Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH)
Minutes of December 9-10, 1999, Meeting

US Dept of Labor
Frances Perkins Building
Room N - 3427 A,B, & C
200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC

The meeting of the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH) was called to order by the Acting Chair, Stewart Burkhammer, at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, December 9, 1999. The following members were present for all or part of the meeting:
 

Approximately 25 members of the public were in attendance at various times, as were a number of DOL/OSHA representatives, including Sarah Shortall (Office of the Solicitor), and Berrien Zettler (DOC).

Stewart Burkhammer, the ACCSH Acting Chair, welcomed all attendees, and asked all present to introduce themselves.

ACCSH voted to accept the draft minutes for the September 1999 ACCSH meeting.

Assistant Secretary Jeffress briefed ACCSH on recent developments concerning OSHA, including budget, standard development, and priorities. He also discussed the increase in construction industry fatalities which has occurred over the last two years, and the avenues being explored to reduce them, including targeted enforcement, increased outreach and education initiatives, partnership programs, and measures to effect positive changes in workplace culture. ACCSH members expressed concern directly to Mr. Jeffress concerning the priority assigned to completion of the Sanitation Standard. Mr. Jeffress took this issue under advisement.

Jane Williams briefed ACCSH on a recent (9-21-99) National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety & Health (NACOSH) meeting she was invited to attend. She reported that the Designated Federal Representative (DFR), Joanne Goodell, had requested her attendance at this particular meeting because NACOSH was scheduled to address several issues which ACCSH has examined in the past. The proceedings of the NACOSH meeting were summarized in a written report to ACCSH, which she briefed. In the future, Jane Williams and Marie Haring Sweeney will attend NACOSH meetings and report back to ACCSH on issues of common concern, as was done for the September NACOSH.

Michael Buchet and Marie Haring Sweeney, the Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) Work Group Co-chairs presented a brief on the December meeting of the Work Group. Having submitted a draft outreach document to OSHA via the September ACCSH, the Work Group intends to continue to collect "best practices" information, and will gather more data and input at the February ACCSH in Chicago. Berrien Zettler gave the Work Group a concise review of the draft MSD document's progress, and pointed out that the draft is on the OSHA Web site.

Michael Buchet and Marie Haring Sweeney presented a report on the Data Collection Work Group. The Work Group concentrated on the issue of targeting high risk work sites by possibly using a number of techniques presented by Don Peterson (a retired BLS employee). Issues discussed included utilization of workers' compensation data, and experience modification rating systems. A BLS representative will be requested to address annual survey questions at the May 2000 ACCSH. Haring Sweeney pointed out that beginning in January 2000, construction and mining occupations are going to be in the same classification. It was speculated that this might make the construction injury/fatality results look even worse than they actually are. It was decided that it would be beneficial to schedule detailed briefings on record keeping and data collection for the May 2000 ACCSH.

Larry Edginton presented a report on the Subpart N - Cranes Work Group. As requested by the Work Group, ACCSH passed a motion to recommend to OSHA that negotiated rule making be considered as the mechanism to revise/update Subpart N (Cranes), using the output of the ACCSH Work Group as the starting point. Edginton indicated that the next Work Group meeting would probably occur prior to the Chicago ACCSH.

Jane Williams and Larry Edginton presented a report on the Diversified Workforce Initiatives Work Group. Williams indicated that the Work Group had developed a priority ranking scheme, and that communications, language, training, and signage issues were at the top of the list.

Felipe Devora presented a brief report on the Multi-Employer Citation Policy (MECP) Work Group. He indicated that he was very pleased with the way the Work Groups product was utilized by OSHA in revising the FIRM, and that he anticipated a very productive Work Group meeting in Chicago discussing the revision and how it should be utilized by all concerned. He further indicated that the MECP Work Group could then be dissolved, having served its purpose.

Marthe Kente and several of her associates presented a Standards Update which included: Process Safety Management (PSM); Silica; Hearing Conservation in Construction; and Hexavalent Chromium (HVC). Kente provided ACCSH members with a copy of the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule Making (ANPR) on Process Safety Management (PSM), and requested that ACCSH provide comments to OSHA after the next ACCSH meeting in February 2000. She pointed out that the intent of the rule is not just to bring the standard into line with the EPA standard, but to increase coverage of low grade reactive chemicals, and to improve coverage of flammable liquid storage facilities. After a discussion the dangers of HVC, Kente committed to provide ACCSH with some specific construction activities which can cause a risk of HVC exposure to workers (a "crib sheet"). In addition she promised to provide the ACCSH HVC Work Group with a liaison representative from her office, and to try to arrange a meeting between the designated liaison and the ACCSH HVC Work Group Co-Chairs prior to the February 2000 ACCSH. The ACCSH members encouraged Kente to consult with them when choosing sites for stakeholder meetings involving construction - they recommended Atlanta as one site where construction activity is accelerating.

Robert Masterson presented a brief on the Fall Protection Work Group. He reported that the most recent meeting was highlighted by presentation from the Drill Shaft Association accompanied by intense discussions, and that the Work Group would probably meet again on 26 January 2000. The intent is to gather as much information as possible concerning the ten issues OSHA put in the Federal Register, and to present that to ACCSH at the May 2000 meeting (thus far the Work Group has information on three of the ten issues).

Jane Williams presented a report on the OSHA Form 170 Work

Group. She covered discussions at both the November Form 170 Work Group meeting and the 7 December joint Form 170/Data Collection Work Group meetings. In addition to a number of recommendations from the joint Work Group report, Williams proposed a motion recommending that OSHA fully support revising Form 170 in a timely manner - ACCSH approved the motion unanimously. The Work Group expressed the opinion that improving the form will yield data which can be used in reducing workplace fatalities in the Construction Industry.

The next ACCSH will be held in Chicago in conjunction with the 15 through 17 February 2000 Chicagoland Construction Safety Council (CSC) Conference. On Monday, 14 February, beginning at 8:00pm, these four Work Groups will each meet for approximately two hours, in the following order: Fall Protection; Multi-Employer; Sanitation; and MSD. On Wednesday, 16 February, ACCSH will be given time slots at the CSC Conference to give an overview of ACCSH (2:00pm - 3:15pm), and briefings by Work Group Co-Chairs of recent activities (3:45pm - 5:00pm). The ACCSH meeting itself will be held on Thursday, 17 February, at the Holiday Inn Rosemont, and will consist of an introduction and approval of the December ACCSH minutes (08:00am - 9:45am), and public comments (10:00am - Noon). Later that day, a Training Work Group will meet from 1:00pm until 4:00pm at the OSHA Training Institute. The schedule of events will be promulgated on the ACCSH web page, and via the Federal Register.

Roger Brauer, representing the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), presented a briefing on Certifications available in the Construction Industry.

Steve Cloutier briefed the committee on the Safety and Health Program Standard Work Group. He reported that the Work Group reviewed the revisions to 1926 subpart (c) recommended by ACCSH in March 1997, and agreed to offer no further revisions until after reviewing DOC's current revision (to be provided in January, 2000).

The following Work Groups were discontinued: Silica (until OSHA needs its services again); Powered Industrial Trucks; Construction Certification and Paper-work Reduction Review; and PPE.

The following new Work Groups were formed: Noise (Haring Sweeney and Devora Co-Chairs); and Process Safety Management (PSM) Standard (Evans and Smith Co-Chairs).

The Sanitation Work Group was reconstituted (Williams and Cooper Co-Chairs), and the Safety and Health Program Standard and Training Work Groups will be combined.

The Multi-Employer Citation Work Group will dissolve after the February 2000 ACCSH, and the Salt Lake City Construction Advisory Work Group will probably dissolve after the May 2000 ACCSH.

Noah Connell presented a Construction Standards Update. Draft text for the Construction Safety and Health standard amendment for Construction should be forwarded to ACCSH in January 2000. Public release of the draft text for the Confined Space standard should occur in the near future, and four stakeholder meetings should be held during the year 2000. The work product for Steel Erection is ready to go. The revisions to the FIRM which clarify how to approach MECP issues have been finalized and published via OSHA Instruction CPL 2-00.124. This instruction replaces Chapter III, Paragraph C.6 of the FIRM.

Berrien Zettler gave an overview the recent Directorate of Construction activities. In addition, he briefed ACCSH on all DOC Action Items from the September 1999 ACCSH meeting, specifying the steps taken to clear all of them. Several of these actions involved improvements to the new ACCSH internet web page, which he also pointed out. Zettler also discussed proposed activities in support of updating and re-coding the Form 170. He concluded with a report on the OSHA partnership with Pride (an organization of contractors and unions in St. Louis), demonstrating how this agreement could become a template for future partnership arrangements around the country.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m. on 10 December 1999.