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Occupational Safety and Health Data Collection and Injury Prevention Work Group
- September 18, 2009: 10:00 AM
Minutes:
Occupational Safety and Health Data Collection and Injury Prevention Work Group
Minutes
Bureau of Labor Standards Central Maine Commerce Center Frances Perkins Conference Room A September 16, 2009
Present: William Peabody, Chair (Maine Department of Labor); Kim Lim (Maine Department of Labor); Peter Doran, Brad Brown (Bureau of Insurance), Brad Howard (Workers? Compensation Board), Leslie Walleigh (Maine Center for Disease Control).
Staff Present: Linda Huff and Terry Hathaway.
Call to Order: Bill Peabody called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m.
May 20, 2009 Minutes. Minutes were approved, as amended, to post to the web.
2009 Topic Updates. Report on Follow-up Web Survey ? John. John will re-circulate a copy of the report for members to review for any ?sensitive? information. The report will then be posted on the web under the web site for the Prevention Data Advisory Group. Self-Insured Study/MO?s ? Bill. This project is ?on hold?. As there are new members of the Workers? Compensation Board, John suggested that Steve Minkowsky be invited to an upcoming meeting. Bill will invite Steve to do a presentation. Prevention Activities ?Bill. The Bureau of Labor Standards has hired a new person, Judy Gopaul, in the Outreach and Education Unit to do trade shows, such as the Maine Safety Conference.
Other. Bill said that the Bureau of Labor Standards had three interns for the summer. One of them, Corey Colwill was shared with the Maine Center for Disease Control and worked on the poison control prevention project. Another intern, Ben Ogden, worked on the EISA (Expedited Informal Settlement Agreement) pilot project. The Research & Statistics Unit had started an evaluation and Ben continued that work. The third intern did field work with the Migrant and Immigrant Services Division.
EISA (Expedited Informal Settlement) Presentation - Linda Huff. Linda did a power-point presentation on Ben?s findings. The data is based on information from 2005 through 2008. When federal OSHA goes into a business and cites them for violations of OSHA standards, they present the EISA, which turns federal OSHA citations into opportunities for Maine?s small business (under OSHA standards, an employer with less than 250 employees) by giving the employer three options:
1. Contest citation;
2. Abate and get a 25 percent penalty reduction;
3. Abate and request a consultation and/or training from
Maine?s 21(d) program and get a 50 percent penalty
reduction.
During the four years reviewed, 420 employers in Maine took the third option. 308 employers (73 percent) established contact with our SafetyWorks! program.
Each citation shows the number of people exposed by those violations. When SafetyWorks! does a 21d consultation, it includes an inspection that is duplicative of the OSHA inspection, but additional hazards are often identified.. The most common types of additional hazards found by SafetyWorks! are electrical and machine guarding, which made up over half of the additional hazards found.
Bill added that the EISA program was a pilot program in 2005 within Region I and not every state has adopted it. The EISA data system in Maine is being improved to make it easier to track without missing data.
Next Meeting. The next meeting of the Occupational Safety and Health Data Collection and Injury Prevention Work Group is scheduled for Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 10:00 ? 11:30 a.m., Maine Department of Labor, Frances Perkins Conference Room A, Central Maine Commerce Center, 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta.
At the next meeting, we will have a discussion of poison prevention project (Al May). Steve Minkowsky, Maine Workers? Compensation Board, will do a presentation at a future meeting.
Linda asked what the purpose of the PDAG group is and if the group is continued, what are we focusing on. Bill stated that the membership has changed and he has been thinking about where PDAG goes from here. PDAG was basically established to promote the filing of M.O.?s (medical only?s) and that issue is still ?out there?.
Beyond that, Linda added, why should we continue as a group? Bill added that PDAG could do the work or use MORA if PDAG is not continued. Linda suggested that the group needs more structure, such as goals and objectives.
Adjournment. Bill adjourned the meeting at 11:29 a.m.
Respectfully submitted Terry M. Hathaway, Recording Secretary
