Tagged: workplace safety

Three workers at the Sinclair refinery near
Rawlins have been flown to a burn center in Colorado following a
flash fire.
     Sinclair Oil Corp. says the incident happened inside a gas
recovery unit at its refinery, about five miles east of Rawlins,
about 10:20 a.m. Tuesday.
     Sinclair Police Chief Jeff Sanders says it was a flash fire and
four workers were originally taken to Memorial Hospital of Carbon
County.
     A Memorial Hospital spokeswoman says three of the workers were
flown to a burn center in Greeley, Colo., while the fourth was
treated and released. No details on the injuries of the
hospitalized workers were immediately available.
     Salt Lake City-based Sinclair says there appeared to be little

 In response to concerns about workplace safety, the Wyoming Mining Association is focusing even more on safety issues. 

The Bureau of Labor statistics says that Mining is actually much safer than oil and gas and even the food manufacturing industry.  Coal is among the safest industries in the state and Alpha Coal West’s Steve Rennell says that’s because they have experienced workers.  He says they are trying to focus their attention on workers new to coal.

 “But we notice a difference in our safety internally or the number of what we call near hits when our workforce is made up with people with less tenure. ”

Wyoming has hired seven new Occupational Safety and Health Administration safety consultants to improve workplace safety in the state.

Workplace safety has been a real problem in Wyoming. The state ranked among the top two in the nation in workplace fatalities in eight of the last nine years. 

John Ysebaert of Workforce Services will oversee the program. He says that, instead of doling out fines for workplace safety violations, the OSHA consultants willhelp small businesses to develop and comply with safety requirements on a voluntary basis.

“Most employers have a great interest in keeping their workers safe. And, yes, there are some bad actors, but they are few in number,” Ysebaert says.

The legislature has approved an incentive based-worker safety bill.

Wyoming is among the leaders in workplace deaths and the bill provides up to seven new officers who will help companies develop and comply with safety requirements on a voluntary basis. It also provides grant money for small businesses to improve workplace safety.

Kim Floyd of the AFL-CIO says he had wanted tougher penalties for companies and people who violate safe working standards, but he says this bill is a good step.

A measure intended to increase workplace safety is making its way through the Wyoming House of Representatives.  The bill is intended to encourage companies to contact OSHA to determine if they're doing what they can to ensure workplace safety.  Grants will be provided to help companies implement safety programs and buy necessary equipment.   Cheyenne Democrat Mary Throne had wanted stiffer penalties to ensure compliance, but she is hopeful that this approach will work. “I certainly think we need to provide more resources to employers and to OSHA to help those folks who want to engage in the consultation process," Throne said.

Representative Tom Lubnau has drafted legislation aimed at improving workplace safety in Wyoming.

The bill would allocate $250,000 dollars in grant money for companies who want to conduct trainings or purchase safety equipment but don’t have the resources to do so. It would also enable the Department of Employment to hire five additional safety consultants, who would do courtesy visits to work sites.

“It’s a non-punitive inspection,” Lubnau said. “The consultants will go to Wyoming employers and just meet with them, examine their facilities, and make recommendations on how to make the workplaces safer.”

Gov. Matt Mead says tougher regulations aren’t the only answer to improving workplace safety.

“I want to be careful before we move down that path, because I also think that industry, on a voluntary basis, has a role to play,” Mead said. “I think enforcement is also part of it. But … we need to make sure that we have the data on what are the cause of these accidents and what are possible corrections for those accidents.”

Mead was speaking to the Wyoming Press Association in Laramie.

Wyoming has one of the highest rates of workplace fatalities in the country, and the state epidemiologist recently released a report which found that most deadly accidents happened when safety procedures weren’t being followed.

Gov. Matt Mead says he will implement recommendations from a new report focused on improving safety for workers.

Wyoming has one of the nation’s highest rates of workplace fatalities, and the governor recently commissioned a study to figure out why.

The report found that more than 85 percent of deadly workplace accidents in Wyoming happened when safety procedures weren’t followed. It concluded that the state needs to develop a centralized database to track workplace injuries and fatalities, coordinate efforts between agencies and industry to develop tougher safety standards, and encourage more OSHA inspections.

Mead agrees that Wyoming’s worker safety record isn’t good enough.

An epidemiologist who spent a year studying the high rate of workplace deaths in Wyoming says his research points to lack of a "culture of safety" in Wyoming.

Dr. Timothy Ryan says in a report to Gov. Matt Mead that more than 85 percent of reports on deadly workplace accidents in Wyoming show safety procedures not being followed.

Wyoming consistently has one of the nation's highest rates of workplace fatalities, more than 12 per 100,000 workers in 2010. That's more than three-and-a-half times the national average.

Many deaths occur in the oil and gas industry.

Recommendations in Ryan's report include better monitoring and analysis of occupational data and supporting industry efforts to develop, monitor and enforce safety standards and practices.