Tom Andel

Otis: town drunk or model citizen?

Last week I told you of the Industrial Truck Association’s efforts to spread the word about OSHA’s Onsite Consultation Program, a free and confidential way to get help in solving safety problems. Companies can request a facility safety assessment addressing a single concern or a variety of them. Small employers can also go for SHARP certification, OSHA’s Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP).

The day after I got home from the ITA meeting where those programs were discussed, I read this in the Wall Street Journal:

“The biggest criticism of OSHA under Mr. Foulke [assistant secretary of labor in charge of OSHA] centers on the agency’s preference for seeking voluntary compliance from employers on safety goals rather than establishing new mandatory regulations.”

The article even quotes Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat, as saying that OSHA hasn’t lived up to its promise to set and enforce rules. I smell political gamesmanship.

Get used to that aroma. This is a big election year, and politicians from each party are posturing for their base. Some favor the good old fashioned hickory stick approach to getting companies back on the road to industrial safety. For them “voluntary compliance” is tantamount to Otis the town drunk locking himself up in Sheriff Taylor’s jail cell. On the other side of the aisle are those who will criticize this criticism without offering an alternative.  These programs ARE alternatives—and good ones.

Gary Cross, partner with Dunaway & Cross, ITA’s legal counsel, told me this gamesmanship isn’t new. OSHA has always had  a hard time passing complicated mandatory regulations. Remember the ergonomic standard of a few years back?

“One could make a case that the formal regulatory process wasn’t really accomplishing much and that this [voluntary compliance] approach was a logical alternative to try,“ Cross said. “From industry’s standpoint, we prefer an OSHA that tries to work with us rather than sitting out in Washington writing regulations without understanding the issues involved and all the complexities of different workplaces. ITA members support this approach.“

OSHA must continue wearing both the Good Cop and Bad Cop badge. We need both guys. However cops also appreciate citizens who police themselves, especially in an environment where it can take years to put out a comprehensive and fair safety standard amidst battles between special interest groups, organized labor, industry associations, and the politicians trying to get as many of those votes as possible.

Voluntary compliance programs encourage companies to correct mistakes. These partnerships can make the industrial world a better place. Kind of like Mayberry.

Posted by Tom Andel on April 14, 2008 | Comments (0)