OSHA Inspection: CLARK HUNT CONSTRUCTION, INC.

Issued

Feb 16, 2006

Abate by

Apr 5, 2006

Penalty

Initial $3,500 · Current $2,625 Reduced

Hazardous substances 8320

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. of 1970:  The
employer did not
furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from
recognized hazards that
were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm in that
employees were exposed
to the hazard of falling or being thrown from a Boom-Supported Elevating
Work Platform:
Employees were exposed to excessive environmental heat while working
outdoors laying pipe
on a multi-family residential construction site. Employees were exposed to
a heat index of
approximately 100 degrees fahrenheit, as reported by the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric
Administration weather station in Ruskin Florida. Such exposures may lead
to the development
of serious heat induced illnesses such as heat exhaustion and/or heat
stroke.
a) For employees laying pipe where the heat index is in excess 100 degrees
fahrenheit,
the employer failed to assess the heat load to which they may be exposed
and
failed to
develop and implement a heat stress program designed to protect employees
from that
exposure.
The crew consisted of a foreman and three laborers. One worker was working
on top of the
excavation handing pipe to the two workers at the bottom. Approximately
two hundred feet of
pipeline is completed each day.
The estimated workload for these employees puts them in the moderate
workload category as
correlated with the guidelines established by the American Conference of
Governmental
Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) and the National Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health
(NIOSH).
Means of feasible abatement include but may not be limited to:
1. Develop and implement a written heat stress program which includes, at
a minimum,
the following items:
a) Establish provisions for a work/rest regimen to allow the work exposure
time to
excessive environmental heat be reduced.
b) A training program informing employees about the effects of heat
stress, signs and
symptoms and prevention of heat induced illness and to include specific
instructions and
warnings concerning the effects of heat stress.
c) An acclimation policy for new employees to adjust to working
conditions.
d) Develop and implement a pre-employment medical questionnaire designed to
determine employees fitness to work in hot environments..
e) Provide protective covers or personal protective clothing to protect
employees from
the heat.
f) Provision of ample supplies of cool drinking water.ng