Congress created the Department of
Labor’s Occupational Safety &
Health Administration (OSHA) under the Occupational Safety and Health Act,
which was signed by President Nixon on
Dec. 29, 1970. OSHA’s mission is to prevent
work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths
by enforcing rules, or standards, for work-place safety and health.
The agency recently released its top 10
list of most frequently cited standards in
fiscal year 2006 (October 2005 through
September 2006).
Companies can guard against accidents
and OSHA citations by understanding the
regulations that apply to them and implementing and managing programs to meet
their needs, says Jim Kapnick, president of
Kapnick Insurance Group. “Analyze the
claims and incidents you’ve had, do walk-throughs and examine your operations.
Then custom-tailor a program to those specific areas to maintain compliance,” he
explains.
Smart Business spoke with Kapnick
about OSHA standards, how to best identify and correct potential hazards and the
importance of communicating safety standards to employees.
What were the most cited OSHA standards in
2006?
Falls have been a leading cause of occupational death for several years, so it is not
surprising that scaffolding and fall protection were the top two most cited standards
in FY 2006. OSHA standard 1926.451
requires employers to provide scaffolding
at heights of 10 feet or more. OSHA standard 1926.501 protects construction workers working over 6 feet by providing rules
for fall protection.
How do the cited standards vary by industry
and company size?
OSHA cites the standards based on exposures. They prioritize the most significant
exposures first because they want to provide the most impact for their inspections.
For example, a steel forging operation is likely to get more attention than a restaurant, even though both have the potential
for accidents.
The standards are based both on the
industry and company size. A good example of this is construction. The construction industry represents about 4 percent of
the work force nationally, but about 50 percent of workplace fatalities. The result is
that there tends to be more inspection targeting construction and construction-related operations.
Targeting can be re-prioritized, however,
which may affect smaller companies or
less visible industries. In Michigan, there is
a special-emphasis program on companies
that apply spray-on truck bedliners, largely
due to a worker inhalation fatality a couple
of years ago. In this instance, these employers tend to be smaller mom-and-pop operations that otherwise might not have been
targeted for inspections because of their
size and their industry, but are now receiving enhanced focus.
How can a company best identify and correct
potential hazards?
One of the best things that can be done is
a formal safety program audit. This should
be performed by an independent source; someone who can objectively look at
what’s going on. It is easy not to see ‘the
forest through the trees’ when you walk
through your operations or review your
program documentation.
Having a credentialed safety/loss control
professional objectively examining the situation is often very helpful and can dramatically reduce your potential for fines
and other losses.
How should an employer communicate with
employees about safety standards?
The most important thing is that every
new employee has a strong and well-documented orientation program that includes
safety. Existing employees should be kept
up to speed through ongoing refresher
courses. As your organization evolves over
time, you need to make sure that your
employees are properly trained in safety
issues, as their tasks or jobs change or are
modified.
What resources are there for business owners about OSHA standards?
OSHA has valuable resources on its Web
site (www.osha.gov) and also provides
classes and consultation. Michigan is one
of 26 states that has its own state OSHA
plan, called MIOSHA.
In addition to compliance inspections,
MIOSHA provides a wide array of consultative and educational services. The
MIOSHA Consultation, Education &
Training Division (CET) puts on seminars
throughout the state, provides free on-site
nonpunitive mock inspections and has
numerous resource materials. Recently,
the organization put together a safety training awareness CD-ROM that you can
receive free of charge by visiting the Web
site at www.michigan.gov/miosha.
JIM KAPNICK is president of Kapnick Insurance Group. Reach
him at (888) 263-4656, x132 or [email protected].
Kapnick is a member of Assurex Global, an international network
of insurance & employee benefit brokers.
