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ASSE-AIHA Alliance Presentation
Annual OSHA Update:
Technical Support and Emergency
Management
Thomas Galassi, MPH, CIH
Director
Directorate of Technical Support and
Emergency Management
Directorate of Technical Support and
Emergency Management (DTSEM)
Mission
– To provide safety and health expertise to OSHA’s
National Office and field organizations
– To fulfill OSHA’s role as designated under the
National Response Framework
Salt Lake
Technical
Center
Cincinnati
Technical
Center
National Office
Wash, D.C.
DTSEM Offices and Centers
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Occupational Health Nursing
Occupational Medicine
Science and Technology Assessment
Technical Programs and Coordination Activities
Emergency Management
• Technical Data Center
• Salt Lake Technical Center
• Cincinnati Technical Center
Directorate of Technical Support and
Emergency Management services
• Integrated Solutions
• Complex and Emerging Technical Issues
• Resource Capabilities Including:
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Safety / Industrial Hygiene professionals
Engineers
Librarians
Health Scientist
Occupational Nurses
Occupational Physicians
Analytical Chemists
Health Response Team
OSHA's Health Response Team (HRT) can help assess
the source and extent of exposure.
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Chemical hazards
Biological hazards
Physical energy
Ergonomics
Health Response Team
Select Activities
• Silver reclamation from photo and x-ray film
• Mold contamination in a document storage
unit
• Boiler explosion at a refinery
• Nanotechnology
• Ionizing Radiation in a biotechnology facility
• Ergonomics/Vibration evaluation
Health Response Team
Select Activities
• Hydrogen Sulfide fatality investigation
– Environmental and forensic testing
• Referred to OSHA occupational physicians for
association of exposure and outcome
Hydrogen Sulfide Exposure:
What Happened?
• A rendering plant employee was tightening a
gasket close to a machine that was known to
produce hydrogen sulfide
– Worker collapsed in cardiac arrest
– Supervisor attempted assistance – collapsed and
recovered
– 5 responding EMTs also affected
• Paramedics noted a “strong rotten egg odor”
Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)
Poisoning
• No post-mortem
information was
available
• Causality based on
history of event &
multiple medical
records
• Testing for thiosulfate in
blood and urine would
have been helpful
Arsine Exposure:
What Happened?
• Water treatment facility reengineering electro-coagulation
(ECU) process to improve arsenic
extraction
• Four employees standing over vat
were admitted to local hospitals for
bloody urine (hematuria)
• Two required dialysis treatments
• Safety & health effects were not
considered in re-engineering process
• Causal relationship confirmed
between arsine exposure and health
effects
Arsine Poisoning
• Most cases occur when arsine is produced
unintentionally
• Active metal + strong acid = fresh hydrogen
• Newly formed hydrogen reacts with arsenic
compounds to form Arsine gas
IH Chemistry
Our AIHA (ISO17025) accredited laboratory analyzes over 400 chemicals.
Over 16,000 laboratory samples analyzed per year.
Analytical Investigative Services
Combustible Dust
testing
Blood Carboxyhemoglobin to
Environmental Carbon
Monoxide Concentration Back
Calculations
Sampling and Analytical
Methods Development
Material Failure Testing
and Investigations
Mass Spec Analysis - unknowns
Soil Testing
Engineering and Program Support
Nationally Recognized Testing
Laboratories (NRTL) Program
• NRTLs test and approve products to assure they are
safe to use in U.S. workplaces and are recognized by
OSHA’s NRTL Program.
• 2008 American Council of Independent Laboratories
(ACIL) Alliance increased awareness of OSHA's NRTLapproval requirements.
• Three alliance products of interest.
– Registered Certification Marks of NRTLs – pocket
card
– "Identifying Counterfeit Items – Quick Tips"
– "The Threat of Counterfeit Product Approval Marks
Warrants Aggressive Detection and Enforcement
Action"
Emergency Management
OSHA’s role is to ensure that worker safety and health
issues are not overlooked or inadequately addressed
• Coordination with Emergency Management
Community
• Defined roles for FEMA and OSHA in
emergency response situations
• National Exercises
Emergency Preparedness
and Response
National Response Framework:
Worker Safety and Health Support Annex
(WSHSA)
• OSHA is the Coordinating Federal Agency for
Worker Safety and Health
• Theatre-wide mechanism for Federal, State, and
local entities to request worker safety and health
technical assistance
Significant Outreach Issues
• American Recovery and
Reinvention Act (ARRA)
• 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic
ARRA website directs users to
OSHA resources
Pan Flu Quick Cards and Fact Sheets
“In Focus” section:
• Pandemic Influenza page
• Resources (e.g., Quick
Cards, Fact Sheets) are
available in HTML or
PDF formats as well as
English or Spanish
versions
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Worker and Employer guidance for 2009
H1N1 published in November
Safety and Health Information
Bulletins, Best Practices and
other products on:
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Skid Steer Loaders
Cable Trays
Stand-up Forklifts
Special Purpose Particle Accelerators
Mechanical Power Presses
Nationally Recognized Testing Labs
EMS Responders
Nail Guns
OSHA E-Products
WEB-based Resources
• Safety and Health
Information on over 170
selected topics
– New Electric Power eTool
• Hazard Assessment and Job Briefing,
• Energized vs. De-energized work,
• Grounding,
• Overhead Line work, and more….
• Exploring new technologies – forums, blogs, wikipages
“…agencies should harness new
technologies
to put information about
their operations and decisions online
and readily available to the public.”
President Obama January 21, 2009
Open Government Directive
December 8, 2009
• Open Government Directive (OGD)
• Directs Agencies to be more:
• Transparent in our work
• Participatory in seeking the ideas and
expertise of citizens
• Collaborative in how we use new technology
and processes for developing government
policies
Change How Government Works
Command & Control
Organization
No expectation of response
Formal, information based
information
Limited communications
channels
Distributed
Organization
Real time or near
real time response
Casual, multimediabased information
Multiple
communications
channels
Open Government:
Social Media as a Tool
Status:
• Identifying which tools support our needs
(and work) and which tools do not
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Learning how to use the tools
• Exploring how we balance resource
demands associated with these tools against the
benefit of interacting with the public
OSHA Datasets on Data.gov
• OSHA Data Initiative - Establishment Specific
Injury and Illness Rates (Raw Data)
• Weekly Fatality Reports (Tool)
• OSHA Exposure Sampling Results – Under
development (Tool and Raw Data)
Public Engagement
• OSHA Listens – March 4
• National Action Summit for Latino Worker
Safety and Health – April 14 – 15 in Houston
• Open Government Planning
– Idea Scale
Questions??
Thomas Galassi, Director
Directorate of Technical Support and
Emergency Management (DTSEM)
(202)693.2300