From: The Grassroots Newsletter, August 2005
Editor's Note
This month, Grassroots shares with you information about OSHA and the EPA. Safety should be a contractor's number one concern when working on a project. You will find links to each website so you may read the regulations in full.
OSHA and the EPA
The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) was written to ensure safe working environments. All employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthy environment in which to work.
Specific parts of the Act that contain minimum safety standards for the construction industry are:
- 29 CFR 1904, Recording and Reporting Occupational Injuries and Illnesses
- 29 CRF 1910, Occupational Safety and Health Standards
- 29 CFR 1926, Safety and Health Regulations for Construction
As an employer, you must within 8 hours of the death of an employee or the in-patient hospitalization of 3 or more employees as a result of a work related accident, orally report the death or multiple hospitalizations by telephone or in person to the nearest Area Office of the OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor to the incident. You may call OSHA's central telephone number, 800-321-OSHA (800-321-6742). If you do not hear of the incident until after the occurrence, you must make the report within 8 hours of the time the incident is reported to you.
If your number of employees are no more than 10 at any time during the calendar year immediately preceding the current calendar year need not comply with the OSHA record keeping requirements, except you must report fatalities or multiple hospitalization accidents and you must maintain a log of occupational injuries/illnesses and make reports if you are notified in writing by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
You your number of employees are 11 or more, you must maintain records of ALL occupational injuries/illnesses, regardless of the severity.
Employee versus Independent Contractor
You must consider the person an employee if you, as the employer:
- Hires the person and has the authority to terminate the person
- Supervises the person
- Pays the person
- Withholds taxes, Medicare or Social Security from the person's wages
You must record work related:
- Deaths
- Days away from work
- Restricted work or transfers to another job
- Loss of consciousness
- Medical treatment beyond first aid
- Any diagnosis of being work related by a health care professional
- Work related cancers or irreversible diseases
- Fractured or cracked bones or punctured eardrums being work related
The OSHA Safety and Health Standard for the Construction Industry has a complete listing of all materials considered hazardous and should be referred to when questions arise concerning the safety of any material used in the construction process.
Websites
To read the regulations for each of the standards, please visit the following websites:
OSHA - www.osha.gov
29 CFR 1904
29 CFR 1910
29 CFR 1926
Department of Labor - www.dol.gov
EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency's goal is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment upon which life depends.
When you are taking on a project, you must consider the type of work being performed, the area (urban, rural, etc.), any hazardous materials to be used, drainage patterns, and keeping contamination of solvents and chemicals in one area.
In a relatively short amount of time, construction activities can discharge sediment and pollutants that can contaminate water runoff. Construction can also add to the particulate matter in the air and add to air pollution from the dust in the air from a construction site. Industrial and hazardous waste include, used oil, spilled or used fuel, cleaning solvents and chemicals, and batteries. Unless disposed of properly, these can add to pollution.
For all EPA regulations, visit: www.epa.gov
If, as an employer, you do not take safety into consideration, you could be setting yourself up for major losses. Lost time of the job causing a missed deadline, higher insurance rates, loss of highly trained personnel, not to mention, fines imposed for not following safety regulations, perhaps being barred from bidding on future contracts, possible revocation of your license, and/or civil lawsuits.
Employees who get injured on the job incur losses, also. Besides the obvious loss of wages, the possibility of losing the ability to work at the same job, possible harm to the employee's family (not being able to buy food, pay rent), possibly losing their life and mental or emotional problems may arise out of an injury.
Each contractor is ultimately responsible for determining standards of safety for each project. If you require specific PPE (personal protective equipment), you are responsible for providing such items. Take time to ensure everyone goes home safe at the end of each day.
