NEP on Amputations in Manufacturing: OSHA extends program in three states

Philadelphia — OSHA has launched an initiative to help reduce hazards that can lead to amputations among industrial and manufacturing workers in Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The initiative is an extension of the agency’s National Emphasis Program on Amputations in Manufacturing Industries. NEPs are temporary and focus OSHA resources on certain hazards and high-hazard industries.

Enforcement activities are slated to begin March 10, according to three Feb. 26 press releases, and the NEP will remain in effect until the agency cancels it. OSHA will focus on workplaces where the agency “has determined that unguarded or improperly guarded machinery and equipment played a role in employee injuries.”

OSHA points to its machine guarding webpage, where employers can find compliance assistance resources and required procedures to properly guard machinery.

From 2015 to 2018, 78% of all amputation injuries in Delaware occurred in industries covered by the NEP initiative, according to OSHA. In West Virginia and Pennsylvania, the percentage was 55 and 52, respectively.

“When not properly safeguarded, moving machine parts can cause severe workplace injuries, like amputations,” OSHA Region 3 Administrator Michael Rivera said in each release. “OSHA’s National Emphasis Program on Amputations in Manufacturing Industries aims to raise employer and worker awareness about the safeguards essential for preventing these unnecessary and devastating injuries.”