Flashings

NRCA receives OSHA grant

NRCA recently was awarded $137,000 through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) Susan Harwood Training Grant Program. The grant program provides education and training for workers and employers to help them recognize workplace safety and health hazards, implement injury and illness prevention measures, and inform them of their rights and responsibilities.

NRCA has been awarded the Susan Harwood Training Grant 12 times, receiving a total of $2.8 million.

The grant allows NRCA to offer its Roofing Industry Fall Protection A to Z class in English and Spanish free of charge for a year. The interactive class focuses on fall-protection systems and includes up-to-date state-specific OSHA requirements. This one-day class also features demonstrations of equipment and techniques for self-rescue and relief of suspension trauma.

OSHA awarded $10.6 million in grants to 78 nonprofit organizations, including community- and faith-based groups, employer associations, labor unions, joint labor management associations, and colleges and universities.

"NRCA is pleased to be awarded the Susan Harwood Training Grant from OSHA. It will allow us to conduct another series of fall-protection classes for the roofing industry free of charge," says Amy Staska, NRCA's associate executive director of education. "This year, we will conduct two classes in four locations—one each in English and Spanish."

"Since 1978, approximately 2 million workers have been trained through this program and it is one of the most effective ways we have for communicating with vulnerable and hard-to-reach workers," says Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health. "The Susan Harwood Training Grant Program is an essential component of OSHA's efforts to provide workers in high-risk industries with training about job hazards and their rights, and I am thrilled to see what our grantees will do."

More information about the grants is available at www.osha.gov/dte/sharwood/index.html. For more information about NRCA's fall-protection classes, contact NRCA's Customer Service Department at (866) ASK-NRCA (275-6722) or info@nrca.net.

New standard addresses electrical impedance scanners

A new standard issued by ASTM International addresses the use of electrical impedance scanners to monitor moisture levels in roof systems.

The new standard provides guidelines for moisture scanners, how they should be used and on which roof systems scanners are most effective.

The new standard, ASTM D7954/D7954M, "Practice for Moisture Surveying of Roofing and Waterproofing Systems Using Non-Destructive Electrical Impedance Scanners," is available at www.astm.org/Standards/D7954.htm.

Crane operator compliance date extended

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a final rule extending the deadline for crane operator certification requirements in the Cranes and Derricks in Construction final rule by three years to Nov. 10, 2017. The rule also extends by three years employers' responsibility to ensure crane operators are competent to operate a crane safely. The final rule takes effect Nov. 9.

During the three-year period, OSHA will address operator qualification requirements for the standard, including the role of operator certification. The previous rule required crane operators at construction sites to meet one of four certification options by Nov. 10. But after the rule was published, concerns were raised about a requirement to certify operators by crane type and capacity and whether the certification was sufficient for determining whether operators can safely use their equipment at construction sites.

NRCA's Material Handling Program: Overhead and Understood will help roofing contractors train employees to make sure they're in compliance with OSHA requirements for crane and hoist operations, signal person qualifications, qualified riggers, forklift operations and working with rooftop powered equipment.

English and Spanish versions of the program are available at shop.nrca.net.

OSHA issues new injury reporting requirements

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a new rule effective Jan. 1 requiring employers to notify OSHA when an employee is killed while at a job site or suffers a work-related in-patient hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye.

"The Bureau of Labor statistics reported that 4,405 workers were killed on the job in 2013," says Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. "Workplace injuries and fatalities are absolutely preventable, and these new requirements will help OSHA focus its resources and hold employers accountable for preventing them."

The new rule requires employers to notify OSHA of work-related fatalities within eight hours, and work-related in-patient hospitalizations, amputations or losses of an eye must be reported within 24 hours. Under OSHA's previous rule, employers only were required to report work-related fatalities and in-patient hospitalizations of three or more employees, and reporting single hospitalizations, amputations or losses of an eye was not required.

For more information, visit www.osha.gov/recordkeeping2014.