, an increase of 60 percent since 2010.

“As the professional education division of Georgia Tech, we have the expertise and learning technologies to design and deliver educational programs to respond to specific workforce challenges,” said Nelson Baker, dean, Georgia Tech Professional Education. “This degree answers the need for advanced education in this field. It will contribute to improved safety and competitive advantage for state companies, and will be an asset for the state of Georgia.”

PMOSH is an academically rigorous degree featuring faculty experts from the College of Design’s School of Building Construction as well as leading industry professionals from GTRI, where the Georgia Tech OSHA Training Institute Education Center was established in 1992. “The OSHA Training Institute Education Center has made a lasting impact on practitioners of safety and health programs in the southeastern United States,” said Joe Brooks, deputy director, Georgia Tech Research Institute. “This new Professional Master’s in Occupational Safety and Health program will provide leaders in the occupational safety and health field with a deep technical background and strong applications practice, helping to drive state and national growth.”

Geared to working professionals in manufacturing, process, construction and related industries, the program aims to prepare safety specialists for positions of leadership in the OS&H field. PMOSH features a management component that addresses leadership and communication as well as business aspects of OS&H management in addition to fundamentals of OS&H and related standards, and technology and its implementation to support OS&H.

The program incorporates case studies and practical projects that require learners to solve real-world problems in this field. Delivery of PMOSH includes online instruction and one-week, on-campus sessions three times during the two-year program, which begins in the 2017 academic year. Learn more about the Professional Master’s in Occupational Safety and Health.

Source: https://gtri.gatech.edu/casestudy/georgia-tech-launches-state-s-first-professional-m

About Georgia Tech Professional Education (GTPE)

Georgia Tech Professional Education, an academic division of the Georgia Institute of Technology, offers professional development courses, certificate programs, online master’s and professional master’s degrees in a variety of formats to meet the needs of working professionals and industry partners in STEM and business fields worldwide. We educate over 22,000 individual learners representing close to 3,000 companies annually. Visit Georgia Tech Professional Education. GTPE Media Contact: Danielle Goss, danielle.goss@pe.gatech.edu, 404-385-2510.

About Georgia Tech College of Design

Georgia Tech’s College of Design takes a research-driven approach to what is clearly an art at traditional design schools. We think it’s important to understand how technology enables better design, and how to fuse that technology into buildings, products, lifestyles, cities, regions, and even healthcare. Our design is a particularly creative approach to solving real-world problems. Visit Georgia Tech College of Design

About Georgia Tech Research Institute

The Georgia Tech Research Institute solves complex problems through innovative and customer-focused research and education. Established in 1934, GTRI is Georgia Tech’s non-profit, applied research arm with more than 2,000 staff, 15 locations, eight laboratories and annual contract awards exceeding $350 million. Learn more at Georgia Tech Research Institute.

December 31, 2013 By AMK

Study finds federal contracts given to flagrant violators of labor laws

A new congressional report criticizes the federal government for awarding tens of billions of dollars in contracts to companies even though they were found to have violated safety and wage laws and paid millions in penalties. Issued on behalf of the Democratic senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, the report cited examples over the past six years.

For instance, Imperial Sugar had $94.8 million in federal contracts last year, even though it paid $6 million in safety penalties over a 2008 factory explosion in Georgia that killed 14 workers. The report also noted that the federal government had awarded $4.2 billion in contracts to Tyson Foods since 2000, even though Tyson has faced more than $500,000 in safety penalties since 2007 and 11 of its workers have died on the job since 1999.

The report urges the government to weigh a company’s safety and wage violations more closely as it awards contracts, which are about $500 billion a year to companies employing 26 million workers, representing 22 percent of the nation’s work force. It stops short of recommending automatic suspension of contracts or debarring contractors that were found to have violated federal laws, partly because government agencies were sometimes at fault, a committee staff member said.

“Taxpayer dollars are routinely being paid to companies that are putting the livelihoods and the lives of workers at risk,” the report said. “Many of the most flagrant violators of federal workplace safety and wage laws are also recipients of large federal contracts.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/11/business/study-finds-federal-contracts-given-to-flagrant-violators-of-labor-laws.html

March 18, 2013 By AMK

Georgia Tech’s OSHA program awards certificates to 18 Robins AFB employees

Georgia Tech Professional Education has awarded occupational safety and health certificates to 18 employees at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Ga., extending Georgia Tech’s relationship with the U.S. Air Force.

The Robins employees completed a series of courses to earn the professional certificates, which were awarded in late February 2013.

Georgia Tech Professional Education partnered with Georgia Tech Research Institute, the university’s applied research arm, to offer the training at Robins. For more than 30 years, Georgia Tech’s occupational safety and health program has helped keep workers safe, growing to offer 43 short courses, eight professional certificates and customized training.

“We are proud to offer our depth of experience and knowledge of OSHA regulations in this partnership with Robins Air Force Base. By learning onsite, the employees have received certificates from a major engineering school recognized nationally and internationally,” said Daniel J. Ortiz, M.P.H., C.S.P., manager of GTRI’s Occupational Safety and Health Program Office.

The training program saved the base $237,000 in travel and other costs and resulted in new safety programs implemented across the facility, according to David Decker with the 78th Air Base Wing Safety Office at Robins. The 78th Air Base Wing, OSHA and the American Federation of Government Employees Local 987 were essential to Georgia Tech Professional Education’s ability to provide the training.

“This is a critical partnership,” said Brig. Gen. Cedric George, commander of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex. “I know it wasn’t easy. Georgia Tech doesn’t do easy.”

In 2011, Robins reached out to GTRI professionals, who are Georgia Tech Professional Education instructors, for assistance with occupational safety and health. Safety is a priority at the installation, which has more than 20,000 civilian and military personnel in a variety of careers.

Georgia Tech Professional Education instructors worked with senior leadership from the 78th Air Base wing and from the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex (WR-ALC), which provides depot level maintenance for USAF aircraft and systems.

Beginning with two courses in occupational safety and health, Georgia Tech Professional Education and GTRI formed a relationship with Robins around the need to develop and implement a safety management system. An additional nine courses, including the OSHA Guide to Industrial Hygiene and Machinery and Machine Guarding Standards, were taught on base, helping employees earn the certificates.

The courses included classroom lectures and hands-on training. The instructors incorporated challenges Robins employees faced into the class material.

“We were able to use examples based on our experience at Robins,” said James B. Howry, senior research associate at GTRI’s Electronic Systems Laboratory. “We integrated our subject matter expertise as we understood their challenges.”

The savings to the taxpayer was “tremendous,” said Roger Hayes, chief of WR-ALC Safety, who leads a team of 30 safety professionals overseeing over 16,000 workers. He estimates he was able to spend about $4,000 on one course for 20 employees, instead of paying $1,500 per employee to attend a course away from the base.

“The relationship with Robins Air Force Base is a great example of how Georgia Tech Professional Education can meet an organization’s specific needs and provide affordable training by bringing courses to worksites,” said Myrtle I. Turner, Ph.D., M.P.H., C.E.T., director of Georgia Tech’s OSHA Training Institute Education Center, which is one of four original centers across the U.S.

During the February ceremony at Robins, 17 employees were awarded an Industrial Safety and Health Certificate, and one individual received a Construction Safety and Health Certificate.

“Robins Air Force Base respected and identified with the professional credentials that come with a certificate from Georgia Tech,” Howry added.

The program also offered the opportunity to further strengthen safety education, while continuing to improve work processes and assist employees.

“It’s been awesome,” said Lt. Col. Nate Tart, of the 78th Air Base Wing. “With such a diverse group of people in the course, it helped make it a better experience. Some of us have a flight safety background, and it was good to hear the industrial safety perspective.”

Having the opportunity to earn a professional certificate from a prestigious university shows an employer’s dedication and commitment to safety and the workforce, said Robert Tidwell, 402nd Commodities Maintenance Group aircraft sheet metal mechanic and an American Federation of Government Employees Local 987 safety representative.

“When I’m out in the workforce, I can offer insight and help resolve safety concerns or put out safety issues that will potentially keep people from getting hurt,” he said. “Our ultimate goal is safety for our workforce.”

A worker died because a contractor failed to protect the worker, and a temp labor agency failed to ensure worker received safety training.

The Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs issued a report that found both a contractor and VA hospital officials demonstrated “shoddy planning” and poor oversight of an $8.7 million generator project that is $17.5 million over budget.

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