OSHA’s Temporary Worker Initiative Bulletin Series: Warehousing and Ergonomics

Program brought to you by:

Who Should Attend

Staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions industry owners, principals, chief executive officers, and presidents; sales and business development managers and leaders; industry professionals.

Highlights

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced last July a new national emphasis program (NEP) to prevent workplace hazards in warehouses, processing facilities, distribution centers, and high-risk retail establishments. In addition, OSHA is exploring a new ergonomics standard. In this webinar, learn about warehousing and ergonomics safety and health best practices for temporary workers from OSHA subject matter experts Courtney Frost, CSP, occupational safety and health specialist, and Marc Vargas, CIH, MPH, industrial hygienist in ergonomics. Joining the OSHA presenters is Brittany Sakata, Esq., ASA general counsel and liaison to the OSHA/ASA formal alliance.

The presenters will provide ASA webinar participants with a brief summary of the requirements of the warehousing industry employment NEP, and host employer and staffing agency obligations. All employers—including staffing agencies—have a shared responsibility to prevent ergonomic injuries and ensure temporary worker safety at warehousing job sites.

During this webinar, attendees will learn:

• Joint responsibilities of staffing firms and host employers and what each should do to ensure that temporary workers placed at warehouse job sites are protected from injuries
• How ergonomic injuries can occur and how they can be prevented
• Responsibilities of both the host employer and staffing firm in protecting workers from recognized ergonomic hazards
• The OSHA and ASA guidance resources available for attendees to learn more.

Presenters

Courtney Frost

occupational safety and health specialist, U.S. Department of Labor, OSHA

Frost is an occupational safety and health specialist at the U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. She has worked for OSHA for more than 13 years and is currently working for the directorate of enforcement programs, Office of General Industry and Agricultural Enforcement out of OSHA’s national office located in Washington, D.C. Before transitioning to the national office, she was a certified safety and health official (CSHO) for 12 years in OSHA’s Pittsburgh-area office. Prior to joining OSHA, she spent two years working in the private sector as a safety professional for a large retail grocer, covering four warehousing and distribution centers.

Brittany Sakata

general counsel, American Staffing Association

Sakata serves as general counsel for the American Staffing Association. She is a former labor and employment attorney who advises ASA members on a broad range of legal matters, including equal employment opportunity and wage and hour laws, immigration/I-9, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and paid leave issues. She is principal ASA liaison to the formal ASA/OSHA temporary worker safety alliance, Office of Disability Employment Policy alliance, and ASA employee safety committee. Sakata graduated from George Mason University and earned a juris doctor degree from the Washington College of Law at American University.

Marc Vargas

industrial hygienist, ergonomics, U.S. Dept. of Labor, OSHA

Vargas has over twenty-five years of experience in the field of occupational safety and health. Since 1997, he has held positions with OSHA as a compliance safety and health officer safety specialist and as an industrial hygienist in Regions 4 and 2. He has investigated many industries and workplaces including construction, hospitals, and chemical manufacture, and has also given safety and construction training to vulnerable workers through community-based organizations during his tenure at OSHA. He also has experience and knowledge in ergonomics as the lead investigator in several noteworthy cases, including his work in 2015 that resulted in issuance of the agency’s first ergonomics-related 5(a)(1) citation in the airline industry. Most recently, Vargas served as an industrial hygienist in Region 2’s technical support office and was instrumental in developing ergonomic cases within the warehousing industry.

This webinar qualifies for 1.5 hour of CE toward maintaining your ASA credential.