OHSA 4 Unit VII Scholarly Activity
In your current place of employment, your company has a good safety record. The daily work activities in the plant fall under OSHA’s general industry (1910) standards.
With the success of the company and increased sales, the company has had to hire more workers and convert existing areas of the plant to enable more production. This means the areas formerly used for other purposes not related to production will be unavailable.
Realizing the need, the owners and senior leadership provided the resources to build a new, state-of-the-art multi-purpose building for events, meetings, and training. When it is finished, it will be an impressive sight when visitors or workers arrive at the site.
The new multi-purpose building is 5 (five) stories high, and will contain meeting rooms, training facilities, and a kitchen/dining area on the first floor. The upper floors will host additional meeting rooms and offices for executives and visiting staff, as well as spaces planned for future use.
CSU Construction, Inc., has been contracted to perform this work. However, your company has a team overseeing the work. They have been onsite for approximately 6 months and have completed a considerable amount of work. However, they are still about a year from completion.
All contractors on site have been through your orientation program and are expected to follow your safety rules, which only cover the general industry (1910) standards.
Due to a worker complaint regarding inadequate access and egress at the construction site, the local OSHA Area Office visited the construction site and found several violations, the most serious being the lack of an Emergency Action Plan that does not take the current construction activities into consideration.
Your current EAP only covers the standards (1910) for the existing facility and does not address the construction activities under 29CFR 1926 or the current conditions of the site.
Under the multi-employer policy, your company, as the “controlling” or “host” employer, received the OSHA citation for not having an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) in place that included contracting firms and addressed the current conditions during construction. Therefore, as your company is overseeing the work, as the controlling contractor, you have also been cited and must respond.
You have been brought in to assist the host company in developing and implementing the program required by OSHA under the construction standards (29CFR 1926), which includes all contractors on site and reflects the actual conditions happening at the time.
The ongoing construction activities include concrete masonry units (CMU) block exterior walls and a sloped standing seam metal roof on the exterior, along with underground utility installation requiring excavations. The masons work from scaffolding, and the roofers are tied off to anchor points. They access the roof area using aerial lifts or the exterior stair tower on the south end.
In the interior of the building, framing and drywall are being installed, the electricians are working to install permanent power, and the plumbers and HVAC trades are working from ladders to install their work. Lighting is temporary string lights. The elevator has not been installed yet. However, there is an exterior material lift that also carries the workers to their respective floors where they are working. The stairs have not been installed on the upper floors, and access is gained by using ladders in floor openings that will eventually be covered.
Prepare a written EAP using the template attached here. It must contain all the information required by 29 C.F.R. 1926.34 and 1926.35. Your plan must address how you will specifically address the requirement for medical services and first aid, means of egress and accountability, and how to notify workers of an emergency and employee training. Additionally, include a section that addresses how you will reduce the risk of and respond to acts of violence at the worksite.
You must include at least two academic references. Adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment.
