Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/579895
36 PalletCentral • September-October 2015 palletcentral.com n August 13, 2015, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) issued a revised Directive (CPL 03-00-019) updating its National Emphasis Program (NEP) on Amputations. The revamped instruction document describes policies and procedures for implementing the NEP to identify and reduce workplace machinery and equipment hazards which are likely to cause amputations. The Directive and NEP will apply OSHA-wide, meaning that states which run their own OSHA programs will have to adopt this enforcement program too. Data from general industry and also the targeted industries suggest that amputation related inspections were being under- reported. The intent of the overhauled NEP is to target workplaces with machinery implicated in amputation cases, while maximizing the agency's inspection resources. The code "AMPUTATE" will be used to track these activities within the agency. The Directive also includes 2012 NAICS codes for the industries covered by the enforcement initiative, and these include 321920, which covers "wood container and pallet manufacturing." It also covers such industry sectors as lumber resawing, millwork and sawmills. OSHA defines "amputation" as "a traumatic loss of limb or other external body part." Under the newly adopted "immediate reporting" requirements, employers must notify OSHA within 24 hours of any amputation, regardless of whether it involves in- patient hospitalization. OSHA wants to hear about any incident that results in a complete or partial loss of a limb or appendage, fingertip amputations (with or without bone loss), medical amputations resulting from irreparable damage (such as crushing injuries or burns), and even situations where the body part is successfully reattached. It does not include avulsions, enucleations, de-glovings, scalping, severed ears or broken teeth, however. OSHA estimates that—as a result of the injury reporting changes that took effect on January 1, 2015—it will receive an OSHA Greatly Broadens Injury Reporting Expands Inspections as Part of Revamped Emphasis on Amputations By Adele L. Abrams, Esq., CMSP SAFETY O