b'OSHA is stepping up enforcement activities and increasing the amount of the fines and penalties they are levying against companies for safety and health violations.employees on your safety rules when they are hiredwas only going to be a matter of time before OSHA would and perform weekly toolbox talks and nothing more,move to promulgate a rule to address the heat stress you could randomly select twenty-five percent of yourissue. Apparently, OSHA was not moving fast enough for employees on any job site and interview them and, inCongress. In addition to the 130 organizations which have most cases, fewer than fifty percent of them would besigned on to a petition to OSHA to move on this issue, able to correctly respond to ten questions about yourclimate change has also been drawn into the mix. While safety program and rules. I am pretty sure that withI hesitate to predict what will happen to this bill, heat many, if not most of you, if I were to take a look at yourillness is a topic with a high level of interest. The bill sends safety enforcement program (presuming you have one) Ia message that at least one member of Congress does not would find inconsistent enforcement at best. Rememberfeel that OSHA is moving quickly enough to address this to be complete.Your enforcement program must containproblem. So, i think we can assume that the issue is now retraining along with any disciplinary action. going to move forward, either at the Congressional level Regulatory Activity or through OSHA rule making.I have two items to report concerning regulatoryFinally, on July 29th OSHA submitted a draft notice of activity. First, H.R. 3668 has been introduced in the Housea Request For Information (RFI) preparatory to the Office by Representative Judy Chu of California. This bill isof Management and the Budget (OMB). The RFI, when it titled the Asuncion Valdivia Heat Stress and Fatalityis published in the Federal Register, will seek information Prevention Act of 2019. The bill, if it becomes law, willregarding tasks and tools that are listed in Table I of the require OSHA to promulgate a final rule within two yearscurrent Respirable Crystalline Silica Standard. The goal of the Bills enactment. The Bill would require employersis to provide additional common construction industry to develop procedures and methods for initial and regulartasks with corresponding dust control methods to ease monitoring of employee exposure to assess whethersome of the burden on the construction industry in they are exposed to excessive heat. Beyond this, the Billaddressing this material. Stay tuned for more information has requirements that mirror the 2012 NIOSH criteriaas it becomes available.document on heat illness prevention, although it doesQuestions?provide a requirement for hazard prevention, including engineering controls, administrative controls, or PPE.Use the MRCA Legal Services Plan! The Bill is named after a California farm worker who diedSee Page 37 for Detailsfrom heat stroke in 2004. As I have advised in the past, it www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer 9'