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First Aid Response Times: May’s Safety & Hygiene Corner

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Question: What is OSHA’s current interpretation of the response times for first aid in response to life-threatening bleeding, including active shooter incidents?

Answer: OSHA’s current interpretations of the response times for first aid in response to life-threatening bleeding are addressed in letters of interpretation. These letters state in part:

In workplaces where serious accidents such as those involving falls, suffocation, electrocution, or amputation are possible, emergency medical services must be available within 3-4 minutes, if there is no employee on the site who is trained to render first aid…While the standards do not prescribe a number of minutes, OSHA has long interpreted the term “near proximity” to mean that emergency care must be available within no more than 3-4 minutes from the workplace, an interpretation that has been upheld by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and by federal courts…The basic purpose of these [first aid] standards is to assure that adequate first aid is available in the critical minutes between the occurrence of an injury and the availability of physician or hospital care for the injured employee… Medical literature establishes that, for serious injuries such as those involving stopped breathing, cardiac arrest, or uncontrolled bleeding, first aid treatment must be provided within the first few minutes to avoid permanent medical impairment or death…

These time limits are maximums. OSHA does not prohibit but encourages shorter response times when feasible. In order for OSHA standards to more comprehensively address response times to uncontrolled bleeding, it would entail a notice of proposed rulemaking and comment effort.

These recommendations are consistent with the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) Standard 1710, Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments. This standard requires that emergency medical services ideally respond within one minute of turnout, that first responders take 4 minutes to get to the scene, and that other units should arrive within 8 minutes.

*Provided by the Ohio BWC safety consultants.

FY20 Official Statement from Ohio BWC

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Latest update from the Ohio BWC on 4/20/20:

Dear Safety Council Rebate Program Participants,

We thank you for your patience as we’ve determined how to proceed with the FY20 Safety Council Rebate Program in the midst of COVID-19.

As you know, we directed safety council sponsors to cancel March, April, and May safety council meetings in light of public health concerns. And today’s announcement will eliminate the need for sponsors to host a June meeting. As a result of these cancellations, we realize it is impossible for many of you to complete the program’s FY20 rebate eligibility requirements.

Therefore, we will provide the FY20 rebate to safety council members who, as of Feb. 29, 2020, had attended at least FOUR safety council meetings. This determination was based on crediting each member with one meeting credit for each cancelled meeting, the maximum of two external training credits and waiving the CEO attendance and calendar year 2019 semi-annual report requirements.

Although we realize a small number of safety councils host more than one meeting a month late in the program year, we are granting relief for only one safety council meeting credit per month in March, April, May, and June. This resolution reinforces the program’s goal of active participation for the purpose of education, networking and resource sharing and, unfortunately, members who condense participation to the latter part of the program year will not appreciate relief from this solution.

Ultimately, employers we determine have earned the rebate under the revised guidelines will receive the maximum percentage rebate allowed per their BWC group-rating status:

  • 2% for employers enrolled in BWC’s Group-Retrospective-Rating Program and eligible for the participation rebate.
  • 2% for employers enrolled in BWC’s Group-Experience-Rating Program and eligible for the performance bonus – there will be no claims data measurement calculation.
  • 4% for employers not enrolled in a BWC Group-Rating Program.

Your safety council sponsor will submit July 1, 2019 through February 29, 2020 attendance records to us when normal business operations resume. The timeline for the processing of these rebates is yet to be determined but we will continue to update safety council sponsors when you should expect FY20 safety council program rebate checks.

Our most sincere interest is the health, wellness and safety of Ohio’s workforce. Be safe and take care.

Michelle Francisco

BWC Safety Council Program Manager

Free BWC Classes at the North Canton Office this Spring

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The following classroom classes are not PCSC events but do qualify for up to 1 safety council eternal training credit.*

Free BWC Classes at the North Canton office:

  • Hazard Communication Half-day Workshop – March 5
  • Controlling Workers’ Compensation Costs – March 18
  • Powered Industrial Trucks: Developing a Training Program Half-day Workshop – March 19 AM
  • Violence in the Workplace – March 19 PM
  • Restaurant and Food Service Safety Workshop – March 23 AM
  • Ergonomics:  Developing an Effective Process – April 1
  • Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Refresher – April 14

Click here for more info.

Trenching Hazards: March’s Safety & Hygiene Corner

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Question: I am hearing a lot about trench & excavation hazards recently.  Besides cave-ins, is there any other hazards I should be aware of?

Answer: Many construction workers are injured and killed in trench and excavation collapses each year.  Although collapsing is the major hazard with trenches and excavations, there are others that you should be aware of, as well.

  1. Trenches and excavations can be deficient of oxygen or could contain hazardous concentrations of gases like carbon monoxide. Stay out of the trench or excavation and report to your supervisor if either hazard is a possibility.
  2. Watch out for buried electrical cables that could cause injuries or electrocutions. Excavators are supposed to call local utilities before they dig, but its safest to assume that they haven’t.  If you see a cable, assume it is hot.  Get out immediately without coming into contact with it and report to your supervisor.
  3. Watch for water lines and avoid breaking them. Broken lines will cause trenches and excavations to cave in quickly.  If you see water inside a trench or excavation, get out immediately and contact your supervisor.
  4. Watch for buried gas lines and other buried hazards. They could cause injuries.  For example, a broken natural gas line could be ignited by a welding spark, torch, cigarette or other source.
  5. Be aware of falling and moving objects while working, especially when an equipment operator is lowering pipe, shoring materials or other objects into the trench or excavation. Keep well away from the process.
  6. Remember that changing weather conditions may affect the stability of the soil in a trench or excavation. When changes in weather occur, such as rain, snow, ice storms, heavy winds or extended periods of hot, dry, weather.  Stay out of the trench until it is inspected by someone with the knowledge and experience to know whether entering could be hazardous.
  7. Always maintain an accessible means of exiting the trench or excavation such as a ladder or ramp. There should be an accessible exit within 25 feet of every worker inside the trench or excavation.

Provided by the Ohio BWC safety consultants.