A Triple: What Kills in Automotive Shops, Contesting OSHA and Voluntary Respirator Use

By Janet L. Keyes, CIH

What kills in automotive shops?

Being crushed by vehicles. Taking cars for test drives. As we were perusing OSHA inspections for car dealers, we were struck by the number of fatality reports. That led to a search for OSHA-reported vehicle fatalities, such as these:

• A year ago, an employee started up a pickup truck to move it out of the repair shop. It immediately shot forward, crushing another employee against another vehicle. The truck had been left in gear because the parking brake wasn’t working.

• In July 2021, an employee put an RV on jacks to fix a flat tire. The RV shifted and fell, crushing the mechanic.

• Again in 2021, two different shops used forklifts to raise and move cars. When a car at each of those shops fell off the forklift, it crushed an employee to death.

• August 2021 – This time, the car wasn’t on a forklift. It was on an ordinary hydraulic lift when, for unexplained reasons, it rocked and then fell, killing the employee.

Don’t stand between vehicles and fixed objects. Inspect your lifts and jacks. Never rely on hydraulics – use jack stands; make sure the safety latches for vehicle lifts work. Don’t take shortcuts when working under vehicles.

Go Ahead and Contest

We recently saved a company $18,367. How? We recommended that they contest some OSHA violations. The company didn’t question the citations. They hadn’t been doing Right to Know/Hazard Communication training. They weren’t using respirators correctly. Employees were overexposed to a substance. Equipment wasn’t guarded. They hired us to help correct those problems. But we still recommended contesting because if you contest the citation, there’s a good chance you’ll pay less. If you don’t contest the citation, you’ll pay the full amount.

OSHA isn’t in the money-making business. Penalties assessed against employers go to Minnesota’s general fund, not MN/OSHA. MN/OSHA prefers to get corrections in place and come to a settlement agreement than to try to get every last penny out of an employer. OSHA doesn’t get mad or offended if you contest citations. Instead, our clients have usually been offered a 40 percent penalty reduction, once OSHA sees the companies are trying to correct the problems.

The company that saved $18,000 in OSHA penalties ended up paying a lot of money anyway. They had to pay us to get them on the right track with training and control measures. They paid for ventilation system upgrades and machine guarding fixes. It would have been cheaper to have fixed the problems before OSHA came in.

If you want to pay even more, don’t contest the citation and don’t correct the problem. In 2018, a car dealer in Duluth was cited for respirator program problems and lack of carbon monoxide monitoring. They paid the full amount of $2,400. This past February, OSHA cited them for the same problems. This time, the dealer paid the full penalty of $4,500. If it happens again, their penalties would jump substantially. For Minnesota to be able to continue to run its own OSHA program, it must raise its penalties to be in line with federal OSHA. Federal OSHA charges a minimum of $11,162 for repeated violations. $22,324 may not buy a new car, but it still is a good chunk of change.

Body Techs and Respirators

Painters need to wear respirators because of the isocyanates and solvents in the products they spray. Do body techs need respirators?

We don’t think they usually do, but they may want to. Dust levels may be uncomfortable, but are not likely to be close to legal or recommended exposure limits. Styrene, the solvent in body filler, is also likely to be well below limits. Respirators may be needed for priming or spraying poly, but those tasks need to be done in a spray booth or prep station to control the fire hazards.

If body techs are using N95 filtering facepieces, all you need to do to comply with OSHA’s respirator requirements is to hand out Appendix D to OSHA’s respirator standard. That cautions that users should read and follow manufacturers’ instructions, use NIOSHapproved respirators, wear the respirators only for protection against relatively low levels of particulates and keep track of their respirator.

But when we walk through body shops, we often see elastomeric (rubber-type) respirators, such as the bodyman’s mask. You can’t get by with just handing out Appendix D if employees use that type of respirator, even if use isn’t mandatory. You need to do three things to ensure use of the respirator won’t harm the employee:

• Get medical clearance. Anyone who is required to wear any type of respirator, including N95 filtering facepieces, must have medical approval to wear the respirator. But that’s also required for voluntary users of elastomeric respirators. Your occupational health clinic can handle this for you. There are also online options.

• Have standard procedures addressing how to take care of the respirator, so it doesn’t harm the user.

• Train users on those standard procedures, so they know how to take care of their respirators. They need to keep their respirators clean and in good condition. We shouldn’t see dirty masks with worn-out straps left on top of body techs’ tool chests.

As long as respirator use is not required, body technicians don’t need annual fit testing and training and they can be as hairy as they want. If they need to wear a respirator, though, they must be clean-shaven where the respirator seals to their face. If they aren’t, the respirator won’t give them enough protection.

Aftermarket Sales Multiplier

continued from pg. 9

ICE vehicles will disproportionately contribute to aftermarket product volume per mile compared to their percentage of the total light vehicle population and total miles driven.This will be an aftermarket sales multiplier for ICE cars and light trucks over the next 10 to 20 years.

ICE vehicles will generate strong aftermarket product sales for many years, even if the robust (and questionable) estimates of Electric Vehicle new sales materialize.

Six Major Takeaways

• Light vehicle aftermarket product use traditionally has been driven by VIO growth and increasing annual miles.

• The situation changed from 2019 through 2022, as COVID-19 prompted a sharp reduction in new vehicle sales and stagnated VIO growth and annual mileage.

• Product use per mile has been a key factor driving aftermarket product growth, given the slowing of VIO and total miles.

• With older vehicle age groups recording the fastest population growth among cars and light trucks, the aging vehicle population is generating substantial aftermarket product growth.

• Light trucks average greater aftermarket product use per mile than cars. The surge in the light truck share of the nation’s VIO is a major factor in increasing aftermarket product growth.

• Virtually all light trucks and vehicles in older age categories will be fossilfueled for a long time in the U.S. This will help to sustain the strength of the U.S. ICE aftermarket for decades.