$69,058 in Penalties to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. for Endangering Employees

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued seven serious citations against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. for exposing its employees to burn, hazardous energy, amputation, and caught-in safety hazards. The company faces proposed penalties of $69,058.

OSHA investigators inspected Goodyear’s Social Circle facility in August 2017, and found that the company failed to provide effective personal protective equipment to employees exposed to burn hazards; did not provide procedures for controlling hazardous energy during equipment maintenance operations; and exposed employees to burns from heated tire treads, and caught-in hazards from unguarded machines.

“Our inspection found multiple safety deficiencies that put employees at risk of serious injury or death,” said OSHA Area Office Director William Fulcher, in Atlanta. “Potential workplace hazards must be assessed and eliminated to ensure employees are afforded a safe work environment.”

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees.

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Top 10 Items You Need for ISN Compliance

Contractor pre-qualification programs give companies a way to limit the liability risks that onsite contractors can bring. If you want to work for clients who use these programs, you must pay the cost to be a member and then take the time and effort to enter your company information into the system. At first glance, ISNetworld setup can be a daunting task. To help get you prepared, we present the Top 10 items you’ll need to gather for ISNetworld compliance.

  1. General Company Information

You will need to know basic information about your company such as date established, structure, addresses and contacts, special codes and numbers (NAICS, Tax ID, DUNS – SAM, etc.), number of employees, financial and project references and more.

  1. Safety Policies and Procedures

You will be asked a number of questions about your safety policies. How is your safety program set up, how is it built and who’s responsible?  What’s the management structure and is company leadership involved?  Are hourly employees involved and do you have full-time safety personnel?  What training do supervisors get? Do you do audits, who does them and how often?

Also included are questions about safety meetings, training, documentation, observations, stop work policies, hazard reporting, policies for new hires, incident investigation and communication.

  1. Written Safety Programs

If you’re following OSHA compliance, you should already have written safety programs for the hazards your employees can be exposed to. Depending on the services you say you provide, ISNetworld and your client will generate a list of the individual written safety programs that you need. There will be specific elements that you’ll be required to incorporate into your written programs, so it’s likely you’ll need to update your programs. Be very mindful what your revised program commits your company to. If it’s written in your program that your company will do something, you need to do it. If not, you could expose yourself to fines from OSHA for not following your own plan.

ISNetworld will ask you every 3 years to revalidate these programs to ensure they are still current.

  1. Training Programs

For many of the written programs, you’ll be asked to upload corresponding training sign-ins and information from those classes, so you may need to conduct additional training on a variety of topics. Be prepared to answer questions related to what kind of training you provide to new hires and routine employees, how often and how they are documented.

  1. Regulatory Data

You will need to track OSHA injury and illness data on a quarterly basis. This information is required to be input both quarterly and annually. You’ll also need 3 years of historical data. In ISNetworld you are graded on your 3-year average safety numbers and how they compare to industry standards. Thus, if you have a bad year, your grades may suffer for 3 years.

If you have commercial vehicles, you may need to enter DOT numbers and annual stats for number of drivers, miles driven, number of units, owner operators and violations. You’ll also need to enter in information about your company vehicle/driver programs and policies.

  1. Insurance

Individual insurance certificates will need to be uploaded for each client, and each will have specific requirements.  Be mindful of what the insurance requirements are for each client and know ahead of time what policies you have and what that covers.  Sometimes clients will require specialized policies or varying levels of coverage for certain items that can end up costing thousands of dollars if you agree to that.  However, sometimes these things can be negotiated down, depending on what you’re going to do onsite.  It just depends on the client and the situation.

Check with your insurance company to see if they’re a member of ISNetworld. If so, you can assign them to your account and they can upload certificates and deal with the nuances and negotiations for you. You will also need to enter 3 years of experience modification rate data and upload those documents as well.

  1. Employee and Contractor Data

Some clients will require you to track the number of hours that you and/or your subcontractors spent on the site each month.  These reports are required at the beginning of the month and are often required per site location.  Among the data you may need to report (depending on client requirements) will be hours spent onsite, number of employees onsite, number of miles driven, number of incidents (accidents, fires, spills), subcontractor hours, subcontractor numbers, subcontractor travel data, etc.  Some companies need to keep track of this information for PSM purposes and some like to keep track of contactor activities onsite.

  1.  Human Resources-Type Information

You’ll be asked to input your drug and alcohol policies and procedures.  Some owner clients will require you to have individual employees tested for drugs and alcohol through one of their approved vendors who shares the data directly with the program so that they can see if employees are in a green “OK” status or a red status.  They may also require background checks for each employee who will come onsite as well.   You may also need to provide employee personal information separately to your client to comply with Department of Homeland Security checks as well.  Pandemic preparedness programs are required from many clients, so what are your procedures and policies with that?  Thus, you may need to pull in some of your HR department to help you accomplish some of these requirements and get some answers.

  1. Other Procedures — Sustainability and Cyber Security

Within the past year we’ve seen questions pop up in ISNetworld and throughout multiple programs about our corporate sustainability and social responsibility programs.  One program (not ISNetworld) required us to write a separate written policy statement against human trafficking and a written policy on our stance on child and forced labor.  ISNetworld has also started getting into cyber security policies. There is an extensive questionnaire regarding computer systems and cyber security measures.  Several owner clients required us to develop a written cyber security program.  So besides HR personnel, you may need to bring in your IT people and anyone responsible for sustainability programs.

  1. Individual Training

More and more clients are requiring individuals to do the facility-specific safety orientation training ahead of time before ever stepping onsite.  Thus, if you have a specific project that you’re getting ready for, you may need to know exactly who is going to be involved in the project so that you can assign this training to them.  This would include subcontractor employees too.  Some clients will let you do the training all at once in a group, but more and more are requiring individuals to be given separate logins so that they can complete the training themselves.  So you may need to eventually gather email addresses for individuals who may not have a company email address and budget for time for those employees to take that training.

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Labor Law Changes in 2018

2018 is just around the corner and with it changes in labor laws in many states, now is the time for employers, business owners, & HR compliance professionals to educate themselves on upcoming labor law changes that take effect 1/1/2018. Below we have a list of the different states and which laws that are changing.

The most expected update to occur is state minimum wage rates. Since the Federal Minimum Wage hasn’t changed since 2009, most states have issued their own minimum wage laws to match the cost of living in their areas. Many highly populated states increase their minimum wage rates the first of every New Year. Minimum Wage posters are one of the required posters that come included in the All-In-One 2018 Labor law Poster which also includes OSHA, Paid Sick Leave, Discrimination, Workers’ Compensation and all additional mandatory posters applicable to your state.

Alaska: Minimum Wage
Arizona:  Earned Paid Sick Time(new posting) & Minimum Wage
California: Transgender Rights in the Workplace(new posting)
Colorado: Minimum Wage
Connecticut: Pregnancy Discrimination & Accommodation(new posting) & Discrimination
District of Columbia: Minimum Wage
Florida: Minimum Wage
Louisiana: Earned Income Credit
Maine: Minimum Wage
Massachusetts: Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
Michigan:  Discrimination Posting & Minimum Wage
Minnesota: Minimum Wage
Missouri: Minimum Wage
Montana: Minimum Wage
Nevada: Domestic Violence Victims (new posting)
New Jersey: Minimum Wage
New York: Minimum Wage & Paid Family Leave(new posting)
Ohio: Minimum Wage
Oregon: Minimum Wage
Rhode Island: Minimum Wage
South Dakota: Minimum Wage
Vermont: Pregnancy Accomodation
Washington: Minimum Wage & Paid Sick Leave

With all these changes means that new Labor Law posters are required in the work place. Make sure to contact 1 Stop Compliance today to order your new updated Labor Law posters!

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I Received an ISNetworld Letter! Now What?

I received an ISNetworld Letter! This suddenly lands in your mailbox: “We are pleased to announce (COMPANY) has recently established a business relationship with ISNetworld® to further enhance our contractor/supplier management program. As a result of this action, contractors/suppliers and their subcontractors performing services for (COMPANY YOU WANT TO KEEP WORKING FOR) are required to become subscribers to ISNetworld®.”  Everyone receives this ISNetworld® Letter if you are being requested to join because of a client. We know there can be many questions as to why you received this letter and what happens from here. After receiving your ISNetworld® Letter we are here to help you through the process of getting ISNetworld® compliant!

Companies and contractors both pay to secure an account with a third-party auditor, such asISNetworld®, PICS® , PEC Premier® , BROWZ, ComplyWorks®, Veriforce, Textura, and others. After establishing an account, the client uploads requirements specific to their companies, projects, and job sites to ensure the prospective contractors post detailed qualifications of their company and employees. If a contractor wants to work for an owner, they must ensure they meet all of the needs of the owner.

Throughout the process, the third-party auditor inspects and validates the documentation uploaded. Common types of documentation and requirements include safety programs, training programs, insurance information, workers’ compensation information, incident statistics, financial stability, and past performance.

Bringing any third party auditor account to a 100% score can be a daunting and time-consuming task.  However, we know this requires time, money, and close attention. But the benefits of properly utilizing a third party auditor more than outweigh the cons!

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What are RAVS®?


RAVS stands for the Review and Verification Services section of your account. Here, you upload your safety program. Generally, most accounts can have anywhere from 16-40 programs that need to be custom written and submitted for review.

Contractors often assume that RAVS® and safety programs serve the same function in the ISN® compliance process, but in reality they are distinctly different. In the same way that Cliff Notes provide a summary of a book, RAVS provide a brief overview of the content that is contained in a contractor’s safety program.

ISNetworld® requires RAVS® to be submitted as part of the ISN® compliance process, but without a compliant safety program, contractors are still at risk. 1 Stop Compliance can provide RAVS® for contractors based on their safety programs, but is not held liable for the content of contractors’ own safety programs. It is the responsibility of contractors to ensure their safety programs meet industry standards for compliance, and that their employees adhere to the practices outlined in those programs. If you are unsure whether or not your safety program is up to par, Blakeman & Associates can review and suggest revisions or create an entirely new safety program specifically for your company.

Unfortunately, some third-party data providers do not clarify the difference between RAVS® and safety programs and the importance of having them both, which can lead to a misunderstanding of liability.

Learn more about ISNetworld® Compliance

Ready to start the ISNetworld® Compliance Process? Fill out the form below and we will contact you to get you started!

* These fields are required.

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6 Things You Should Know Before Hiring A Safety Consultant

In today’s marketplace, there is no shortage of “consultants” willing to share their advice for a fee.  But when it comes to your worker’s safety, there are a few things you should know about him or her before you write them a check.

  1. Academic Qualifications – Academic qualifications are important and, as a result, degree programs in safety have become more prevalent in the last decade.  But just because your prospective consultant has a degree in safety doesn’t mean they are a good fit for your company. Of greater relevance is “real-world” experience and results. Look for consultants who have both education and experience.
  2. Professional Organizations & Memberships – This is another potentially confusing area for the average business owner / decision-maker. While some organizations and professional safety designations such as ASSE and CSP are highly reputable and require documented credentials for membership, many are latecomers with questionable standards.  Look for certifications that don’t just require the candidate to sit through a class or pay an application fee to receive a credential.
  3. On-the-Job Experience – Look for evidence that the consultant has previously dealt with problems similar to yours through their previous work history. A capable safety consultant can easily transition among many different industries in applying sound principles of safety management.  Does their experience indicate satisfactory knowledge of both the technical aspects of safety management as well as the “human” factors?
  4. Clients & References– Who are their clients? Are they known to you? Are they established companies? Don’t hesitate to ask for contact names and phone numbers for current (and former) clients. Avoid placing undue weight on any single recommendation. Seek a balanced, overall assessment of the previous work. A great indicator of a valuable safety consultant is when a former employer becomes a current client.
  5. Will they solve your problem? – Certainly, there are never any guarantees. In fact, one should be extremely wary of the safety consultant who “guarantees” that his work will produce a given dollar result.  Explain your problem thoroughly and listen closely to the answers. Do the answers appear to match your needs? Do they speak plain English or do they frequently fall into jargon? If you can’t understand what they’re saying, what good is their advice? Anyone can recite passages from OSHA Standards. The true skill is in understanding and applying them to a client’s individual circumstances.  A competent consultant will explain safety requirements in everyday language and be able to clearly communicate the ways that compliance can benefit your business.
  6. Finally, Insurance – The professional safety consultant cares enough about his business (and the client’s) to protect it with, at a minimum, $1,000,000 of professional liability and $1,000,000 of general liability coverage. He will willingly produce certificates of insurance as evidence of this.  Please note that legitimate certificates are sent directly from the insurance carrier to the client, NOT provided by the consultant. Anyone with a copy machine and a bottle of “white-out” can phony-up certificates of insurance.
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OSHA and ISEA Partner to Protect Workers’ Safety and Health

OSHA and the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) today signed an alliance to provide members, employers, and employees with information on how to properly select, use, maintain, and store personal protective and safety equipment.

During the two-year agreement, participants will also share information on developments in national consensus standards for personal protective and safety equipment.

ISEA is a non-profit trade association for protective equipment and technology that helps employees work safely in hazardous environments. The association has partnered with OSHA to share information on Agency campaigns, such as the National Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in ConstructionHeat Illness Prevention, and Safe + Sound Week. ISEA also donated personal protective equipment for workers and volunteers during cleanup efforts following hurricanes in Texas and Puerto Rico.

Through its Alliance Program, OSHA fosters collaborative relationships with groups committed to worker safety and health, such as trade and professional organizations, unions, consulates, faith- and community-based organizations, businesses, and educational institutions, to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries, and illnesses. Alliance partners help OSHA reach targeted audiences, such as employers and workers in high-hazard industries, and give them better access to workplace safety and health tools and information.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance.

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5 Tips to Prevent Workplace Slips, Trips, and Falls

According the US Department of Labor slips, trips and falls account for the majority of accidents that occur within general industry. Typically these types of accidents occur due to a loss of traction between ones shoe and the walking surface or when inadvertent contact with a fixed movable object occurs which may lead to a fall. Most slip, trip and fall incidents are preventable with general precautions and safety measures.

Here are five tips to prevent workplace slips, trips and falls:

  1. Create Good Housekeeping Practices—Plan ahead and know what needs to be done and who is going to be doing what in particular work areas, assign responsibilities, and implement a program that establishes good housekeeping procedures as part of daily routines.
  1. Reduce Wet or Slippery Surfaces–Traction on outdoor surfaces can change considerably when weather conditions change. Such conditions can then affect indoor surfaces as moisture is tracked in by pedestrian traffic. Traction control procedures should be constantly monitored for their effectiveness.
  1. Create and Maintain Proper Lighting—Poor lighting in work areas is associated with an in increase in incidents so always use proper illumination in walkways, stairways, ramps, hallways, basements, construction areas and dock areas and always keep areas around light switches clear and accessible. Repair fixtures, switches, and cords immediately if they malfunction.
  1. Wear Proper Shoes—The shoes employees wear can play a big part in preventing falls. Employees should be expected to wear footwear that is appropriate for the duties they perform.
  1. Control Individual Behavior—Employees should make all efforts to stay alert and pay attention to their actions and their surroundings. Taking shortcuts, not watching where one is going, using a cell phone, carrying materials which obstructs the vision, wearing sunglasses in low-light areas, not using designated walkways and speed are common elements in many on-the-job injuries.
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Hiring A Safety Consultant For Your ISNetworld® Compliance

If you are looking for help with ISNetworld® compliance, hiring a safety consultant may feel necessary. A quick google search will yield the names of numerous companies offering downloadable safety programs and monitoring services to assist you. But how do you know if these companies are qualified to help you with both ISNetworld® and OSHA safety requirements? And how do you choose one among the many choices?

Here are some tips and red flags to look out for:

  1. Avoid ISNetworld® consultants who only provide cookie cutter, downloadable safety programs and no real safety advice.   Although a cheap downloadable program may solve your ISNetworld® compliance problem in the short run, it is not enough.  A professional safety consultant will provide customized safety plans that fit your company’s operations and will advise you on implementation so that the ultimate goal of a clean safety record for your company is achieved.  If you are audited, the cookie cutter plan that was never implemented will not be sufficient to keep your company in compliance, so it’s best to do it right the first time.
  2. Make sure you understand the scope of the services to be provided.  There are many levels of ISNetworld® consulting available in the market place.  Some companies just provide data maintenance and document processing services, which means that they simply take care of drafting cookie-cutter safety programs and uploading them into ISNetworld® for you.  Monitoring of your information is usually available for a quarterly or annual fee.  Other companies will offer enhanced safety services on a monthly or quarterly basis (for example, safety meetings, OSHA representation,  and accident investigations), and some will offer turn-key, full service safety management services for your company.  Make sure you understand what you are getting when you sign on with your consultant, and that they are qualified to provide the level of support your company needs.
  3. Check your potential consultant’s references and reputation.  Referrals from your industry peers are a great source of names of potential consultants, as well as local safety organizations, such as your local chapter of the American Association of Safety Engineers.  If you are unsure, don’t hesitate to ask for client names and references. Your ISNetworld® compliance grade directly impacts your company’s bottom line, so make sure the consultant you are hiring is competent.
  4. Remember that safety management is about more than just your ISNetworld® compliance. A good safety consultant can help you understand and comply with OSHA requirements, improve your safety record, and maintain your company’s reputation as a safe company to do business with and work for.
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How To Start A Workplace Safety Program

So you’re wondering how to start a workplace safety program at your company and not sure where to begin?  Building an effective health and safety program for the first time is a major undertaking, so it’s important to gain some perspective and understanding of the basic requirements and challenges you’re likely to face along the way, so we’ve created this blog post in hopes of helping you do just that!  Think of this article as an “Introduction to OSHA Compliance 101.”

With that said, let’s get on with it…

High Hazard Industries:

Let’s begin by making sure that your company needs a workplace safety program, because not every company does.  To make a long story short, any company who’s operations exposes their employees to workplace health or safety hazards must take steps to mitigate those hazards by developing and managing a workplace safety program.   Here’s a brief list of common industries that just about always have workplace health and safety hazards:  manufacturing, construction, industrial services, warehousing/distribution, healthcare and even certain retail businesses.

If your company is in one of these industries, then there’s a very high probability that you’ll need to develop and manage an OSHA compliance program and the rest of this blog post describes the fundamentals of what that means.

Workplace Health & Safety Hazards:

So what exactly are workplace health and safety hazards?  Unfortunately, there’s a wide range of health and safety hazards that if not properly managed, can result in serious employee injuries, illnesses and in extreme cases can even lead to death.

Safety Hazards:

Some of the more common safety hazards include falls from heights, struck-by and caught-between, accidental release of hazardous energy (electrical and mechanical), unguarded machinery, chemical burns, fires, and even workplace violence.

Health Hazards:

In addition to these safety hazards, there’s also a long list of health hazards that must be managed too.  These include exposures to toxic chemicals & metals and/or other contaminants such as dust or bodily fluids that can lead to serious health problems.  Then there’s potential exposure to excessive noise levels which can result in hearing loss over time.

So there you have it, we’re off to a good start:  if your company is in a high hazard industry which exposes your employees to potentially harmful health and safety hazards, then you’ll need to develop a workplace heath and safety program to help protect your employees from those hazards.

Sounds great, but what exactly does that mean and how do you do that?

Controlling Hazards:

Ok, so let’s try to simplify things a little.  Think of a workplace safety program as nothing more than a set of “controls” which are put into place to help protect employees from the potential harm posed by workplace health and safety hazards.

Actually, there’s a recommended hierarchy of health and safety controls as follows:

  • Elimination: The best option is to eliminate the hazard if at all possible. for example,  a company could scrap an old and damaged forklift that is no longer safe to operate.
  • Substitution: Substitute the hazard with something less hazardous. For example, a company could replace a hazardous chemical with a non-hazardous chemical.
  • Engineering controls: Machine guards to protect from pinch points, rotating parts, etc.
  • Administrative controls: Use of safety policies and procedures, employee safety training, rotating employees to reduce excessive exposure to loud noises etc.
  • Personal protective equipment: Safety glasses, hard hats, steel toed boots.

Notice that PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is at the bottom of the list.  PPE should be considered the last line of defense only after all other control options have been considered.

There’s much more to learn about this subject, but this should give you a good idea of what health and safety controls consist of.  Again, each of these controls are intended to help mitigate the risks associated with workplace health and safety hazards.

OSHA Compliance:

In order to help employers manage health and safety issues, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, or OSHA, has developed a series of Standards, each of which is designed to address most of the major hazards that exist in the workplace.  For example, there’s a standard for fall hazards (Fall Protection), chemical hazards (Hazard Communication), noise hazards (Hearing Conservation), respiratory hazards (Respiratory Protection), forklifts (Powered Industrial Trucks) and even standards to address toxic metals like lead.  Each of these standards contain and specify various controls which are intended to help mitigate specific health or safety hazards.

Think of OSHA compliance as a “prevention program” which mandates that impacted employers manage these standards, and their associated controls, to help prevent workplace injuries and illnesses.

Let me give an example of an actual OSHA standard to help illustrate the point.  The OSHA standard which addresses chemical safety, is called Hazard Communication (don’t ask me where they got this name, because I have no idea!).  The standard addresses all of the various hazards posed by chemicals, including burns, fires, health impacts, etc.  The primary controls included in this standard are as follows:

  • Safety Data Sheets, aka SDS’s (formerly known as MSDSs) which spell out all of the hazards associated which every chemical known to man.
  • Labeling: Manufacturers and employers must properly label chemical containers in order to communicate the hazards associated with the chemical (fire, burns, toxicity, etc.).
  • Employee Training: The primary purpose of training is to educate workers on how to read and understand SDSs, safely handle chemicals, properly label chemical containers and how to dawn and doff Personal Protective Equipment.
  • Personal Protective Equipment (“PPE”) needed to protect workers from chemical hazards such burns, inhalation, etc. PPE includes things like gloves, safety glasses, respirators, etc.

The idea being that if an employer implements and manages all elements and controls included in the Hazard Communication standard, then their employees should then be protected from the various hazards presented by the chemicals they use.  Of course no standard is perfect, nor are people, so there’s obviously no guarantee that all future chemical injuries will be prevented, but at least the basic hazards and risks have been addressed.

Keep in mind that OSHA hasn’t developed standards to address ALL workplace health and safety hazards, only the most common and risky ones.  For all other hazards, OSHA has a “catch- all” called the General Duty Clause which basically states that employers must identify and control any other recognized hazards, in order to protect their employees from potential harm.  A simple example might be tearing down an old, wind damaged shade awning that employees stand under for smoking breaks, because the employer realizes that it could collapse at any time.

More on OSHA Compliance:

It’s worth pointing out that OSHA standards are only designed to address “baseline” hazards and risks, and that many of their standards and laws were developed way back in the early 1970’s and haven’t been updated since.  As a result, companies are always advised to go “over and above” OSHA standards by referencing and following guidance from other more up to date health and safety agencies such as National Safety Council, ANSI, etc.   Having said that, it’s tough enough for most small businesses to achieve OSHA compliance, so it’s always best to start there, and then worry about going “over and above” later down the road.

It’s also worth pointing out that OSHA standards are Federal laws that all impacted employers must follow or face the consequences.  Companies who fail to do so face major fines and penalties that can run into the $tens and even $hundreds of thousands of dollars, and  potential criminal liabilities if employees get killed as a result of employer negligence.

Which OSHA Standards Apply to Your Company?

At this point, you might be wondering how to determine which OSHA standards apply to your operations?  And this question leads us to revealing the first major step that any company needs to take in order to begin the process of implementing an OSHA health and safety compliance program.  And that first step is to conduct a health and safety audit or assessment of your company to: 1) determine which workplace hazards are present in your operations, which will then 2) determine which OSHA Standards apply to your business.

Ideally, the end result of a solid health and safety compliance assessment will provide a “roadmap to compliance” which spells out exactly what a company needs to do in order to achieve and manage their OSHA compliance requirements.

Correcting Health & Safety Hazards:

A good, comprehensive OSHA compliance audit not only identifies all relevant hazards, but also itemizes all violations and recommended corrective actions for each.  These corrective actions will include reference to relevant OSHA standards and the specific controls and elements that are required to abate the violation such as engineering controls, written procedures, training, testing, PPE, etc.. The audit would also address other “administrative” deficiencies and requirements such as record keeping (ie: OSHA 300 logs) and reporting requirements.

Typically, the first step after completing a health and safety audit is correcting any and all physical hazards identified in the workplace, since these often pose the greatest immediate risk to employees.  These hazards include things like machine guarding issues, faulty extension cords, defective ladders, unlabeled chemical containers, lack of fall protection, etc.

Your Health & Safety Manual:

While correcting these physical hazards, it’s a good idea to begin working on the next major project which is developing your customized health and safety manual.  This document will contain all of the specific OSHA standards which apply to the company as well as assigning key roles, etc.  This document essentially becomes the company’s “safety bible” and spells out exactly what the company needs to do in order to implement and manage their workplace safety program.

To give you a better idea of what a safety manual might contain, let’s take a typical manufacturing company as an example.  Such a manual might contain the following standards:  Hazard Communication, Ladders, Personal Protective Equipment, Lockout/Tagout, Respiratory Protection, Emergency Action Plan, Fall Protection, Cranes and Hoists, Hearing Conservation, Powered Industrial Trucks and maybe more.

On a related note, many companies make the mistake of downloading a generic safety manual which will normally contain information and standards that don’t necessarily apply to that business.  Again, the manual must be customized to your company’s specific operations and hazards!

More on Employee Safety Training:

This blog post wouldn’t be complete without taking a closer look at OSHA health and safety training requirements because this is one of the toughest requirements to comply with, especially for small businesses.

Again, just about all OSHA standards contain employee training requirements designed to help make employees aware of workplace health and safety hazards and how to avoid and manage them.  Conducting effective and comprehensive training is essential to the success of any workplace safety program, yet it’s one of the toughest controls to manage and therefore one of the most commonly cited violations.

Why is health and safety training so tough to manage?

  • Training must be customized to your operations: Many companies make the mistake of using generic videos or on-line resources.  Technically this is a violation of OSHA standards, because training must be customized to address the specific hazards present in a company’s operations.
  • Trainer must be competent: Companies who are serious about managing OSHA compliance will conduct live training sessions using competent trainers who understand the technical aspects of each standard, can engage their employees, and can answer employee questions. Many companies make the mistake of tasking managers and supervisors who lack the qualifications and experience to adequately train employees, which often ends up being a waste of time.
  • Training is time consuming: most training topics take between 30-60 minutes to properly train, and some topics take much longer.  Many companies make the mistake of believing that 10-15 minute “tailgate topics” are sufficient to meet OSHA standards, but they’re not.
  • Frequency requirements: OSHA requirements that some topics only be trained once, but many have annual training requirements. Even though not all topics are required to be trained annually, OSHA recommends that all topics be trained annually.
  • Employee turnover: Since most companies have employee turnover issues, and since OSHA requires that all impacted employees get trained, training becomes a never ending process for most companies.

Add it all up, and it’s clear that OSHA training is an expensive and inconvenient undertaking.  And if all of these challenges aren’t tough enough to deal with, employers must also commit to pulling employees off the production line to get trained.  This results in added payroll costs, production delays and other related disruptions.

Summary: Managing OSHA Compliance Is A Never Ending Process

Never forget that each of OSHA’s standards contain an extensive list of controls and elements that employers must implement and manage on an ongoing basis.  These controls include ongoing employee training, conducting evacuation drills, developing equipment specific LOTO procedures, conducting and documenting hazard assessments, health testing and the list goes on.  Many companies make the mistake of drafting their health and safety manual only to put it on the shelf to collect dust. Remember, this is your companies “safety bible” and spells out exactly what now needs to be managed on an ongoing basis in order to maintain OSHA compliance.

In addition to the requirements we’ve already discussed, the company must manage additional “administrative requirements” including their OSHA 300 logs (injury and illness records), record keeping and reporting requirements, as well as conducting routine inspections to identify and correct physical hazards which have a nasty way of popping up over and over again.  The company must also manage an internal enforcement program to ensure that employees follow safety rules, such as wearing PPE.

Risks & Liabilities For Failing To Manage OSHA Compliance:

It’s a lot to keep up with, but failure isn’t an option.  These are Federal laws that impacted companies must follow or risk major risks and liabilities including serious employee injuries, surprise OSHA inspections that can result in fines and penalties that can run into the $tens or even $hundreds of thousands of dollars, criminal liabilities if a fatality occurs as a result of employer negligence ($250,000 fine and up to 6 months of jail time), and then there are civil liabilities that can result in $multi-million settlements if an employee get seriously injured as a result of employer negligence.

Companies who fail to manage workplace safety face additional liabilities & risks including lost money, lost business, higher insurance costs, damaged company reputation & PR nightmares, legal costs, increased employee turnover, embarrassment and more.  It’s estimated that US companies lose $140 billion every year in combined direct and indirect costs associated with workplace injuries and illnesses.

What Now?

If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed and confused at this point, don’t feel bad because you’re definitely not alone especially if you own or work for a small business.  Small companies are at greatest risk because they almost always lack the time, money, resources and internal expertise needed to manage all of the complicated aspects of OSHA compliance.

Like any major project, it’s best to map out your plan, assign key roles and then take it one step at a time through to completion.  As we stated earlier, the first step is to conduct a health and safety assessment of your workplace to determine which health and safety hazards exist and therefore which OSHA standards will apply to your company and safety program.  This isn’t necessarily as easy as it sounds, and requires an experienced and qualified professional to get it done correctly.

We specialize in helping small companies manage environmental, health and safety compliance. 

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