Tom Andel

OSHA slams door on Otis
April 16, 2008

A few days after posting my blog about OSHA’s “voluntary compliance” programs, a spokesperson from OSHA contacted me and gave me a gentle lecture, using his best “Good Cop” manners .

 “Voluntary compliance” is how OSHA’s critics (many of them politicians) describe such things as its On-Site Consultation Program. I think they feel this program is modeled after the Otis system. You remember Otis, the town drunk in the old Andy Griffith Show? He would lock himself up in the sheriff’s jail cell. My OSHA contact says the notion of voluntary compliance is equally absurd, where his agency is concerned.

“Compliance with federal safety and health regulations is mandatory,” the OSHA source told me, “and by law employers are responsible for providing employees with safe and healthful working conditions. OSHA enforces these standards to ensure the safety and health of working men and women, but it also provides compliance assistance and outreach through cooperative programs, education and training to help employers protect their employees.”

According to my source, last year, OSHA conducted more than 39,300 federal inspections, exceeding its goal for the 8th year in a row. By targeting those employers who have not accepted their responsibility to protect employees, the Agency pursued more than 100 significant cases in FY07, each of which resulted in penalties of more than $100,000.

OSHA’s Site Specific Targeting program goes after the most dangerous workplaces in the nation. Each spring, about 14,000 work sites with the highest injury and illness rates are notified in writing of their elevated rates. About 3,000 of these high-rate worksites are initially targeted for inspection, and they are provided an opportunity to seek assistance through the afore-mentioned On-site Consultation Program. This is an example of the “Good Cop/Bad Cop” approach I mentioned in my earlier blog entry.

It seems to be working. My contact tells me that workplace fatality rates in the last five years have declined 9.1 percent; meanwhile, over the last four years the Total Case Rate for the nation’s employers declined 8.8 percent.

How’s your workplace doing?

Posted by Tom Andel on April 16, 2008 | Comments (0)