Kansas City, Mo. -- The Kansas City Area Office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced that it intends to conduct local-emphasis programs (LEPs) to reduce workplace health and safety hazards associated with collision repair shops.  The Kansas City office covers western Missouri to just east of Columbia.
    Parts & People recently spoke with Kansas City Area Office Assistant Area Director Daniel Corcoran about how the program was designed and what shops should expect.
    Corcoran said that as of Jan. 5, the date of our visit, the Kansas City office had developed a list of body shops using the Dunn & Bradstreet list of employers in the Kansas City Area Office's jurisdiction as well as other sources.  The list focuses on the standard industrial classification (SIC) 7532 for Top, Body, and Upholstery Shops and Paint Shops. 
From that list, Corcoran said 20 shops have been randomly selected to be inspected during the first cycle, which could begin any time.  Once those shops are inspected, another 20 will be chosen and a new cycle begun, he said.  He estimated that approximately 40 shops will probably be inspected in the first year, cautioning that the number could be higher or lower depending on the compliance officers' other workload.
    The OSHA Regional Notice that outlines the program said, "This industry has demonstrated through statistical data a high incidence of workplace safety and health hazards.  For (fiscal year) 2004, federal OSHA cited 110 facilities, throughout the United States, having the SIC code of 7532 in which a total of 428 citations were issued."
    The notice said that the four most commonly cited standards include Spray Finishing Using Flammable and Combustible Materials; Respiratory Protection; Handling, Storage, and Use of Flammable and Combustible Liquids; and Hazard Communication.
    The report also said, "Despite the evidence indicating a relatively high citation rate in this industry for FY04, and that the Census Bureau reports 779 establishments in the state of Missouri, KCAO has conducted few inspections in the industry in the past four years…. Indeed, most of OSHA's activity in this industry has historically been the result of employee complaints."
    Corcoran said a shop will know it has been chosen when a compliance officer arrives unannounced and asks to see the owner.  "We will just show up," he said.  The process will begin with an opening conference with the owner or their delegate, he said.  "He will tell them why he is there and what we will be doing and will ask for permission to conduct an inspection."
    Businesses do not have to allow the inspection at that time, Corcoran said, noting that they can require a warrant.  The LEP gives the compliance officer the right to obtain a warrant, though, he said, which can arrive as quickly as the next day or as long as a couple of weeks, depending on the priority that the compliance officer assigns to it.  "It really doesn't impact anything," he said.  "They are just exercising their rights.  It just means a little more paperwork for us."
    Compliance officers will be focusing on health risks, including, but not limited to, sanding operations and the use of substances such as polyurethane paints that include isocyanates, Corcoran said.
    He said compliance officers will ask for the businesses hazard analysis and documentation of training for personal protection equipment and respirator use, which they are required to have on file, and look for the availability and use of proper personal protection equipment, such as gloves and respirators.
  A shop must be able to show that it has a program in place for filter change outs and may need to show medical evaluations demonstrating that employees who need to use respirators are physically capable of doing so, Corcoran said.
Compliance officers can also interview employees to determine if they are aware of the risks of the products they are using and if they have been trained in how to protect themselves from those risks, Corcoran said.
    "Before a person works with a given chemical they need to know the hazards it presents and how to protect themselves," he said.
    Compliance officers will observe employees working in the shop to determine if health risks are present and if employees are being adequately protected, Corcoran said. 
    "It is the employer's responsibility to train their employees and to require them to follow safety and health rules," he said.  "Companies need to require employees to do things in a manner that keeps them safe."
    Corcoran said that because each shop is different, the necessary equipment and procedures may also be different.  For instance, whether a respirator is needed when sanding will be affected by how much sanding is being done, the size of the room, the amount of airflow, and other factors.  He said that a hazard analysis can help a shop determine what levels of protection are necessary and that additional information may be available from trade associations and product suppliers.
    "If they have objective data to demonstrate that the activity is not likely to yield an exposure level that requires a respirator, that should be part of the hazard analysis," Corcoran said.
    While compliance officers will primarily be looking for health issues, they can also note safety items noticed during their inspection.  For shops with fewer than 11 employees, these will be addressed administratively without citations or penalties, however, larger facilities can be cited for safety issues, Corcoran said.
    The inspection will average a day to a day and half he said, although testing, such as for the level of dust in the air, can add another day or two if it is deemed necessary.  At the end of the process, there is a closing conference to describe any alleged violations, he said, and a decision on whether citations will be issued will be made by the area director, usually within a couple of weeks.
    Corcoran said that one way for shops to help ensure that they are in compliance with OSHA standards is to arrange for an on-site consultation.  In Missouri, those are performed by the Missouri Department of Workforce Development, which can be reached at 573-751-3403.
    Consultations are available for free to businesses with fewer than 250 employees, Corcoran said, and are performed by state employees that have been trained alongside OSHA compliance officers.
    "Companies can call them to do an evaluation of their shop," he said.  "There is no cost and no citations.  They do have to fix any items that are noted.  If it's serious and the employer refuses to fix it, items can referred to OSHA."
    Corcoran said that after a shop is inspected under the on-site consultation program, there is an abatement period to fix problems and that nothing would be referred to OSHA during that time, and then only if it was a serious violation that the business had refused to fix. 
In addition, Corcoran said that if a business is in the process of having the voluntary inspection performed and an OSHA compliance officer were to arrive for a random inspection under the LEP, the OSHA compliance officer would delay his work until after the voluntary inspection was completed and the abatement period had ended. 
In addition, he said, the participation in the voluntary inspection could be used to demonstrate good faith in dealing with health and safety issues, which can result in a reduction in OSHA fines of up to 25 percent should other issues be identified.
    As part of the LEP, OSHA is also conducting outreach programs to train the industry and make it aware of what OSHA will be looking for, Corcoran said.  Each OSHA office has a Compliance Assistance Specialist who works with trade associations and others who can help spread the word within the industry.  He urged associations or individuals to feel free to call their local OSHA office with questions or for other assistance. 
    "We don't have caller ID," Corcoran said.  "We don't go out and do inspections just because someone has called with a question."
    The phone number for the OSHA Area Office in Kansas City is 816-483-9531 or, toll free in Missouri, 800-892-2674.