Environmental, Health and Safety Brief for October 2017

Safety

OSHA: Electronic Submission of Injury and Illness Records to OSHA...Behavioral economics tells us that making injury information publicly available will "nudge" employers to focus on safety...is the basis of the rule.

The new rule, which took effect Jan. 1, 2017, requires certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness data that they are already required to record on their onsite OSHA Injury and Illness forms. This was the topic of an earlier EHS Brief but now reporting is getting closer.  Some of the data will also be posted to the OSHA website. The amount of data submitted will vary depending on the size of company and type of industry. OSHA has extended the date by which certain employers are required to submit the information from their completed 2016 Form 300A electronically from July 1, 2017 to December 1, 2017.

Establishments with 250 or more employees in industries covered by the record keeping regulation will be required to submit information from all 2017 forms (300A, 300, and 301) by July 1, 2018. Beginning in 2019 and every year thereafter, the information must be submitted by March 2.

Establishments with 20-249 employees in certain high-risk industries must submit information from their 2017 Form 300A by July 1, 2018. Beginning in 2019 and every year thereafter, the information must be submitted by March 2.

Environmental

EPA: Here is a case where not paying attention storage tanks, containments and other aspects of a SPCC plan can result in penalties.

Company: Asphalt Cutbacks

Business: Paving and asphalt products manufacturing.

Penalty: $12,490.

Reasons for penalty: The Company failed to:

• prepare an oil spill prevention, control and countermeasures (SPCC) plan

• install secondary containment around above ground bulk storage tanks, mobile containers and loading racks

• conduct integrity testing on all above ground storage tanks, and maintain records.

The facility will do a supplemental environmental project that entails installing tank gauge systems, an electronic inventory management system and a touch panel monitor for the truck loading rack area. Facilities that store 1,320 or more gallons of oil above ground must have spill controls and a formal SPCC plan. 

The point here is to: know your SPCC and other plans and permit requirements.

Health

Drugs: Experts say the United States is in the throes of an opioid epidemic, as more than two million of Americans have become dependent on or abused prescription pain pills and street drugs.

Opioids are drugs formulated to replicate the pain reducing properties of opium. They include both legal painkillers like morphine, oxycodone, or hydrocodone prescribed by doctors for acute or chronic pain, as well as illegal drugs like heroin or illicitly made fentanyl. The word "opioid" is derived from the word "opium."

During 2015, there were 52,404 overdose deaths in the United States, including 33,091 (63.1%) that involved an opioid. That's an average of 91 opioid overdose deaths each day.

The number of opioid prescriptions dispensed by doctors steadily increased from 112 million prescriptions in 1992 to a peak of 282 million in 2012, according to the market research firm IMS Health. The number of prescriptions dispensed has since declined, falling to 236 million in 2016.

Common opioids

Opioids bind to receptors in the brain and spinal cord, disrupting pain signals resulting in the sought after "high".

Opioids such as morphine and codeine are naturally derived from opium poppy plants more commonly grown in Asia, Central America and South America. Heroin is an illegal drug synthesized from morphine.

Hydrocodone and oxycodone are semi-synthetic opioids, manufactured in labs with natural and synthetic ingredients. Between 2006 and 2014, the most widely prescribed opioid was hydrocodone (Vicodin). In 2014, 7.8 billion hydrocodone pills were distributed nationwide. The second most prevalent opioid was oxycodone (Percocet). In 2014, 4.9 billion oxycodone tablets were distributed in the United States.

The International Narcotics Control Board reported that in 2015, Americans represented about 99.7% of the world's hydrocodone consumption.

Fentanyl is a fully synthetic opioid, originally developed as a powerful anesthetic for surgery. It is also administered to alleviate severe pain associated with terminal illnesses like cancer. The drug is up to 100 times more powerful than morphine. Just a small dose can be deadly. Illicitly produced fentanyl has been a driving factor in the number of overdose deaths in recent years.

Methadone is another fully synthetic opioid. It is commonly dispensed to recovering heroin addicts to relieve the symptoms of withdrawal.

Addiction

Opioid use disorder is the clinical term for opioid addiction or abuse.

People who become dependent on opioids may experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking the pills. Dependence is often coupled with tolerance, meaning that opioid users need to take increasingly larger doses of the medication for the same effect.

About 11.5 million Americans age 12 and older misused prescription pain medicine in 2016, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. People who become dependent on pain pills may switch to heroin because it is less expensive than prescription drugs. 

A drug called naloxone, available as an injection or a nasal spray, is used as a treatment for overdoses. It blocks or reverses the effects of opioids and is often carried by first responders.

Regulation and funding

In 2013, the cost of medical care and substance abuse treatment for opioid addiction and overdose was an estimated $78.5 billion, according to a report in the journal Medical Care.

The purpose of this information is to help educate our members as to the drug crisis and the fact, whether we admit it or not, the truth is... many of our employees are taking one or more of these drugs. They are reporting to work and this presents a significant problem, as in our everyday work most of the activities are safety sensitive in one aspect or another. We work around traffic, around heavy equipment and in other potentially dangerous situations. We have to be mentally sharp and focused. To do that we need to educate our work force and have frank discussions on drug use. If you don’t have an updated drug (and alcohol) policy it would be a good idea to revisit and update your policy, or rewrite it entirely, and then stick to it. Unfortunately, drug use won’t totally go away but it is our responsibility to address it in our businesses.