Edmonds, WA asbestos removal company, Above & Beyond Asbestos Removal, LLC, fined more than a quarter-million dollars for exposing workers and the public to unsafe conditions

Edmonds asbestos removal company fined more than a quarter-million dollars for exposing workers and the public to unsafe conditions

July 16, 2018

Tumwater – An Edmonds-based asbestos removal contractor has been cited by the Washington Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) for multiple willful safety violations for improper handling of asbestos. Along with the citations, the company faces fines totaling $229,700.

L&I has cited Above & Beyond Asbestos Removal, LLC in connection with two separate inspections. Along with citing and fining a company, L&I may also decertify an asbestos contractor for multiple willful violations. This company is under review.

"This company has demonstrated a continuous indifference to Washington's asbestos handling rules which protect workers and the public from harm," said Anne Soiza, L&I's assistant director for the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. "This fine delivers a clear message that asbestos is a deadly hazard and we won't tolerate any company that doesn't follow the rules to keep the public and workers safe."

Asbestos is extremely hazardous and can cause potentially fatal diseases like asbestosis, mesothelioma and lung cancer. Only a certified abatement contractor that follows the specific asbestos related safety and health rules may remove and dispose of asbestos-containing building materials.

The two recent inspections of Above & Beyond each uncovered several similar violations. One worksite involved the emergency removal of boiler insulation in a Seattle apartment complex, and the other concerned the removal of asbestos popcorn ceiling material in a single-family residence.

In both cases, the workers did not use proper safety equipment, required air sampling was not performed, and asbestos-containing material was left exposed to the public and was improperly taken through public areas. Asbestos-containing dust can harm both workers and the public until it is eliminated.

The two inspections resulted in multiple willful and serious violations. A willful violation is one where L&I finds evidence of plain indifference or an intentional disregard to a hazard or rule.

Above & Beyond has been cited in the past for similar violations and has been identified by L&I as a severe violator — a designation that carries consequences, such as follow-up inspections at any of their facilities or sites that could have similar hazards.

The employer has 15 business days to appeal the citations.

Penalty money paid as a result of a citation is placed in the workers' compensation supplemental pension fund, helping injured workers and families of those who have died on the job.

For a copy of the citations, please contact Public Affairs at 360-902-5413.


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About Above & Beyond Asbestos Removal LLC

Contacting an asbestos removal contractor like Above & Beyond Asbestos Removal LLC that specializes in this removing asbestos will assure you the job is done safely and correctly.

Above & Beyond Asbestos Removal LLC, located in Edmonds, WA, offers a range of consulting, inspection, testing and analysis services to assist clients at each step of the removal process, including demolition, historic preservation, auditing and construction and implementation deployment. Collaborative communications and a highly disciplined management methodology ensure that asbestos abatement projects are completed on schedule and within budget.

Above & Beyond Asbestos Removal LLC is a licensed asbestos abatement contractor that specializes in residential removal of asbestos projects. As with all asbestos removal work, specialized cleaning equipment and confinement techniques are required. But in homes, additional precautions are necessary. For example, extra care must be taken to prevent damage to home finishes and furniture.

National Products, Inc. that manufactures electronics mounting systems and other products is facing more than $250,000 in fines for multiple serious and willful worker safety and health violations.

Serious injuries at two worksites lead to fines and citations for National Products, Inc.

August 1, 2018

Tumwater – A Seattle company that manufactures electronics mounting systems and other products is facing more than $250,000 in fines for multiple serious and willful worker safety and health violations.

The state Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) recently cited National Products, Inc. after finding numerous violations during three separate inspections this year.

L&I opened one of the inspections after a worker was burned by molten aluminum, and another inspection followed amputation injuries at another National Products worksite. The inspections identified 26 total violations including multiple serious and willful violations collectively resulting in fines totaling $253,320.

"We've cited this employer before for several of these very serious hazards, but the company continues to put its workers at risk," said Anne Soiza, L&I's assistant director for the Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

The amputations, which involved several fingers of one worker, occurred in a facility where there were five trimming presses, each of which was in some sort of disrepair. Among other problems each machine had an emergency stop button that was either blocked, missing or in disrepair. Worn out and unaligned springs that made the operator visually line up levers were a contributing factor in the injury.

The burn injury happened at another National Products facility where workers were carrying molten aluminum from one machine to another in ladles slung over their backs, and they were not wearing proper personal protection equipment.

"Workplace injuries and illnesses are preventable, and many of these hazards are easy to control," Soiza said. "L&I offers free tools and expertise to help Washington employers create safer workplaces so they can save lives and money. There's just no excuse for continually putting workers at risk."

Since National Products, Inc. has been cited in the past for similar situations, the company is now considered a severe violator — a designation that carries consequences, such as follow-up inspections at any of their facilities or sites that could have similar hazards.

The employer has 15 business days to appeal the citations.

Penalty money paid as a result of a citation is placed in the workers' compensation supplemental pension fund, helping injured workers and families of those who have died on the job.

For a copy of the citations, please contact Public Affairs at 360-902-5413.

National Products, Inc. distributes mounting system electronic equipments. The company manufactures fishing rod holders, tube holders, chartplotter and ball mounts, and propeller removal tools. The company was founded in 1994 and is based in Seattle, Washington.

Massachusetts workers died of opioid overdoses at vastly different rates depending upon their job. The highest rates were seen in construction and extraction.

Outside NIOSH:

Massachusetts Opioid-related Deaths Vary by Job, with Highest Rates in More Dangerous Jobs

Massachusetts workers died of opioid overdoses at vastly different rates depending upon their job. The highest rates were seen in construction and extraction, including quarrying, mining, and oil and gas removal, according to a CDC-funded study by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

To understand which industries and occupations have the highest rate of opioid-related deaths, investigators looked at 4,302 publicly available death certificates filed in Massachusetts from 2011 through 2015. They also used data from four national surveys to explore occupational factors that may contribute to differences in rates of opioid-related deaths among workers in different occupations and industries.

More than 24% of opioid-related deaths occurred among construction and extraction workers during the years studied, with 1,096 opioid-related deaths in this group alone. This number translates to a rate of 150.6 deaths per every 100,000 workers—6 times greater than the 25.1 average rate for all Massachusetts workers. By job type, nearly all—97%—of these opioid-related deaths were among construction workers.

After construction and extraction, the agriculture, forestry, and fishing occupations had the second highest rate of death from opioids. Although the number (61) of opioid-related deaths was fewer than in construction, the rate was 143.9, which was more than 5 times the average rate for all Massachusetts workers. Among those who died in agriculture, forestry, and fishing, 74% had worked in fishing occupations.

Similarly, several other occupations had much higher than average rates of opioid-related deaths:

• Material moving (59.1)
• Installation, maintenance, and repair (54.0)
• Transportation (42.6)
• Production (42.1)
• Food preparation and serving (39.5)
• Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance (38.3)
• Healthcare support (31.8)

The study also found differences by gender. Overall, most of the opioid-related deaths were among males, which is similar to findings for all opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts. The rate was highest among male workers in agriculture, forestry, and fishing (205.9), followed by male workers in construction and extraction (152.3) and in material moving (71.9), as compared with the average rate for Massachusetts male workers (38.2). Among females, healthcare support (30.1) and food preparation and serving (28.9) were the two occupations with much higher rates than the Massachusetts average for female workers (11.6).

The rate of opioid-related overdose deaths was higher among workers employed in industries and occupations that have high rates of work-related injuries and illness based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistic Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. This finding is consistent with previous research documenting common use of prescribed opioids for management of pain following work-related injury. The rate of fatal opioid overdose was also higher among workers employed in occupations with lower availability of paid sick leave (data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employee Benefits Survey) and high job insecurity, or the worry of becoming unemployed (data from the National Health Interview Survey).

Although more research is needed to understand how injury, job insecurity, paid sick leave, and other work factors may contribute to opioid overdose deaths, this study’s findings highlight the critical need for immediate interventions. For example, educational programs and policies targeted toward occupations with a high rate of fatal opioid overdose should aim to decrease workplace hazards that could cause injury resulting in opioid prescriptions. Other critical steps include post-injury pain management with safer practices for prescribing opioids, overdose prevention education, and effective treatment for opioid use disorders among workers.

More information is available:

• Opioid-related Overdose Deaths in Massachusetts by Industry and Occupation, 2011–2015
• NIOSH: Fentanyl
• Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH)
• NIOSH Extramural Research and Training Programs¬: State Surveillance Program

The safety triangle is a useful, yet complicated, theory when considering how to prevent severe work-related injuries

The “Safety Triangle”: A Useful, Yet Complicated, Theory

Occupational safety and health specialists study past work-related illnesses and injuries to understand how to prevent future ones. More than 80 years ago, the occupational safety and health pioneer Herbert Heinrich used this approach to devise the so-called “safety triangle.” After questions arose about the safety triangle’s validity, a NIOSH study found that the safety triangle is a useful, yet complicated, theory when considering how to prevent severe work-related injuries. In the sections below, lead author Patrick Yorio, Ph.D., NIOSH statistician, explains the study, which was published in the journal Risk Analysis.

A NIOSH study of the Heinrich safety triangle, pictured above, found that lower-severity events within a mine can help predict a future fatal event within the same mine. Image from NIOSH.

Q: Why did you do this study? A: In the 1930s, Herbert Heinrich first theorized that severe injuries often occur after many less severe injuries and near misses, and that these events occur in a fixed ratio of 300 near misses to 29 less severe injuries to 1 major injury—the famous safety triangle. In this image, near misses form the base, and smaller, less severe injuries form the middle of the triangle. A severe, even deadly, injury forms the pinnacle. Since then, however, critics have asked whether this ratio is valid and if controlling the risks related to near misses and less severe injuries can prevent a severe injury from occurring.

Our study aimed to find out whether or not the ideas found within the safety triangle are valid. Specifically, we first wanted to understand if near misses and less severe work-related injuries affect the number of work-related fatalities that occur over time in mining establishments. Secondly, we sought to examine if the probability of future work-related fatalities decreases as the severity of near misses and minor injuries decreases—thereby taking on the safety triangle form.

Q: How did you measure these effects? A: We used records from two databases that the Mining Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) makes publicly available to create a third database addressing our research questions. We included 27,446 establishments over the 13 years from 2000 through 2012. Most of these mines were sand and gravel mines, followed by stone, coal, and nonmetal and metal mines. With this information, we were able to calculate the probability of a work-related fatality due to the previous number of near misses and less severe injuries.

Q: What did you learn? A: Our results showed that lower-severity events within a mine may be used to predict a future fatal event within the same mine. Further, there is validity to the safety triangle in mining, although it depends upon the definition of injury severity. Specifically, we found that the safety triangle exists, but not for all approaches used to define severity levels. Severity metrics linked to the number of days lost due to work-related injuries produced a systematic decline in the effect as severity decreased. But, that was not the case when defining severity based on MSHA’s predefined categories of severity.

Q: What are the next steps? A: An important area for future research is to explore potential common causes that contribute to both lower-severity injuries and deaths in the mining industry. Also, research that helps us understand the patterns of causes underlying lower-severity injuries and near misses is important to help improve mining safety.

More information is available:

• Examining Factors that Influence the Existence of Heinrich’s Safety Triangle Using Site‐Specific H&S Data from More than 25,000 Establishments

Cal/OSHA Issues Citations to Outdoor Advertising Company after a worker suffered third-degree burns when a metal pole he was using to install a sign on a billboard came into contact with an overhead power line.

Cal/OSHA Issues Citations to Outdoor Advertising Company for Billboard Electric Shock Accident

Los Angeles, CA—Cal/OSHA has issued citations to an outdoor advertising company for serious safety violations after a worker suffered third-degree burns when a metal pole he was using to install a sign on a billboard came into contact with an overhead power line. 

On February 6, two sign hangers for Outfront Media were working 25 feet above ground on the billboard’s platform to install a vinyl sign over West 3^rd Street. The workers were using 11-foot poles to place the 14-by-48-foot sign. One of the metal poles touched an energized high-voltage power line located near the edge of the billboard, which resulted in serious burns to 25 percent of the sign-hanger’s body.

“Employers must identify and evaluate all hazards in the workplace,” said Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum. “When energized overhead lines are present, the employer must ensure that employees maintain required clearances, or minimum safe distances from the overhead lines, to protect employees from electrical shock or electrocution.”

Cal/OSHA issued three citations to Outfront Media totaling $32,435 in proposed penalties. A serious accident-related citation was issued for the employer’s violation of provisions for preventing accidents due to proximity to overhead lines, which requires a minimum clearance of 6 feet be maintained for work done near 34.5 kilovolt lines. A serious citation was issued for failure to identify and evaluate hazards related to installing signs on billboards in proximity to power lines. Cal/OSHA also issued a general citation to the employer for an inadequate heat illness prevention plan for its outdoor workers.

Since 2015, Cal/OSHA has opened 11 inspections with outdoor and display advertising employers. Among those inspections were six accidents, including an electric shock incident last year when a worker’s ladder came into contact with overhead power lines during preparations to hang a sign.   

A citation is classified as serious when there is a realistic possibility that death or serious harm could result from the actual hazard created by the violation.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, is the division within the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) that helps protect California’s workers from health and safety hazards on the job in almost every workplace.

Cal/OSHA offers a fact sheet for safety meetings on working safely on or near high voltage overhead lines. Cal/OSHA’s Consultation Services Branch provides free and voluntary assistance to employers to improve their safety and health programs. Employers should call (800) 963-9424 for assistance from Cal/OSHA Consultation Services.

Employees with work-related questions or complaints may contact DIR’s Call Center in English or Spanish at 844-LABOR-DIR (844-522-6734). Complaints can also be filed confidentially with Cal/OSHA district offices.