The newsletter of Minnesota OSHA • January 2008 • Number 58

Safety Lines
2007: Minnesota OSHA’s year in review
Compiled by Shelly Techar, MNOSHA Management Analyst, and Kelly Taylor, MNOSHA Program Analyst

Performance review highlights

Each year, Minnesota OSHA (MNOSHA) conducts a review of its projected performance as defined in
its performance plan, which is generated prior to the start of the federal fiscal-year (FFY).

In FFY 2007, Minnesota OSHA:

MNOSHA's new ‘best of
• visited 2,651 establishments and the worst' photos
identified 5,099 hazards;

• generated safety inspection results

within 23 days on average, while
the national average is 46 days;

• generated health inspection results

within 33 days on average, while
the national average is 60 days;

• resolved contested cases within 134

days on average, while the national
average is 253 days;

• conducted 90 outreach presentations

Each year, MNOSHA investigators witness and photograph
with an average of 43 participants; hundreds of safety and health hazards in their efforts to keep
and Minnesota workers safe. A collection of "best of the worst"
photos – from incidents in 2006 where no one was injured and
• signed a new partnership addressing the employer was instructed to correct the hazards – are online
worker safety and health at the I-35W at www.doli.state.mn.us/06photo_main.html.
bridge-collapse site with MNOSHA
Workplace Safety Consultation,
Minnesota Department of
Transportation and Carl Bolander &
Sons Co. (see Safety Lines Fall 2007,
cover story).

For more information about Minnesota

OSHA’s performance, its annual report is
posted online each January at www.doli.
state.mn.us/mnosha.html.

443 Lafayette Road N. • St. Paul, MN 55155 • (651) 284-5050 • 1-800-342-5354 • www.doli.state.mn.us/mnosha.html
I-35W bridge rebuild partnership
By Ryan Nosan, Principal Safety Investigator

The I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed Aug. 1, 2007, killing 13

people and physically injuring at least 144 others. The bridge was a
vital link over the Mississippi River and one of the most heavily used
bridges in Minnesota.

Following the disaster, the Minnesota Department of Transportation

(Mn/DOT) contracted Carl Bolander & Sons Co. for the demolition
and removal of the collapsed bridge. The removal was completed in
October 2007, with the assistance of a partnership developed by the
Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (MNOSHA) and Workplace Safety
Consultation (WSC); Mn/DOT; Bolander; other project contractors
and subcontractors; and other state and federal agencies. The project and partnership were an overwhelming
success, completing more than 100,000 hours of work without a lost-time injury.

With the removal complete, Mn/DOT selected Flatiron/Manson, A Joint Venture, to build the I-35W
replacement bridge. Following the selection, a new partnership was developed to again ensure hazardous
conditions are identified and injuries are eliminated. The partners include MNOSHA, Mn/DOT,
Flatiron/Manson, other subcontractors, and other state and federal agencies. The partnership is focused on
the safety and health of all employees throughout the bridge-building project.

MNOSHA has dedicated two compliance-assistance positions to work with the safety and health
representatives of Mn/DOT, Flatiron/Manson and other subcontractors to help them identify hazardous
conditions and determine potential abatement solutions. With zero injuries being the ultimate goal of the
project, a strategy has been developed that includes conducting a daily job-hazard analysis prior to any
work being conducted, which will be communicated with all employees involved. Additionally, daily safety
inspections will be conducted by on-site safety
personnel, as well as weekly safety inspections
conducted by the partners. All inspections will be
conducted to identify hazardous conditions and ensure
such conditions are abated immediately. Additional
goals include increasing the level of safety and health
training for all employees at the worksite and assisting
with the implementation of an effective A Workplace
Accident and Injury Reduction (AWAIR) program for
all contractors and subcontractors.

The safety and health of the employees conducting the

bridge rebuild will remain the number one goal. In addition
to following all current applicable MNOSHA standards, the partnership has established a six-foot fall-protection
rule for all activities and a mandatory personal protective equipment (PPE) rule that includes hardhats, high-
visibility clothing, and protective eyewear and footwear. Additionally, a drug and alcohol program has been
established that includes pre-employment drug testing as well as periodic and random testing.

Safety Lines, January 2008 page 2 www.doli.state.mn.us/mnosha.html

 Injury and illness survey team
now collecting data for 2007
By Brian Zaidman
Policy Development, Research and Statistics

Approximately 5,000 Minnesota employers have now received survey

packets for the 2007 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII).
In Minnesota, the SOII is conducted jointly by the federal Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry
(DLI). The employers participating in the survey were notified in December
2006 that their OSHA log data for 2007 would be submitted to calculate the
incidence rates and case characteristics for the state and – together with
employers across the country – for the nation. Employers’ timely response
to the SOII mailing is essential to successfully completing this vital
statistical activity.

It is very important that the employers who received 2007 survey packets in
January, begin to respond to the survey. The first task is to complete
preliminary OSHA recordkeeping for the 2007 injuries and illnesses. Cases
involving injured workers who are still away from work or on work
restrictions will need to have estimates entered for the respective durations.
Then the log totals are transferred to the log summary sheet and those totals
are also entered on the SOII form.

Completing the survey takes very little time if the OSHA recordkeeping
requirements have been followed. Those with questions about how to
complete the OSHA log or the log summary sheet can review this
publication's Recordkeeping 101 series at www.doli.state.mn.us/
recordkeeping.html.

The DLI survey team can answer questions about the survey itself and how
to transfer the OSHA log information to the survey forms. The team can be
reached by calling (651) 284-5428. Questions about submitting the survey
online should be directed to BLS at idc.helpdesk@bls.gov.

In December 2007, another set of 5,000 employers received notice that they
are participating in the 2008 SOII. Some employers are participating in both
the 2007 and 2008 surveys. It is very important to keep the material for the
two years separate. Only employers that received the 2007 SOII packet
should submit 2007 OSHA log data. Employers that are participating only in
the 2008 SOII need to make sure staff members assigned to recording
occupational injuries and illnesses are properly trained about recordkeeping.

Safety Lines, January 2008 page 3 www.doli.state.mn.us/mnosha.html

Teen worker safety training help for teachers
By Diane Amell, MNOSHA Training Officer

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and

Health (NIOSH) has recently released a curriculum
package for teachers instructing students about
workplace safety and health. Youth@Work –
Talking Safety is a detailed lesson plan with
overheads, handouts, games and other activities
about hazard recognition and abatement, emergency
response and teen worker rights. The overheads are
also available as a Microsoft PowerPoint
presentation on the Web site. A Minnesota-specific
version with state agency contacts is included on the
site as well. A 10-minute video accompanies the
program, featuring students interviewing other students who have been injured on the job.

The entire course can be completed in three to five hours. There are suggestions throughout the manual
about ways to shorten the course if necessary. The curriculum package, PowerPoint presentation and
video are all available on the NIOSH Web site at www.cdc.gov/niosh/talkingsafety/states/mn.

Note: As of Dec. 11, 2007, some of the legal information on pages 61-65 of the booklet is incorrect.
• The Minnesota state minimum-wage is $6.15 for large employers and $5.25 for small employers on
the basis of volume of sales made or business done.
• In Minnesota, “work permits” are called “employment certificates” and are not required for teens age
16 and older.
• Workers younger than 18 years of age are not permitted to work on construction or building projects.

See the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry's Labor Standards information online at
www.doli.state.mn.us/laborlaw.html for more information about the state's minimum-wage and child labor laws.

Nominations for DLI safety award recipient due March 30

The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) seeks to honor a safety or
health professional who is an example of safety excellence, with the annual Arthur
E. McCauley Jr., Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Leadership Award.

The award was named for former Minnesota Safety Council Member Arthur E.
McCauley Jr., whose work as a safety professional encompassed the attributes of
this award. McCauley was regarded for his work as a member of the Minnesota
Safety Council and the Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Advisory
Arthur E. McCauley, Jr. Council. He was known for his dedication and tireless efforts to improve the safety
and health of Minnesota's workplaces.

Complete information and the nomination form are available at www.doli.state.mn.us/mccauley.html.

Interested parties may also contact Julie Klejewski at (651) 284-5113 or at julie.klejewski@state.mn.us
for details.

Safety Lines, January 2008 page 4 www.doli.state.mn.us/mnosha.html

 Minnesota's newest MNSTAR worksite

Safety and health committee

members from Valmont Industries,
Inc., Farmington, Minn., celebrate
their facility's achievement as a
MNSTAR worksite during an
Oct. 30 flag-raising ceremony.

Valmont Industries, Inc. is the

global leader in designing and
manufacturing poles, towers and
structures for lighting, traffic,
wireless communication and
utility markets, and is a provider of
protective coating services.

Information about the MNSTAR

program, is available online at
www.doli.state.mn.us/mnstar.html.

Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Council 2008

The Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Council

was created in 1973 under the statutory authority of
Minnesota Statutes §182.656 to advise the department
in carrying out the purposes of M.S. §182 and other
Occupational Safety and Health Administration statutes.

The council consists of 12 members appointed

by the Minnesota Department of Labor and
Industry commissioner. Council members include
three representatives from management, three
representatives from labor, three representatives of
occupational safety and health professions, and three
representatives from the general public.
Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Steve
Sviggum (center) introduces himself to the Occupational
Meetings are quarterly, scheduled for February 8, May Safety and Health Advisory Council, Nov. 2. Next to Sviggum
9, Aug. 1, and Nov. 7 in 2008. The advisory council are Minnesota OSHA Administrative Director Jeff Isakson and
meets from 10 a.m. to noon, in the Minnesota Room at OSHAC Chairperson Carol Bufton.

the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, 443 Lafayette Road N., St. Paul, MN. Directions and
parking maps are on the department's Web site at www.doli.state.mn.us/direct.html.

E-mail Julie Klejewski at julie.klejewski@state.mn.us or call her at (651) 284-5113 for further
information about the Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Council meetings.

Safety Lines, January 2008 page 5 www.doli.state.mn.us/mnosha.html

 Minnesota's newest MNSHARP Construction worksite

Workplace safety and health

representatives from the
Minnesota Department of Labor
and Industry recognized Zumbro
River Constructors on Nov. 8, as
the first highway project in the
state to achieve designation as
a Minnesota Safety and Health
Achievement Recognition
Program (MNSHARP)
Construction worksite. The event
was at Powers Blvd. Interchange
Bridge in Chanhassen, Minn.

Zumbro River Constructors, a

joint venture of Fluor Corporation,
Ames Construction and Edward R.
Kraemer & Sons, is the design-
build contractor for the Mn/DOT
Hwy. 212 project

Information about MNSHARP is

available online at www.doli.state.
mn.us/mnsharp.html.

The Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health (MNOSHA)

Career program, administered by the Minnesota Department of Labor
and Industry, was established by the Minnesota Legislature in
opportunities 1973.

Working for MNOSHA can be a very rewarding job. Minnesota’s

economy has a great variety of industries and its business
leaders are often at the forefront of new technology. Keeping
up with new developments is challenging and exciting. And
MNOSHA investigators are one of the very few individuals with
the authority to affect improvements in working conditions
for all Minnesotans.

If you wish to speak to someone about jobs with Minnesota

OSHA, contact a MNOSHA supervisor at:
• (651) 284-5050; or
• toll-free at 1-877-470-6742.

www.doli.state.mn.us/mnosha.html
osha
DEPARTMENTOFLABORANDINDUSTRY

Safety Lines, January 2008 page 6 www.doli.state.mn.us/mnosha.html

 osha
answers
frequently asked questions

As part of its continual effort to improve customer service and provide needed information to employers and employees,
Minnesota OSHA (MNOSHA) answers the most frequently asked questions from the previous quarter.

Q Is there a minimum indoor workroom temperature that must be maintained for employees?

A Minnesota Rules 5205.0110 Indoor Workroom Ventilation and Temperature requires the
minimum air temperature be at least 60 degrees F where work of a strenuous nature is performed
– such as pulling, pushing or lifting heavy loads, or walking at a fast pace – and 65 degrees F in
all other indoor workrooms, unless prohibited by process requirements – such as refrigeration.

Another area of concern is recirculated process air, where air from an exhaust system
containing hazardous substances is vented back into the workplace, usually after some sort of
filtering, scrubbing or other process. Such a system containing any materials listed in CFR
1910 Subpart Z: Toxic or Hazardous Substances is not to be implemented without written
permission from Minnesota OSHA.

Q When does an employer have to report injuries or illnesses to Minnesota OSHA?

A Any work-related accident or illness resulting in a fatality or the in-patient hospitalization of

three or more employees must be reported to MNOSHA within eight hours under the
recordkeeping requirements of 29 CFR 1904.39. The information can be provided by phone or
in person during normal business hours. However, the information cannot be left on an
answering machine or voicemail system. If the Minnesota OSHA office is closed, call the
federal OSHA toll-free, central telephone number: 1-800-321-OSHA (1-800-321-6742). The
information received will be conveyed to an OSHA Management Team member.

The power press (i.e. punch press) standard, 29 CFR 1910.217(g), also has a notification
requirement. If an employee is injured by a punch press, the employer must notify MNOSHA
in writing within 30 days, as specified in the standard.

Q What weight restrictions are there for employees who lift, push or pull?

A Minnesota OSHA does not have an ergonomics standard at this time. However, this does not
eliminate an employer's responsibility under the General Duty Clause (i.e. the requirement that
an employer provide a safe and healthy work environment for the employees). MNOSHA can
and has issued citations for poor ergonomic conditions using the General Duty Clause or the A
Workplace Accident and Injury Reduction (AWAIR) Act.

Ask MNOSHA
Do you have a question for Minnesota OSHA? To get an answer, call (651) 284-5050 or send
an e-mail message to osha.compliance@state.mn.us. We may feature your question here.

Safety Lines, January 2008 page 7 www.doli.state.mn.us/mnosha.html

 Recordkeeping 201: Part 3

Job transfer and restricted work

By Brian Zaidman, Policy Development, Research and Statistics
Editor’s note: This is the third installment of an occasional series of more advanced topics about recording occupational injuries and illnesses
using the OSHA Form 300 and maintaining those records. The previous series about recordkeeping, covering basic information about filling
in the OSHA log and creating an annual summary, is available at www.doli.state.mn.us/recordkeeping.html.

Job transfer and work restriction are two related types of events and both are recorded using the same
OSHA log columns. The OSHA log requires employers to enter information about cases with job
transfer or restricted work in log column I and information about days with job transfer or restricted
work in log column L. However, the OSHA recordkeeping packet provides very little information to
help decide how and when to use these columns. The purpose of this article is to provide enough
information for employers to be able to correctly identify job transfer or restricted work cases and to
count days of job transfer or restricted work.

Classify the case A case can only be considered a job transfer or

CHECK ONLY ONE box for each case Enter the number of restricted work case (log column I) if it did not
based on the most serious outcome for days the injured or ill
that case: worker was: involve death or any days away from work.
However, cases with days away from work might
Death Days Remained at work
also have days with job transfer or restricted work.
away For these days-away-from-work cases, employers
from
work
need to enter both the number of days away from
Away On job work (log column K) and the number of days on
Job Other from transfer or
transfer or recordable work restriction
job transfer or restricted work (log column L). A
restriction cases (days) (days) more complete treatment about entering data in the
(G) (H) (I) (J) (K) (L)
log columns, Recordkeeping 101: Part 2,
X 3
Classifying recorded injuries, is online at the
X 2 32
address above.
X 14
X The important concept for coding job transfer and
work restrictions is “routine functions.” For OSHA
recordkeeping purposes, an employee’s routine functions are those work activities the employee
regularly performs at least once a week.

Job transfer, as the phrase implies, involves assigning an injured or ill employee to a job other than his
or her regular job for all or part of the workday. Job transfers are often the result of work restrictions
leading to a temporary change in an injured worker’s routine job functions. If the employer assigns, or a
physician or other licensed health care professional recommends the employer assigns, an injured
worker to work part of the day at his or her routine job functions and to another job for the rest of the
day, the injury or illness involves a job transfer.

Job transfer is a temporary work situation. If the employer permanently assigns the injured or ill
employee to a job that has been modified or permanently changed in a manner that eliminates the routine
functions the employee is restricted from performing, the employer must stop the day count. All job
transfer or work restriction cases must have at least one day counted in log column L.
Recordkeeping 201: Part 3, continues ...

Safety
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 Recordkeeping 201: Part 3, continued ...

Restricted work occurs when, as the result of a work-related injury or illness:

• the employer keeps the employee from performing one or more of the routine functions of his or her job;
• the employer keeps the employee from working the full workday that he or she would otherwise have
been scheduled to work;
• a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends the employee not perform one or
more of the routine functions of his or her job; or
• a physician or other licensed health care professional recommends the employee not work the full
workday he or she would otherwise have been scheduled to work.

A partial day of work is recorded as a day of job transfer or restriction for recordkeeping purposes, except
for the day on which the injury occurred or the illness began. However, it is not a work restriction if the
injured or ill worker remains at his or her regular job but works at a slower pace or produces fewer goods
or services than he or she would have produced prior to the injury or illness. Likewise, if a physician or
other licensed health care professional tells the worker to “take it easy for the next few days,” but the
worker is allowed to do all of his or her routine job functions and work all of his or her normally assigned
work hours, then the case does not involve a work restriction and does not have to be recorded as such.

As a final note about recording cases, employers are not to record a case as a job transfer or restricted
work case if the only day the job transfer or job restriction applies is the day of injury or onset of illness.
Counting the number of days of job transfer or restricted work begins on the day after the day of injury
or onset of illness. More information about counting days is available in Recordkeeping 101: Part 3, The
days of our cases at www.doli.state.mn.us/pdf/safetylin-sum05-rcd3.pdf.

Next installment: New case or a recurrence?

MNOSHA employees welcomed back after Iraq deployment

Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner
Steve Sviggum welcomes Minnesota OSHA
Investigators Deborah Fideldy (left) and
Stephanie Taylor back to the agency following
their 22-month military deloyments that included
more than a year in Iraq with the 1st Brigade
Combat Team.

Fideldy, a chaplain's assistant, acted as the

chaplain's bodyguard, among other duties. She
traveled with the chaplain to radio relay points
along main support route Tampa to provide
ministry. Fideldy also assisted during Civil Military
Operations (CMO) distributions of school supplies
and medical services in various communities.

Taylor, the preventive medicine noncommissioned

officer for the brigade, worked to prevent illness,
disease and noncombat-related injuries, focused
chiefly on the soldiers who lived outside of the
main military bases. She also provided community health outreach at the Tallil Clinic and volunteered some time in the emergency
room, intermedicate care ward and patient administration at the Tallil Hospital.

Both women say they value their experiences, are grateful to be home and appreciated all the e-mail, letters and packages sent.

Safety
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