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MACOSH EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
Kings Point, NY
July 19 - 20, 2000
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The fifteenth meeting of the OSHA Maritime Advisory
Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (MACOSH) was
called to order at 9:00 a.m. on July 19, 2000 at the U.S.
Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY. An electronic
transcript of the full meeting (July 19 & 20, 2000)
was sent separately to members of the committee for their
review and record. The Executive Summary and the
transcript on the February 29 and March 1 meeting were
approved unanimously. This was the first meeting of the
new chartered MACOSH committee. Larry Reed welcomed the
three new members of the committee; Captain Teresa
Preston, Charles Thompson and Edwin Lant; and thanked the
previous committee members for their participation. Larry
Reed and Larry Liberatore began the meeting and reviewed
the agenda for the current meeting.
Captain Chris McMahon, the director of the Global
Maritime and Transportation School (GMATS) at Kings Point
welcomed the committee to the Merchant Marine Academy and
gave a brief overview of the Academy.
Next, Larry Liberatore gave a summary on a recent
meeting with Charles Jeffress, Assistant Secretary of
Labor. Mr. Jeffress stated that he is enthusiastic about
the ergonomics study that MACOSH has been involved with
and hopes that the study continues on schedule. He pledges
his support to MACOSH’s continued work in the area of
training and outreach, both in partnership efforts with
the training institute and the focused training that has
been developed. Mr. Jeffress stated his intentions to
elevate maritime compliance to a division and bring in an
Office Director. In addition, Newport News Shipyard was
recognized for continuing as a VPP site.
Chap Pierce, Directorate of Safety Standards, gave an
overview of the OSHA standards that are currently being
worked on.
Ergonomics- OSHA is currently working towards a final
rule. The scope is limited to general industry.
Safety and Health Program Standard - this proposal
has been put on hold, pending the completion of the
ergonomics standard.
Record Keeping - this regulation is currently under
internal review.
PPE Payment - a proposal was published, the final
rule it expected to go to OMB (Office of Management and
Budget) in August, and possibly into the Federal
Register as a final rule in October or November.
Shipyard Fire Protection - due to a lack of resources
from the ergonomics rule, the office of Maritime
Standards is still working on the latest draft and
aiming to meet in September with the Neg-Reg committee
to review the latest document.
Longshoring Corrections Document - this was completed
and published in the Federal Register on June 30. We
will move forward with the guidebook.
1915 Corrections Notice - making the same type of
corrections that were completed in the longshore
corrections document. Should be able to move this
relatively quickly.
A meeting was held with OMB on paperwork burden.
Paperwork burdens are reviewed every three years to see
whether they’re still needed or current. At this
meeting, it was suggested that OMB involve the advisory
committees as a resource during this process. If the
committee is willing, when some of the paperwork
approvals expire for shipyards and longshoring, OSHA
would like to come to MACOSH, show the paperwork package
and the estimates to the committee, or a workgroup, and
get some comment.
Maritime Web Page - to access the Maritime Web Page
from the OSHA public page: go through Outreach, and then
Maritime. You’ll be able to access the Office of
Maritime Standard, the Office of Maritime Compliance,
the pages for MACOSH and other maritime related issues.
Silica and Respiratory protection factors - Proposals
are scheduled for 2001.
PEL - this is due to go to OMB soon, and scheduled to
go into the Federal Register in late 2000 as a proposal.
Diesel Emissions - NIOSH is conducting an
epidemiologic study looking at lung cancer and other
health points as a function of diesel particulate
exposure. A representative from this study will be
invited to the next MACOSH meeting. MSHA has an
interest, but this is not on the OSHA radar screen at
this point.
There was a concern raised by some members of the
committee that the Offices of Maritime Standards and
Maritime Compliance wouldn’t be able to continue their
role in supporting the MACOSH committee due to an agency
reorganization. Mr. Pierce, Mr. Liberatore and Mr. Frank
Stasheim explained the plans of the agency in this area.
This is a way of dealing with the standards process and
trying to make it more efficient, more responsive and
quicker. The same staff will be in their same roles,
continuing their efforts.
Tom Galassi, Office of Compliance, gave an update on
compliance activities. Mr. Barry Knoll has joined the
office of Maritime Compliance, former area director from
Anchorage, Alaska, to serve as a senior technical staff
person.
OSHA conducted 382 inspections, 82% were programmed
inspections and 18% were unprogrammed.
A settlement was reached on the PITTS lawsuit, and
was signed on July 14. This will stagger the compliance
states for operators into June 30, 2001, or October 1,
2001. Until then, they are to comply with 1917.27 and
1918.98.
Lock out/ Tag out - OSHA went to shipyards in
Norfolk, San Diego, and Seattle in order to understand
the Navy’s tag out program. OSHA has concerns with
employee involvement in this program. More work will be
done to work out these issues.
Ship breaking - there is a memorandum of agreement
between OSHA, EPA, NMSA, and Defense Logistics Agency
that lays out procedures for shipbreaking at
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Brownsville, and San Francisco.
This agreement requires that there is pre-bidding
screening and post award
meetings.
Maritime Web Page - this page addresses compliance
assistance, standards, technical links and a MACOSH
link.
STD.2 - Application of General Industry Standards to
Shipyards. - A field task force was put together to
review this document. Currently taking a second look at
it, and OSHA is ready to make this a priority. At the
previous meeting, MACOSH was asked for their input.
Longshoring Marine Terminal Operations Directive -
with the completion of the Longshoring Corrections
Document, this will be revised accordingly.
Mr. Brant Wagner from ILO (International Labor
Organization) in Geneva, Switzerland, gave a presentation
on what the ILO is; what are ILO conventions and
recommendations; the main contents of the Occupational
Safety and Health Dock Work Convention, No. 152; what are
the codes of practice on safety and health in dock work; a
guide to safety and health in dock work and why these are
important; why they should be revised; and how MACOSH
could help ILO. ILO would like to update the current
guidebook on Convention 152, which helps countries to
develop the regulations and practices on safety and health
in dock work. Mr. Wagner asked MACOSH to give a
recommendation to the Department of Labor stating that
this was a good thing to do.
The afternoon breakout session was devoted to setting
priorities and goals for the upcoming two years. Mr. Steve
Brightwell, a facilitator from NIOSH, explained that each
group should come up with three levels of prioritization.
Category A would be necessary issues that are broken down
in small enough to be handled or accomplished in two
years. The B category would include very important issues
that need to be recorded, but won’t necessarily be
accomplished in two years. Category C are the remaining
issues that need to be recorded. John McNeil reported on
the lists that the Longshoring group developed and Jim
Thornton and Chico McGill presented the Shipyard breakout
group’s priorities.
On July 20, the committee agreed to endorse the
priority lists and to charge workgroups from Longshoring
and from Shipyards to refine these lists and to develop,
for the next MACOSH meeting, a goal statement for each
priority. [A workgroup meeting was held in Washington, DC
on October 4, 2000 to complete this task.] This statement
would include the expected end product/products, an
expected end date, and a list of those goals that should
be addressed by MACOSH as a whole committee. It was also
agreed that at the next conference call, each working
group would provide their input on the goals, and these
would be incorporated into the agenda for the upcoming
MACOSH meeting.
The remainder of the morning was spent in the breakout
sessions. John McNeil provided a summary of the
longshoring session. There was a presentation on the
VTL’s (vertical tandem lifting) that included a question
and answer period. The group then went through their
prioritized list and decided on the items that they were
going to give immediate attention to: MACOSH consultation
and recommendations on maritime and relevant general
industry standards; MACOSH be more involved in OSHA
outreach programs; bringing closure to the VTL issues;
accident review or root causes; multi-employer workplace;
fall arrests from pedestals; diesel exhaust; begin a study
on traffic and speeds on terminals; and OSHA training for
the longshore industry. The work group will consist of
John McNeil, Jeff Vigna and Charles Thompson.
Jim Thornton began the summary of the shipyard breakout
session. This group decided they wanted to stay involved
in the NIOSH epidemiology study on diesel exhaust by
taking necessary action as the data becomes available.
This group also worked on their list of priorities, and
developed a work group of Chico McGill, Jim Thornton, Iona
Evans, Edwin Lant, Emile Benard, and Mike Flynn. In
addition, this group would work with the longshoring group
to identify any commonalities in the two priority lists.
Chuck Rupy from Maritech gave a presentation on the OSHA
and Maritech partnerships. Chico McGill, Teresa Preston
and Larry Reed will act as liaisons with the committee and
the Maritech effort. Earl Cook then gave a presentation on
the ECAT (Electronic Compliance Assistance Tool). Debra
Gabry will be looking for MACOSH to provide her with input
on the top hazards in the industry. Lt. Laura Weems then
gave a presentation on the status of competent persons,
including opportunities for improvement, the equality of
the competent persons and how they’re practicing. A
small workgroup consisting of Bob Scott, Steve Morris,
Emile Benard and Lt. Weems will follow up on this topic.
Brant Wagner talked with both breakout groups about the
ILO discussion for possible support from MACOSH on the
Dockworker Safety Guide. The committee agreed to support
the project, but to reserve judgement on the end product.
Jenny Miller and Tom Pope gave an update on the status of
OSHA shipyard course being held at Kings Point. The first
course was held from May 16 - 26, 2000 and was successful.
This course is not on safety and health, but covers
terminology, structural variations, process being used in
shipyards and the workflow that occurs in shipyards. OSHA
and Kings Point are currently working on an outline for a
longshoring course.
Steve Hudock and Steve Wurzelbacher then gave a
presentation on the NIOSH/NSRP ergonomics study. The group
has gone through numerous facilities, identified the
candidates, studied their injury and illness logs,
conducted the quantitative risk factor assessments and
have provided the preliminary survey reports to these
facilities. Currently, the interim surveys are being
conducted which implement the interventions at each
facility. After a period of about three to six months, the
post-intervention evaluations will be performed to
determine if the intervention was successful. The goal of
this project is to develop a best practices guideline for
the shipyard and longshoring industries.
Dr. Lew from NIST then gave a presentation on his
findings on the performance of interbox connectors, twist
locks or latch locks, and how they are used in conjunction
with VTL’s. This study consisted of studying the twist
locks to determine how strong they are, the assembly
capacity, the material characteristics of the connectors
and the bearing of the connectors on the corner fittings.
The committee agreed that future MACOSH meetings will
consist of two full working days, from 8:00 a.m. until
5:00 p.m. The date for the conference call was scheduled
for October 12th (subsequently changed to October 25th)
from 11:00 am until 12:30 p.m. EST. The committee decided
to hold their next meeting in Baltimore, MD on December
6-7, 2000. A subsequent meeting date of March 14-15, 2001
was set for a site to be determined. The meeting was
adjourned at 3:00 p.m.[Subsequent to this meeting,
conference calls were held on October 25, November 8, and
November 22 to establish the agenda for the December
MACOSH meeting.]
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Goals and Priorities as identified on
July 17, 2000
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Longshoring
Category A:
MACOSH consultation and recommendations prior to
including maritime industry in general industry standards;
MACOSH to be more involved in OSHA outreach program;
incorporate MACOSH issues into the OSHA strategic plan;
MACOSH be more involved in regulatory matters; resolution
of the VTL issue; Develop proposed training program for
OSHA Compliance Officers in the Longshoring and Marine
Terminal industries.
Category B:
Accident review to identify root causes and develop
uniform cures for accidents; Terminal traffic and speed
controls; MACOSH area meetings to solve regional problems;
Share information on near misses and near fatal accidents
by better publication and dissemination of information;
Enforcement of multi-employer workplace rules clarified
for longshoring; Fall protection issues in lashing
catwalks, pedestal issues, et cetera; Actively try to
eliminate in current jurisdiction, that's to say go with
federal jurisdiction only and excludes states from our
industry as far as controls are concerned; and the
elimination of Lasher accidents
Category C:
To identify the number and types of OSHA violations and
recommendations on prevention of those type accident in a
timely manner; To identify possible health hazards caused
by diesel emissions on maritime terminals; To develop a
list of ideas in accident prevention that have worked;
Develop ways to standardize federal OSHA enforcement
policies with regards to the maritime industry; Slowdowns
and emergency stops for longshoring on container beams for
the transport of personnel; Wind warning devices on cranes
and container terminals; Identify the list of container
top fall arrest systems to be given to OSHA to put onto
their web site; The fitness of injured employees who are
rehired on the job; Annotated media bank of hazards and
their abatements; The clarification of the meaning of a
lost workday injury and come up with a better definition
of that; A concise list of all training requirements under
1917, 1918, and 1910, as applicable; A proactive role in
international standards and guidelines; A method to
communicate with nonunion labor employers and employees;
Accident frequency by cargo type; Re-institute the fatal
facts sheet; Update 1919; More funding for training.
Shipyards
Category A:
Subpart F lock out/tag out, control of hazardous energy
sources; Ergonomics; Focused training and competent
person, 306, according to 1915 standard: New employees;
Leased employees sharing info; Lessons learned; Internet;
and on-site vehicle maintenance, which all comes under the
focused training; Electrical hazards on vessels; Support
SHAC and OSHA to form a subcommittee dealing with ECAT;
and the top 10 hazards that are out there in the shipyard
industry
Category B:
Multi-employer worksite- contractor issues such as fall
protection, scaffolding, and communication; How to sample
blasting in confined spaces; Finish the SESAC proposal
items; Review our charter to ensure that these things are
consistent with what our charter says we should do; An
inventory of best practices including near misses; The
"Chet theory" -the proactive, do it up-front
aspects of the work organization and the prevention
aspects that would help the safety program.
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