4) Respiratory protection (29 CFR 1910.134): 3,223 violations. Lack of a written program is the most commonly cited part of the respiratory protection standard. Other common mistakes include not performing a medical evaluation on employees who must wear respirators, failing to select and provide a respirator appropriate for the activity, failing to conduct fit testing, and failing to train employees.

5) Lockout/tagout (29 CFR 1910.147): 2,704 violations. Many citations are issues under the lockout/tagout standard for the complete lack of a hazardous energy control program. Other com-mon mistakes include failing to apply locks and tags as necessary and failing to remove unauthor-ized employees from the area during equipment service and maintenance. Notably, Kapust men-tioned that lack of training was not one of the most frequently cited parts of the standard, which he attributed to the fact that employers who fail to provide training often lack a lockout/tagout pro-gram altogether and thus would be cited for that instead.

6) Powered industrial trucks (29 CFR 1910.178): 2,662 violations. Lack of operator training is the most common pitfall under this standard. Other common mistakes include forklifts that are not in safe operating condition and modifications and additions that are not approved by the forklift manufacturer. Industries that frequently violate this standard include warehousing and storage and machine shops.

7) Electrical, wiring methods (29 CFR 1910.305): 2,490 violations. Citations under this stand-ard often occur when flexible cords are used in place of fixed wiring, conductors enter boxes un-protected, employees are exposed to live contacts, and circuit boxes are not designed to prevent moisture from entering.

8) Ladders in construction (29 CFR 1926.1053): 2,448 violations. Common ladder hazards include using a ladder not designed for the load it is carrying, using extension ladders that do not provide enough overhang at the top to ensure stability, and using an inappropriate type of ladder for the job.

9) Machine guarding (29 CFR 1910.212): 2,200 violations. To prevent machine guarding viola-tions, employers should make sure to guard point of operation hazards, ingoing nip points, blades, rotating parts, and any other part of the machinery that may pose a hazard. Make sure that guards remain in place and are not removed by employees.

10) Electrical, general requirements (29 CFR 1910.303): 2,056 violations. To prevent these citations, employers should ensure that qualified and unqualified workers are appropriately trained for their job tasks to avoid electric shock and electrocution.

THE STERLING SENTINEL

STERLING BOILER & MECHANICAL, INC .

November 2014

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT JOB SHADOW DAY

SBMI hosted a Junior Achievement Job Shadow Day at the Corporate Office on Friday, October 17th. The students were from Thompkins Middle School and they were all 8th graders. Junior

Achievement is dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. A

special thanks to Alicia Datzman, Steve Phillips, Greta Bozsa, Amy Will, Nathan Knies, Dan Felker, Sara Garrett and Lindsey Melchiors for their participation and involvement!

NEW HIRE - HEATHER RICHARDS

Pictured on left, Heather Richards, who is our new site secretary at Vectren Culley Station, started October 6th. Heather loves to

travel, play sports, go to concerts, cook and go to the gym in her free time outside of work. When asked if she has any hidden talents, Heather said she likes to write poetry and short stories. Heather also

said a fun fact about her is she lived and graduated high school in Naples, Florida and that she can play the acoustic guitar. Glad to

have you here, Heather!

VETERANS DAY

World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 18,1919. However, the actual fighting

between the Allies and Germany ended seven months earlier with the armistice, which went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. Armistice Day officially became a holiday in the United States in 1926, and a national holiday 12 years later. On June 1, 1954, the

name was changed to Veterans Day to honor all U.S. Veterans. If you see a Veteran or active serviceman, Guard or Reserve, please remember to say thank you for the freedom you have today. This year Veterans Day is recognized on November

11th.

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Andrea Lattner on her new position. She is now in the

Accounts Payable Department at Kimber Lane!

BLAIR’S RETIREMENT

Below are pictures from Blair Clucas’ retirement party on October 30th. Blair’s last day was October 31st. Thank you, Blair, for all the dedication and hard work you have given SBMI. Happy retirement!

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SAFETY DIRECTOR - BRIAN THOMAS

(FY) 2014 OSHA 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards

Speaking at the 2014 National Safety Council Congress and Expo, Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs, shared preliminary numbers for the top 10 most frequently cited OSHA standards in fiscal year (FY) 2014. While some items on the list shifted position within the top ten, all of the standards on this year’s list made an appearance last year. Notably, the top four violations—fall protection in construction, haz-ard communication, scaffolding in construction, and respiratory protection—appeared in exactly the same order in FY 2013 and FY 2012. While the ranking of the top ten violations remains relatively static compared to previous years, the total number of violations cited is somewhat lower than the FY 2013 figure. This is partially due to the 3-week government shutdown in October 2013, during which OSHA lost the opportunity to conduct between 1,400 and 1,500 inspections. However, Kapust emphasized that OSHA is working to make up for the lost time, and the numbers are preliminary. The top 10 most frequently cited standards for FY 2014 are as follows: 1) Fall protection in construction (29 CFR 1926.501): 6,143 violations. Lack of fall pro-

tection has been a leading offender for several years. Common mistakes under this standard in-clude failing to provide fall protection to employees working at heights, unprotected sides and edges, failing to use fall protection equipment correctly, and failing to provide protection from falling objects. In many cases, a fall protection program is completely nonexistent. Roofing and framing contractors, as well as single-family residential construction employers, are frequent violators of the fall protection standard.

2) Hazard communication (29 CFR 1910.1200): 5,161 violations. Common hazard commu-nication mistakes include failing to have a written program, failing to have safety data sheets (SDSs) for each chemical in the workplace, labeling mistakes, lack of employee training, and failing to provide employees with information on the hazards of the chemicals in the workplace. Significantly, Kapust commented that the 2012 changes to the hazard communication standard did not correspond to a significant number of violations; rather, most HazCom violations deal with much more basic mistakes that would also have been violations under the previous version of the standard.

3) Scaffolding in construction (29 CFR 1926.451: 4,029 violations. Citations under the construction industry scaffolding standard often stem from scaffolds that are not fully planked, a lack of portable or hook ladders to access scaffold platforms, loading scaffolds in excess of their capacity, and failing to protect employees from fall hazards on scaffolds.

November 2014

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12 11

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DECEMBER BIRTHDAYS

2 5

18

NOVEMBER ANNIVERSARIES

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19

8

1

16

15

7

If you would like to submit anything for next month’s

newsletter, please contact one of the following contributors.

Mary McFall 492-7100

Gene Weisheit 492-7131

Heath Molt 492-7186

9

22

24

10

Kevin Bradley 12/02

Ricky Money 12/02

Erick Truitt 12/07

Taylor Mitchell 12/08

John Vinitski 12/16

Rick Hullett 12/19

Brad Gebhard 12/20

Kai Johnson 12/20

Dana Barr 12/23

Josh Gunn 12/26

Rick Ellis 12/29

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6

13 14

26

Brandon Elliott 11/07/06

Duane Taylor 11/10/08

Dan Payne 11/10/11

Karen Herring 11/15/93

Mary McFall 11/18/10

David Zimmerman 11/21/13

Joe Kohut 11/25/91

Debbie Wise 11/25/91

Dennis Conard 11/25/13

Mark Wetzel 11/29/99

Sara Garrett 492-7107

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J. Schaeffer N. Smith

V. Bogan

M. King

D. Zimmerman K. Wahl

M. Bradley B. Elliott L. Melchiors J. Scott

J. Joffray J. Wisner

J. Simmons

R. Bates A. Will

C. Hasty

D. Rice

REMINDER

Nov. 11 Veterans Day

Nov. 27 Thanksgiving

THANKSGIVING DAY

In1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of Thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn’t until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national

Thanksgiving Day to be held each November. This year Thanksgiving is celebrated on November 27th.

Sterling employees will be off November 27th and 28th to enjoy the holiday!

ELECTION DAY

Election Day in the United States is the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. It can fall on or between

November 2nd and November 8th. Election Day is the day when popular ballots are held to select public officials. These include national, state and local government representatives at all levels up to the President. This year Election Day is on

November 4th. Don’t forget to do your part and vote!

JANE HOSKINS

Jane has been working for SBMI since February 1997. Jane was hired to inspect parts that the machine shop made. At

first, it mostly consisted of dye checking welds, but now she spends most of her time operating a Faro-Arm coordinate

measuring device. She also handles shipping and receiving, many office jobs such as keeping time spent on jobs, filing

paperwork for each job and ordering necessities around the shop to make sure everyone can work efficiently. In Febru-ary, Jane will be at SBMI for 18 years and has decided to re-

tire. She has 6 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren along with hoping to spend more time sewing, antique shopping and

traveling. Thank you, Jane, for all of your hard work!

TRIVIA

In what year did the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade take place?

Congratulations to Alicia Datzman, last months trivia winner, who won at $10 Subway gift card!