Occupational Safety and Health Administrations – Regional News Release – April 22, 2009

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is proposing one willful and four serious safety violations against B&H Contracting Inc. following an inspection at the company’s jobsite in Dothan.

The agency is proposing $53,400 in penalties, including a $42,000 penalty for willfully allowing employees to work unprotected in a 12-foot-deep trench being dug for a new concrete sewer line. The agency defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.

Penalties of $11,400 are being proposed against the Florala, Ala., company for serious violations that include allowing employees to work in the trench without a safe means of access and egress, allowing spoil piles and equipment within two feet of the trench face, not removing employees from the trench where there was evidence that a hazard existed and allowing employees to work in a trench while a concrete pipe was hoisted over their heads by an excavator. A serious violation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

“OSHA is putting a special emphasis on reducing the number of trenching and excavation injuries through increased inspections of construction sites,” said Kurt Petermeyer, OSHA’s area director in Mobile, Ala. “In this situation, rather than incorporating safety into the company’s normal routine, the onsite supervisor chose to ignore OSHA standards and endanger his employees’ lives just to save a little time.”

True or False, Employers can write the most detailed Safety Handbook, hire the most experience supervisors and managers, and their safety program can still be a dismal failure? True. Contrary to popular belief Safety Handbooks do not impact how, when, where or why employees are injured.

Some employers assume that if they write a comprehensive safety handbook that follows the Occupational Safety and Health Standards to the letter and distribute it during New Employee Orientation – employees will read it, follow the expressed directions, remember to work safely and ultimately avoid injuries. All of these assumptions are false. Safety Handbooks provide false hope that everything is ok in the work environment.

Most safety handbooks end up on a bookshelf with no practical application in the workplace. On rare occasions, the book is dusted off to satisfy the workers’ compensation insurance carrier, or to show OSHA that you have a formal written program, or to find the exact wording to discipline an employee who violated a safety rule.

Employers, who think that writing a safety handbook will prevent injuries, also hope that their employees will follow directions and remain injury free. As the statistics show, employees are injured every day, every hour and every second. Instead of relying solely on a written safety handbook, employers should attempt to answer one simple question, what can I do to create a safe and injury free work environment?

Employer’s who successfully answer this question do not take a hands off approach to injury prevention. They understand the mandate to provide employees with a safe work environment; they also understand that injury prevention starts by creating a culture where safety is paramount and procedures are in place to effectively prevent, monitor and manage occupational injuries.

There are volumes of safety information readily available on the internet to help employers implement safety in the workplace, the only problem, most organizations do not access and use the information effectively. Proactive employers utilize the free resources and tools that are readily available on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s website – www.osha.gov to implement best practice in their work environment. They use the OSHA resources to research the safety requirements for their industry, implement employee centered training programs and ultimately reduce or eliminate injuries.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel – OSHA has already tested, documented and created a venue to disseminate it to employers. Use the resources as a guide; look for trends in your industry, alliances with your industry trade associations, inspections that OSHA conducted at similar businesses. What did they site? Do you have the same problems in your work environment? What can you do to eliminate the exposure or risk?

Your work does not stop there; now you have to create a method to disseminate the safety information to your managers, supervisors and line employees. The best approach, develop and implement job specific safety training programs with an emphasis on injury avoidance. Your training program should be formal, consistent, uniform and documented. The information gathered during your research can be incorporated into your job specific policies, procedure manuals and transferred into a formal hands-on training program. The resources can also be used to implement on-going safety awareness programs.

Remember, creating a safe work environment starts by insuring that employees understand the specifics of each job you are asking them to do. This means training the employee on the exact job tasks, method or methods for completing the job safely. Evaluate every department or work area in your organization, identify potential injury prone areas and implement procedures to avoid injuries. After implementing your training program develop a competency matrix to insure that the training is effective.

When incidents happen do not bury your head in the sand, investigate the root case of the accident and immediately develop procedures to keep it from happening again. Create a corrective disciplinary policy for employees who violate safety rules and for supervisors who tolerate non-compliance. A corrective disciplinary program includes retraining the employee, providing guidance and establishing a method to verify that the employee is complying with your safety policies.

Safety conscious employers, train their employees, mandate that they follow appropriate safety procedures, provide ongoing educational opportunities and enforce safety rules.

Yes, a written safety handbook is necessary but it should not be the focal point or the only method used to implementing safety in the workplace – it is just one component of the process.

Resources:

Occupational Safety and Health Administration – www.osha.gov
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health – www.niosh.gov
Centers for Disease Control – http://cdc.gov

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics – there were 4.1 million non-fatal occupational injuries or illness in 2006.  13 percent of all occupational injuries occur within 90 days of employment, 23 percent occur within four hours of arriving at work – for the first time. Unfortunately, 9 out of 10 businesses fail to implement simple strategies during the selection and hiring of new employees that would eliminate their exposure to workers’ compensation claims.   

Before the hiring process, write a clear job description with specific focus on the job demands. Present that job description to the employee during the interview process. Ask specific questions to make sure the job requirements are understood. Employees want to know what you are expecting from them, at the same time, having a detailed job description will let potential hires know that you run a very organized company.

After you hire the employee, it is your job to use the probationary, or introductory, period to train and evaluate the employee. This period is called the “introductory” period for a reason—to allow you time to introduce the new employee to your work environment, job concepts and to evaluate their performance. Do not assume that your new employee’s are “trained”, because they have experience on a resume.

New employee orientation is not training, asking a new employee to observe the work environment with a co-worker is not training – it’s an overview. It is your responsibility to help new employees understand the specifics of each job task you are asking them to do. Along with the specifics, they should be provided with safety rules and appropriate training. Yes, teach and enforce safety rules from the beginning!  Don’t stop there – safety continues everyday.

Implementing polices and procedures to avoid workplace injuries should start the day you go into business, not the day an employee gets hurt. Training your employees, mandating that they follow appropriate procedures, provide ongoing safety education and keep a watchful eye on employees up who violate safety procedures are some of the key components to eliminate occupational injuries.

Do not condone safety violations – you have a legal mandate to provide a safe work environment and your employees have an obligation to follow your safety rules. As the employer, you want to make sure that every employee goes home to their family at the end of each workday – adding safety to your organizations culture is one way to make this happen.

A winning Injury Prevention Program starts with good hiring strategies that include selecting the right candidate, ensuring that they work safely and guiding them to become productive members of your team – starting on Day One.