Walden Presents at GNYADA’s OSHA Compliance Seminar!

This past Thursday (2/16/2023), Walden conducted an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) compliance seminar at the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association’s (GNYADA) Center for Automotive Education and Training. GNYADA is a trade association that provides services and support for auto dealers in the New York metro area. Throughout the year, it offers educational seminars to help members stay on top of evolving regulations and ensure they are well-positioned for success.

The speakers at Thursday’s seminar were Walden’s President Joseph Heaney, P.E. and Project Manager Massimiliano Lelli. Both Heaney and Lelli are Certified Safety Professionals (CSP). The covered topics included:

• The most recent updates to OSHA regulations
• The top 10 OSHA violations for dealerships, as well as ways that dealers can address each of these violations
• Rules for drum storage
• A review of hazard communication (HAZCOM), which includes inventory, safety data sheets (SDS), labels, written plans, and training
• Suggestions for ensuring the safety of technicians working on electric vehicles (EV), including an overview of electrical safety and instructions on handling high-voltage systems and EV batteries

During the seminar, the group also got the chance to identify staged OSHA violations in a visit to GNYADA’s service bay.

Additionally, Walden conducted a second session specifically for auto dealers in New York City, where attendees learned about the city’s Right-to-Know program and new energy requirements set forth in Local Law 97 (LL97). LL97 requires certain buildings in NYC to begin cutting their greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years, and Heaney and Lelli presented examples of potential fines for noncompliance to the audience.

Walden has been an Allied Member of GNYADA for over 19 years, which allows us to work with members to help them ensure that they are in compliance with regulations pertaining to environmental health and safety (EHS). It is a privilege to be able to work alongside GNYADA to serve their members and provide useful information to dealers to help ensure that they are operating as safely as possible and minimizing environmental impacts.

Walden provides a wealth of services for auto dealers, including HAZCOM training, indoor air monitoring, opacity testing, respirator fit testing and training, presale environmental audits, NYCDEP Community Right-to-Know filings, OSHA violation consulting and mitigation, AST design permitting and as-built registration, UST upgrades/design permitting, forklift safety training, and much more. Give us a call at 516-701-1681 if you are an auto dealer looking to learn more about how Walden can help with any of your EHS compliance needs!