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Issue link: https://rock.epubxp.com/i/673147
60 • ROCK products • May 2016 www.rockproducts.com FOCUS ON HEALTH & SAFETY Insurance policies are negotiated by Austin Powder with LLCs names as parties. Employee health, life, workers' comp, liability, vehicle and other insurance coverage is all held by Austin Powder. Vehicles and vehicle support services are provided by Austin Powder, which is also responsible for vehicle insurance, registration and maintenance. Austin Powder also provides the supplies for the blasting work for each LLC. Austin Powder maintains the corporate website, and customers contact the headquarters in Cleveland. "The APC organization is not held out to the world as being compromised of separate and distinct corporations that func- tion independently," Judge Andrews wrote. "Not adequately explained is just how this day-to-day conduct of business is different from the time prior to the reorganization when the LLCs were divisions that performed the same work and were considered an integral part of APC. The responsibility placed on the LLCs to perform the work at mines does not vitiate the functional integration of the entities." Common Management There is a common management between Austin Powder and its LLCs, and the three members of Austin Powder's board of directors are also the board of managers over each of the LLCs, and the secretary and treasurer of Austin Powder is also the person to head accounting and finance for each LLC. Judge Andrews also found a centralized control over mine health and safety through Austin Powder's mandatory, standardized ori- entations and training program for new hires, as well as an Austin Powder Employee Handbook for each new hire. Austin Powder provides all software that records all blasts carried out by each LLC, and it also conducts the blaster training. Employees who drive for the LLCs must go through an Austin Powder driver candidate training program, and they are also given an Austin Powder Driv- er Handbook that includes the company's processes and practices required of every driver. In this case, Judge Andrews said there is an "essential interdependence of the entities." Austin Powder "has a direct and immediate interest the activities of the sub- sidiary to ensure and protect the success of the business enterprise. I find this to be substantial involvement." "Despite Respondent's argument of 'operational inde- pendence,' local decision making required to fulfill the contractual obligations at a mine site neither functional- ly separates the LLC from Austin Powder nor disturbs the close cooperation between the entities. Austin Powder must have field operations to perform the revenue gener- ating work and the LLCs must have Austin Powder sup- port, oversight, guidance and control to efficiently, com- petently, safely and lawfully satisfy the obligations Austin Powder enters into with its client mine operators. "Companies are free to organize in any lawful manner," the judge said, " but if its activities bring it under the juris- diction of the Mine Act the form of the company will be secondary to the substance of intra-organization rela- tionships." In this case, Austin Powder and the LLCs "are so interrelated they function as a single entity," and both entities qualify as an "operator" under the Mine Act. AUSTIN POWDER CO., 3/9/2016, FMSHRC(J) Nos. PENN 2012- 116-R et al; 23 MSHN D-615 Rather than just assess compliance, Predictive Safety's inno- vative solutions can apply the cutting edge in data analyt- ics for safety training and management to anticipate where problems and unsafe situations may occur, the company said. Predictive Safety demonstrated its compliance, and safety and health management tools at the recent AGG1 show. All high-hazard industries and commercial enterprises are becoming more aware of fatigue management's importance as part of their safety programs, and Predictive Safety's tools and expertise can help companies develop practical solutions to increasing workplace safety while maintaining productivity, as account for and manage what regulations by nature cannot, like individual behavior that could create risk. Such solutions can shift the workplace's safety culture from one of compliance to one of prevention. The company now offers PRISM. PRISM instantly pulls the employee's past work schedule, assesses job risk profile, and uses other selected metrics to build a comprehensive fatigue and alertness profile. If warranted, the system will ask for a 60-second impairment test to confirm its findings. "Our custom-tuned algorithms analyze biometric indicators for each employee and provide real-time fatigue reports," said Josh Savit, senior manager, product development and sales. "The system predicts when an employee is likely to become fatigued, often hours before they begin to know it themselves." When PRISM detects that an employee's fatigue level will reach hazardous levels during their upcoming shift, it auto- matically notifies them and offers countermeasures to keep them alert. If no action is taken, notification escalates up to the supervisory level. The company's latest free guide lays out step-by-step how to successfully manage fatigue at companies of all sizes and industries. "From finding and implementing proactive technology to building a safety oriented company culture to in-depth tracking and analysis you'll learn our best practices for strategic, successful fatigue management," Savit said. For more information, go to www.predictivesafety.com. Focus on Fatigue Management