CNMI OSHA holds outreach training

Thirty-three participants from different businesses attend a two-day outreach training on OSHA Recordkeeping Requirement on Oct. 24 and 26, 2017. (Contributed Photo)

The Division of CNMI-OSHA under the CNMI Department of Labor conducted a two-day outreach training on OSHA Recordkeeping Requirement on Oct. 24 and 26, 2017.

Thirty-three participants from different businesses attended the training, which emphasized the importance of completeness and accuracy when recording injury/illness cases as well as reporting serious injury/health and death.

Participants learned to differentiate between reportable/recordable, first aid and medical treatment beyond first aid cases; work-related injury/illness and severity criteria for recording workplace injury.

The training program focused on ways to improve an employer’s understanding and to comply with standards, rules and regulation issued under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The same training will be done on Tinian and Rota. Other OSHA training includes Heat illness prevention, all about OSHA, compliance assistance and more.

Under the OSH law, the employer is responsible for reporting to the nearest OSHA office all work-related fatalities within 8 hours, and all work-related inpatient hospitalizations, all amputations and loss of an eye within 24 hours. Employers are advised to establish recordkeeping and maintain injury/illness records for a minimum of five years.

Employers under federal OSHA’s jurisdiction were required to begin reporting by Jan. 1, 2015. Establishments in a state with a state-run OSHA program should contact their state plan for the implementation date.

Onsite Consultation Program

The CNMI-OSHA Consultation Program is funded by federal OSHA through a cooperative agreement under the Department of Labor. The program offers expertise of highly qualified safety and health consultants to employers who request help to establish and maintain a safe and health workplace. Comprehensive assistance that is available goes well beyond the minimum requirements of OSHA. It includes appraisal of all mechanical systems, physical work practices, and environmental hazards of safety of the work place, and all aspects of the employer’s present job safety and health program. Assistance is also available to employers wishing to develop and implement an effective workplace safety and health concerns plan.

To learn more about CNMI-OSHA Outreach training, contact Mariana Coates on Ascension Drive, Capital Hill Bldg. 1338 or call the office at (670) 664-3156/7 or fax (670) 664-3157, or email Coates at coats.mariana@gmail.com. (PR)