Month: August 2017

Call ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division if you observe suspicious behavior PHOENIX – Trucking companies should be on alert for an individual impersonating an Arizona Department of Transportation Enforcement and Compliance Division officer. Earlier this month, a man identifying himself as an officer with ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division contacted a Mesa-based trucking company saying one of its trucks was damaged in a crash and that the company needed to send payment for a mechanic called out to make repairs. Inconsistencies in the suspect’s story led the company’s operations manager to suspect a scam. Trucking companies should be aware of the following if contacted by someone identifying himself or herself as an ADOT Enforcement and Compliance Division officer:

• While ADOT officers assist state troopers and local police agencies with commercial vehicle safety inspections, they don’t investigate crashes or typical traffic incidents.
• ADOT officers will assist drivers who have been involved in crashes or have mechanical problems but will never unilaterally call mechanics and hold trucks until payment is made.
• ADOT officers may call for heavy-duty tow trucks, but this would be discussed beforehand with the trucking company.
• An ADOT officer will give a trucking company his or her name, badge number, location and contact information. The officer will also provide the truck number and driver’s name. Typically, the officer will have the driver speak with his or her company.

If a trucking company has suspicions, the owner or manager can call the ADOT Enforcement and Compliance Division dispatch center at 602.712.8396.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) will begin enforcing the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate requirements on Dec. 18, 2017. The out-of-service criteria (OOSC) associated with the ELD mandate will go into effect on April 1, 2018.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) congressionally mandated ELD compliance deadline is still set for Dec. 18, 2017. On that date, inspectors and roadside enforcement personnel will begin documenting violations on roadside inspection reports and, at the jurisdiction’s discretion, will issue citations to commercial motor vehicle drivers operating vehicles without a compliant ELD. Beginning April 1, 2018, inspectors will start placing commercial motor vehicle drivers out of service if their vehicle is not equipped with the required device. Please note, a motor carrier may continue to use a grandfathered automatic onboard recording device (AOBRD) no later than Dec. 16, 2019. The AOBRD must meet the requirements of 49 C.F.R. 395.15.

This announcement does not impact enforcement of the OOSC for other hours-of-service violations.

CVSA supports moving forward with the compliance date as specified in the rule. However, setting an April 1, 2018, effective date for applying the ELD OOSC will provide the motor carrier industry, shippers and the roadside enforcement community with time to adjust to the new requirement before vehicles are placed out of service for ELD violations.

CVSA member jurisdictions have used this phased-in approach in the past when implementing a significant change in regulatory requirements. The CVSA Board of Directors, in consultation with FMCSA and the motor carrier industry, agreed that the phased-in approach to implementation of the ELD requirements outlined in the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria will help promote a smoother transition to the new ELD requirement.

A letter was sent to FMCSA notifying the agency of CVSA’s commitment to implementing the new requirement, as scheduled, on Dec. 18, 2017, and noting the April 1, 2018, effective date for applying the ELD OOSC.

For more information about the ELD rule, visit FMCSA’s ELD implementation website.

Following the outcome of a historic membership vote, ASSE will become the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) next year when it launches a redesigned website in conjunction with Safety 2018. ASSE’s logo will undergo small adjustments to reflect the new ASSP acronym as well.

Over a 45-day period that ended Aug. 13, ASSE members cast votes on the proposed name, which was approved by the House of Delegates during its annual meeting in June. The final tally found 74% of members (3,651) in favor of the change. Fourteen percent of eligible members cast ballots, surpassing the minimum voting requirement of 1%.

“Our members have clearly voiced that the American Society of Safety Professionals better reflects our diverse membership,” says ASSE President Jim Smith, M.S., CSP. “Engineers made up our entire membership when we were formed, but today the occupational safety and health profession encompasses many disciplines.”

Research conducted in 2016 with ASSE members, customers and stakeholders across the globe indicated that an updated brand with a clearer vision would better reflect the organization’s current membership and position it for growth. The study also found that a new name would help eliminate confusion about who could join the Society.

“Our members have always decided who we are and what we’re all about,” Smith said. “This latest vote was part of an objective process that has made us a strong organization for more than 100 years.”

ASSE’s logo will undergo small adjustments that correspond with its name change. The green shield will continue to display the organization’s acronym in gold letters within the four angles of a gold cross, but the “E” will be changed to “P.”

The organization will continue to be called ASSE until early June 2018 when it debuts a new website and makes the conversion to its new name in alignment with Safety 2018, slated for June 3-6 in San Antonio, TX.

“Workplace safety is constantly evolving, so our society must adjust as well to remain strong and relevant while growing our profession,” Smith says. “Our profession includes more occupations and industries than ever before. Our members are knowledgeable about everything from risk assessment and hazard control to workers’ compensation and organizational management, not to mention the more traditional aspects of safety management and engineering.”

Do your machinery start buttons meets OSHA requirements?

It’s not uncommon to hear people cheer when the lights and air conditioning automatically come back on when power gets restored after an extended power outage. But there is also a real hazard created if certain equipment, such as saws (e.g.: band saws, table saws, radial saws . . .), sanders (belt and disc), drill presses, and mechanical power presses were to automatically restart after a power failure. This is because someone working or passing through the area might not be aware the equipment has restarted, creating the potential for unintended contact with a turning saw blade, drill bit, or sanding belt, or the unintentional activation of a press cycle. In addition, material that was being worked on when power went out might still be in place when it restarts, possibly causing it to be flung through the air, or jamming at the point of operation on the equipment.

While it may be thought that just the sound being generated by the running equipment would make a person nearby aware that the equipment is running again, this is not always the case; some types of equipment are relatively quiet when running under no load, plus the ambient noise created by other activities and equipment in the area could easily drown out the noise produced by the restarted equipment. So Federal OSHA has a couple of regulations that address this particular hazard, most specifically in their standards for woodworking equipment and for mechanical power presses.

Continue reading ““Anti-Restart” Switches Required on Some Machinery”

PHOENIX ‒ To help interstate commerce flow more efficiently while promoting safety, the Arizona Department of Transportation is adding a system that automatically checks the weight and registration of qualified commercial trucks without requiring them to stop as they enter the state.

“Using cutting-edge technology allows us to enforce safety requirements on trucks that enter Arizona while letting trucks that comply with our rules to continue on their way,” said Tim Lane, director of ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division, which operates commercial ports of entry. “We’re eliminating friction that can be costly for both the trucking companies and the state of Arizona.”

The Drivewyze Preclear technology, similar to a system in place since 2015 near three ADOT interstate highway rest areas, uses geofencing technology and sensors embedded in the roadway to identify and check the weight, credentials and safety status of trucks that subscribe to the service as they approach seven Arizona ports of entry from California, Utah and New Mexico.

The driver’s cellphone or an electronic logging device in the truck’s cab then receives instructions. Trucks registered with Drivewyze that pass the tests may continue on their way, though like other trucks some will be selected at random for safety checks. Registered trucks that are overweight or have paperwork issues will be instructed to stop for inspection.

“If we pull over every truck, it causes unnecessary delays for drivers and companies that have complied with Arizona’s regulations,” Lane said. “This system will allow us to increase enforcement in the cases where we need to do that.”

The system is being added at these locations over the coming month:

• Interstate 8: Yuma
• Interstate 10: Ehrenberg near the California line, and San Simon near the New Mexico line
• Interstate 15: St. George, just north of the Arizona-Utah line
• Interstate 40: Topock near the California line, and Sanders near the New Mexico line
• State Route 68 and US 93: Kingman

For the past two years, a similar system at the McGuireville Rest Area on I-17, the Canoa Ranch Rest Area on I-19 and the Sacaton Rest Area on I-10 has used sensors and cameras to determine a commercial vehicle’s approximate weight and check the status of its registration, U.S. Department of Transportation number, fuel tax assessment and carrier safety records. A sign instructs vehicles exceeding weight requirements to pull into the rest areas to be weighed and inspected.

Reducing wait times at commercial ports is among ADOT’s priorities using the Arizona Management System. Championed by Governor Doug Ducey, the system has employees continuously looking for ways to make state agencies more valuable to customers.

ADOT’s other steps in the past year to remove barriers to commercial travel include training truckers and trucking firms in Mexico on inspection requirements to reduce delays at the border without sacrificing safety.

MSHA announced today that – for the third consecutive year – none of the nation’s more than 13,000 mining operations meets the criteria for a Pattern of Violationsnotice. The screening period started on July 1, 2016, and ended on June 30, 2017.

The POV provision in the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 is one of MSHA’s toughest enforcement tools. The agency reserves the provision for mines that pose the greatest risk to the health and safety of miners, particularly those with chronic violation records.

The Mine Act authorizes MSHA to issue a POV notice to mine operators that demonstrate a disregard for the health and safety of miners through a pattern of significant and substantial violations. It requires mines that receive POV notices to be issued withdrawal orders – temporarily ceasing operations until the violation is abated – for all significant and substantial, or “S&S” violations.

“A number of mine operators have proactively implemented corrective action programs to address specific hazards at their mines to improve miner safety and health, and those efforts are paying off,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, Patricia W. Silvey. “Throughout the year, MSHA works with mine operators and miners to identify and correct recurring hazards.”

In January 2013, MSHA published its final POV rule to strengthen safety measures in the nation’s most dangerous mines. The regulation enables MSHA to consider mitigating circumstances before issuing a POV notice and encourages mine operators to implement a corrective action program if they are approaching a POV.

In recent years, MSHA developed two online tools to help mine operators monitor compliance – the POV monitoring tool, which alerts mine operators that they meet the screening criteria and should take appropriate corrective actions; and the S&S rate calculator that enables mine operators to monitor their S&S violations.