osha or ansii???????

  • Thread starter Thread starter rich_h
  • Start date Start date
Peter didn't say what wasn't square with ANSI.

It is interesting to see that the Initial and Final fines were the same. When I did some research into OSHA fines in my area I found that, on average, the fines were reduced about 40%. There was only one company that didn't get a reduction. That says a lot to me. There must have been some serious things wrong at the company.
 
Tim;

Thanks for researching that. When Rich first started this thread my initial thought was that the Z comes in through OSHA's General Duty clause. The following quote is from a post that I wrote in response to a similar discussion in the Crane forum:

[ QUOTE ]
As far as I know, there is no OSHA standard that is written directly for the tree industry, which means that we are regulated by the general duty clause. The general duty clause says that an employer must provide a workplace that is free from recognized hazards, and for 'recognized hazards' OSHA looks to other industry regulations or standards. The consensus standard for the tree industry is the ANSI Z133.1-2000...

[/ QUOTE ]

In the citation that you posted that is exactly how the OSHA rep used the Z--as the recognized industry consensus standardfor this industry. But, it seems that not all OSHA reps are familiar with arboriculture. Many OSHA reps merge an alleged tree industry violation with some other industry that may perform a similar task (logging, construction etc.). These reps have no knowledge of the Z and may be reluctant to consider the fact that they may have issued an incorrect citation.

The work that TCIA and people like Steve Chisholm are doing is important. They are trying to show OSHA that our industry is unique unto itself and should be evaluated independently of other types of professions.

Here is the rest of the quote from the crane thread:

[ QUOTE ]
The consensus standard for the tree industry is the ANSI Z133.1-2000, which states "A qualified arborist may be hoisted into position utilizing the crane, provided that he/she is tied in with an arborist climbing line and arborist saddle and secured to a designated anchor point on the boom or line". (6.7.6).

State, local or company regulations may be stricter than ANSI Z133.1-2000 and if so, they supercede it. Note that in the above quote it says that the climber must be tied into the "...boom or line." The climber cannot tie into the hook. But, in the California standard that Mark referenced the climber MUST tie into the hook AND the boom or line.

Mark's dad (Steve) has put a lot of work into this, and the CA standard is, hopefully, the beginning of a good working relationship with various regulatory agencies.


[/ QUOTE ]
 
We tie in to the ball with a 10 ton "tow ring" its an oval ring about 1" thick. We put this directly on the hoo with the slings put the pin throught the hooks gate and off we go. This keeps averything centralized and also keeps the climbers rope/TIP from being crushed if the piece makes contact with the ball say when you are putting the piece down and the ball ends up on the underside of the load.
 
Mahk,

The real problem here, as I see it, is that we (collectively) do not follow our own standard and we want OSHA to use that standard to judge us.

We need to read, learn, and live the ANSI standard if we are ever going to be thought of as professionals. Only when we are following our own standard will we ever have a chance of OSHA recognizing it.


TMW
 
I carry a copy of the z standards in the truck with related sections highlighted and pages paper clipped. This solves 2 problems. I have a weight chart of green logs which is required and I have info I can inform someone with if they are not familiar.I had 1 incident when I used it with a DOT rep. He accepted it.
 
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