14 OSHA violations in March 2014 at JFK's Terminal 8

[Earth_First]

via New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health

The March 2014 OSHA inspection at JFK Terminal 8 confirmed many of these allegations. The 14 citations issued to a cleaning contractor included lack of a “written exposure control plan for job classifcations (i.e., aircraft cabin cleaners, airport terminal cleaners) that are occupationally exposed to bloodborne pathogens and other potentially infectious materials while performing cleaning operations” and failing to provide appropriate personal protective equipment, including adequate hand protection for terminal and cabin cleaners while cleaning potentially contaminated surfaces and materials.

The contractor was also cited for failure to provide puncture-resistant containers for disposal of contaminated sharps, “i.e., diabetic syringes and needle sticks found during the cleaning of aircraft cabins and terminal restrooms by cleaning staff” and for failure to train employees about the hazards of bloodborne pathogens.

Terminal cleaners’ testimonies also validated the March 2014 OSHA violations, reporting that they routinely encounter blood, urine, feces and diarrhea, sputum, and vomit inside and outside toilets and on doors and walls. They also routinely encounter used syringes.

Terminal cleaners’ testimonies alleged that they are exposed to hazardous working conditions and that these conditions impact the general public. Cleaners are provided with 3 different color-coded towels to ensure that different cleaning towels are used for toilets, sinks, and doors. However, as cleaning towels get dirty over the course of the work day, they may be rinsed out together in the same bathroom sink, thereby fostering fecal cross-contamination of toilets and sinks in the public bathrooms. They also report using the same bucket for cleaning doors, sinks, toilets, and mirrors.

Cleaners reported that sometimes they are provided with fewer than three towels, forcing them to intermingle towels used to clean toilets, doors, and sinks. This practice increases the potential for fecal contamination and thus for potential exposure to bloodborne pathogens in unanticipated places, such as in sinks and on faucets in public bathrooms.

http://nycosh.org/uploads/news/id184/NYCOSH-Airport-Final%20Report-10.2.14.pdf

[Hoppy]

1. This is what is wrong with O.S.H.A.

A focus is that there was not a written exposure control plan. I was responsible for writing injury prevention plans where I worked. I sat through a total of 38 hours of O.S.H.A. instruction for two courses of safety compliance.

First of all, I believe in this stuff because if one worker was carried out for a loss that I could have prevented, ....

Back to the point. As much written material as I could prepare and/or provide, it didn't matter. My workers were reading at a 3rd to 6th grade level. Provide such people with "Material Safety Data Sheets" and expecting them to put it to good use, is nonsense.

I suspect the same would be true with the peeps cleaning the planes at J.F.K.