OSHA

62-Year Old Bumblebee Tuna Worker Killed in Oven with Six Tons of Canned Tuna

Posted on May 28, 2015 9:19 am by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

RISK Alert Report #710 – May 27, 2015

The Los Angeles District Attorney announced felony charges Monday against
Bumblebee Tuna’s San Diego Plant, alleging that a worker, Jose Melena,
entered a thirty-five foot cylindrical oven that sterilizes cans of tuna. Melena’s
co-workers closed the door and started the oven. The oven temperature rose to
270 degrees in the next two hours, and when the doors were opened, they found
the severely burned remains of Jose Melena.

According to District Attorney Jackie Lacey, “We take worker safety very seriously”,
according to a published statement. “Our goal is to enhance the criminal of workplace
safety violations. Although the Bumble Bee investigation began in 2012, this case
represents our commitment to protecting workers from illegal – and, potentially,
deadly – on-the-job practices.”

Two plant employees, former Safety Manager Saul Florez, 42, of Whittier,
California, and the current Director of Plant Operations Angel Rodriguez, 63, of
Riverside, California, with three felony counts each of an Cal-OSHA (State of
California ) violation causing death.

Both men face arraignment on May 27 at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center in
downtown Los Angeles. If convicted, the individuals could serve three years in
state prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Bumble Bee faces a maximum fine
of $1.5 million.

Lessons Learned:

1. Strong safety controls should be put in place to protect workers in High Risk
Occupations.

2. Employees should make sure that all employees are aware of the
company’s safety and security rules to prevent incidents like this.

RISKAlert® is a publication of Risk & Security LLC

To subscribe to RISKAlerts® – write to: info@riskandsecurityllc.com

www.riskandsecurityllc.com

www.caroline-hamilton.com

Tags:
man dies in tuna oven
workplace safety

Two Nurses Stabbed on Easter Sunday in Different SoCal Hospitals

Posted on April 21, 2014 7:17 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

Dateline: April 21, 2014

Stabbing at Olive View – UCLA Medical Center

In the early morning hours of Easter Sunday morning, a nurse at Olive View-UCLA
Medical Center in Sylmar, California was critically hurt after being stabbed
multiple times.

Prior to the stabbing, deputies said the suspect had entered the hospital and
allegedly bypassed the weapons screening area. As the deputies searched
for the perpetrator, they heard a woman scream, and located the nurse, who was stabbed in both the upper
and lower torso. The nurse was transported for medical treatment in critical condition.

Torrance Hospital – Later at 9:20 am on Easter Sunday, Thomas Fredette walked
into Torrance Hospital, in the south Bay, and grabbed a nurse from behind and
stabbed her in the ear with a sharp object, according to Los Angeles County
Sheriff’s officials. Fredette faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon,
sheriff’s officials said. He is being held on $130,000 bail.

What We Learned:

Strong Access Controls at Hospital Entrances and Exits are the first line of
defense against injuries to hospital staff. Both events were random and
apparently unprovoked.

Nursing staff in particular, should receive adequate training in situational
awareness, which may be in conflict with their total focus on caring
for patients.

Double Check these critical Potential Controls:
Stronger Access Controls
Panic & Duress Alarms at Entry Points and on Nurses working late shifts
Better Weapons Screening

New Active Shooter App Announced on October 20, 2013

Posted on October 19, 2013 12:27 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Active Shooter app released to reduce likelihood of an Active Shooter Incident.

Active Shooter incidents have increased both in the number of incidents, as well as the number of people killed and injured in the last five years. As an aspect of workplace violence, the active shooter has become is a serious recognized occupational hazard, ranking among the top four causes of death in workplaces during the past 15 years. More than 3,000 people died from workplace homicide between 2006 and 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Additional BLS data indicate that an average of more than 15,000 injuries were annually during this time.

The latest figures show that high-risk organizations like hospitals, schools, malls, universities, military installations and even hair salons have experienced an active shooter incident and are likely to have a dramatically increased risk for experiencing an active shooter incident in the future.

Risk & Security LLC has released a new web-based app, Active Shooter Risk-Pro©, which offers an easy to use risk assessment program that assesses your organizational risk of an active shooter incident, as well as recommending solutions to prevent an incident from occuring in the future.

In additional to using the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Guidelines on Active Shooter Response, the OSHA standard 3148 (Guidelines for Preventing Workplace Violence for Health Care, the FBI and Secret Service Guidelines on Active Shooter Incidents, and the new OSHA Inspection Directive, Enforcement Procedures for Investigating or Inspecting Incidents of Workplace Violence, from September, 2011, are both included in the new, easy-to-use application.

The program has been tested on some of the largest organizations in the US, and runs on a laptop, PC or tablet, and even on a smartphone!. Active Shooter Risk-Pro© is built to be affordable and simple to use.

The web 2.0 program, includes newly compiled, updated threat databases, new active shooter incident analysis metrics, and automated web-surveys based on the DHS Guidelines..

The new program gives human services and security professionals a quick and easy way to conduct a active shooter, or general workplace violence that will recommend that will pass an audit!

The Risk-Pro© model has been used for easy software applications by the Department of Defense and over hundreds of organizations, hospitals, and local, state and federal government agencies.

About Risk & Security LLC

Risk & Security LLC is a security risk assessment and risk analysis company with over 30 years of combined expertise in security risk assessment. It develops specialized programs and applications which are easy to use, affordable and which help organizations assess their risk, the likelihood of becoing a target, and which recommend cost-effective solutions.

Risk & Security offers full service consulting on critical risk assessments including HIPAA Risk Analysis, Facilities Security Assessments, Hospital Security Assessments, Workplace Violence, Active Shooter Incident Assessment, Environment of Care and more. Risk & Security partners with security companies around the world to provide state-of-the-art security expertise to analyze risk and recommend cost-effective security controls justified by return on investment metrics.

The team of risk and security experts is led Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton, who has created more than 40 software programs, and conducted more than 200 specialized security risk assessments in a variety of environments, including companies in the United States and around the world, including in Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa and Qatar.

Contact Information:

Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton, CHS III

Email: caroline@riskandsecurityllc.com

Phone: 301-346-9055

Twitter: www.twitter.com/riskalert

How long does it take for OSHA to develop standards – like for Workplace Violence?

Posted on May 1, 2012 6:44 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

Why OSHA standards take so long to develop

The Government Accountability office reports to Congress on items of interest to Congress and their constituents. One area that was recently examined was how long it takes OSHA to update standards, or develop new standards. Here’s a look at the results:

By: David LaHoda April 30th, 2012

A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on why OSHA standards take, on average, more than seven years to complete found that “increased procedural requirements, shifting priorities, and a rigorous standard of judicial review” contributed to the lengthy time frame.

In responding the GAO report, Randy Rabinowitz, OMB Watch’s director of regulatory policy said: “In the years since its creation, OSHA’s charge to protect workers from harm has been undermined by Kafkaesque demands for additional reviews of existing rules mandated by new statutes and executive orders,” according to The Hill. While OSHA’s internal inability to remain focused on priorities and regulatory follow-through was the counter argument presented by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“While some of the changes, such as improving coordination with other agencies to leverage expertise, are within OSHA’s authority, others call for significant procedural changes that would require amending existing laws,” according tot he GAO report.

The GAO report recommended that that OSHA and NIOSH improve collaboration on researching occupational hazards. In that way OSHA could better “leverage NIOSH expertise in determining the needs for new standards and developing them.”

To access the entire 55-page report, go to: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-330

April is Workplace Violence Awareness Month

Posted on April 10, 2012 6:11 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

The American Association of Workplace Violence Prevention (www.aawvp.org) has designated April 2012 as official Workplace Violence Awareness Month!

You can celebrate in your office by suggesting ways to reduce workplace violence in your own environment. At AAWVP, they stress that workplace violence also happens to you, not just at work, but at the late-night grocery store or convenience store, in the hospital where you’re visiting your father, and even in your own home.

As part of the awareness raising event, the Association has invited me to participate in a special webinars about workplace violence at 2:00 pm Eastern Time, on April 18th.

You can join us by registering at http://tinyurl.com/85e33h8

Preview of the Webinar on Workplace Violence Prevention

Posted on March 27, 2012 5:28 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

Companies often don’t think about preventing workplace violence until there is an incident that affects them, or a company similar to them, or geographically close. As soon as something happens close to home, they want to get serious and do something about it right away.

Workplace violence prevention is actually a process that, like in quantum physics, when we talked about the observed particle, just putting management’s attention on the potential problem will start the prevention process.

A good place to start is with adjusting and updating your policies. Perhaps your policy is outdated, or hasn’t been publicized in your organization. Time to dust it off and make sure it includes these critical elements:

1. It says: We have a total no-weapons policy in this company.

2. Employees are REQUIRED to report any potential, or even suspected workplace violence situations or incidents.

3. There is an approved company form which every employee has electronically, to use
if necessary.

4. Every employee has to attend a violence prevention training course, or active shooter drill, or both, annually.

The policy is the first step. Next, the policy has to be approved by the management or by the Board, and then sent to every employee, along with an affirmation agreement that they sign saying they read the policy and understand it.

More tomorrow… or attend our special workplace violence webinar. You can sign up at:

http://t.co/rKBuoDgt

Outlook on Risk & Security Compliance in 2012 – What to Expect.

Posted on January 1, 2012 6:59 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

This New Year’s Eve, I thought at times my neighbors were using a rocket launcher and several assault rifles to shoot up the New Year. Lucky for me, I spent the awake time to contemplate the outlook for risk, threat and security issues for 2012 and here’s what I see for 2012.

1. Government-Mandated Compliance Is Here to Stay for the Healthcare Industry.

I remember when the IT departments are many hospitals thought George W. was going to revoke the HIPAA Security Rule. It never happened, and this year, for the first time, there is a regulatory body in place that is intent on REAL ENFORCEMENT.

The Dept. of Health & Human Services, Office of Civil Rights, has expanded HIPAA Security and Privacy Rules to include “Business Associates” including lawyers working in healthcare, and the infamous “3^rd Party Providers” who do everything from warehouse data to taking over the IT function of a hospital, and this trend will continue as pressure builds from consumers who’s medical and financial data continues to be compromised.

2. Workplace Violence Prevention will become an OSHA mandate, if not in 2012, at least by 2015. Based on the slug-like pace of OSHA, who only recently provided directives for high risk industries, and the pressure from the more than 30 states who have passed their own regulations, the pressure to stop the number of incidents and to lower their intensities will increase and management will be forced to address it as a major corporate issue.

3. Pressure on the financial industry to protect consumer information will increase. Like many other areas, pressure is increasing to prevent the enormous data breaches we saw in 2011, like Tricare, the recent Stratfor hack by Anonymous, Wikileaks and HealthNet breaches. Consumers are the squeaky wheel and they want the convenience of plastic and internet use, and they will not tolerate breaches, and they are all registered voters!

The FFIEC has already tightened up on both risk assessment standards, as well as
authentication guidelines for all financial institutions.

There will be a increase in requirements for risk assessment as an accountability feature to force managers to maintain better security in all areas of their organizations.

Accountability means that individual managers will be held responsible for the decisions they make regarding other people’s:

1. Financial Data

2. Medical Records

3. Safety from both Violence & Bullying in their workplaces.

Budgets can be cut, and staff can be reduced but consumers are demanding protection of their information, and themselves, and the regulators will make sure they get it in 2012!

OSHA Starts New Enforcement Initiative for Workplace Violence Issues

Posted on October 1, 2011 2:38 pm by Caroline Ramsey-Hamilton Comment

On September 8, OSHA issued a new directive about enforcement activity on workplace violence issues. This directive (CPL 02-01-052) takes effective on Sept. 8, 2011 and is called Enforcement Procedures for Investigating or Inspecting Workplace Violence Incidents. It details new procedures for the OSHA inspectors, but it is also a valuable document to show employers what they can expect.

The directive follows the shocking news that in 2010, 18% of workplace fatalities were caused by assaults and violent acts, while only 14% were caused by falls, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Workplace violence incidents are even higher in the hospital and healthcare industries.

The new inspection directive shows how OSHA inspectors are going to look at employers to see whether they have performed a workplace violence analysis. These assessments follow the security risk assessment model and should take into account the threat level at the organization, the history of incidents and examination of trends, and whether ‘accepted’ controls have been implemented at the place of employment.

Some of the ‘accepted controls’ they will be examining include:

Having a recent workplace violence analysis
Having a formal workplace violence training program in place
Showing the employer had incident reports to identity possible threat levels
Methods the employer used to inform employees of the risk of workplace violence
Evidence the employer has a workplace violence prevention plan in place
Evidence the employer has a current security plan
There are also a set of recommended physical controls that include proper lighting, cameras, curved mirrors, etc.

For more information, or a copy of the document, email info@riskwatch.com.