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