Employers must post OSHA Form 300A: Summary of Work-related Injuries and Illnesses
By Neal O’Briant
Public Information Officer, NC Department of Labor

Employers are reminded that they must post a summary of work-related injuries and illnesses that occurred in 2012. The N.C. Department of Labor requires the summary be posted from Feb. 1 through April 30.  Most employers must keep a Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses (Form 300) that records work-related fatalities, injuries and illnesses.  The Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses (Form 300A) is compiled from the data on the log. Companies without any injuries and illnesses should post the summary with zeroes on the total lines. A company executive must certify that they have examined the OSHA 300 Log and that they reasonably believe that the annual summary is correct and complete.

“This posting requirement is an important way employers keep their employees informed about safety and health conditions in the workplace,” said Wanda Lagoe, bureau chief of the Education, Training and Technical Assistance Bureau.  Companies that had 10 or fewer employees at all times during the previous calendar year are exempt from keeping injury and illness logs and posting summaries. Certain businesses classified in a specific low-hazard retail, service, finance, insurance or real estate industry are also exempt from keeping injury and illness logs and posting summaries unless requested to do so for survey purposes.

For more information about recording criteria or for a list of exempt industries, contact the Education, Training and Technical Assistance Bureau at 1-800-625-2267 or locally at  919-807-2875. To download a free copy of the OSHA 300, OSHA 300A or OSHA 301, as well as recordkeeping instructions, visit our website at www.nclabor.com, click on the Publications tab, then click on the Forms link.

Technicians whose NIOSH-Approved Spirometry Course certificates are dated January 1, 2000, through December 31, 2007, are eligible to complete a NIOSH-Approved Spirometry Refresher Course by March 31, 2013, to maintain a valid NIOSH-Approved Spirometry Course certificate.

Technicians with NIOSH-Approved Spirometry Course certificates dated prior to                January 1, 2000, are not eligible to take a NIOSH-Approved Spirometry Refresher Course.

Link to classes on our site.

The video touched millions: An 8-month old boy smiles with unabashed adoration at his mother as he hears her voice, seemingly for the first time, thanks to a new cochlear implant.

Posted on YouTube in April of 2008, the video of “Jonathan’s Cochlear Implant Activation” has received more than 3.6 million hits and thousands of comments from viewers, many clamoring for an update.

Five-year-old Jonathan is “doing great,” according to his parents, Brigette and Mark Breaux of Houston, Texas.

“He’s in kindergarten and we’re working on speech,” Brigette, his 35-year-old stay-at-home mom, told TODAY.com. “He can hear everything that we say to him. It’s of course artificial hearing but he can hear and understand what we’re saying.”

See complete article here.

OSHA has developed this webpage to provide workers and employers useful, up-to-date information on occupational noise exposure.

Every year, approximately 30 million people in the United States are occupationally exposed to hazardous noise.  Noise-related hearing loss has been listed as one of the most prevalent occupational health concerns in the United States for more than 25 years.  Thousands of workers every year suffer from preventable hearing loss due to high workplace noise levels.  Since 2004, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that nearly 125,000 workers have suffered significant, permanent hearing loss.  In 2009 alone, BLS reported more than 21,000 hearing loss cases.  Read rest of article.