The U.S. House of Representatives issued a special report in June of 2008 on the status of recordkeeping and how it has been underreported, “But extensive evidence from academic studies, media reports and worker testimony shows that work-related injuries and illnesses in the United States are chronically and even grossly underreported. As much as 69 percent of injuries and illnesses may never make it into the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), the nation’s annual workplace safety and health “report card” generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).”

While the report does reach some interesting conclusions, it is not something really new to many safety professionals.  In a previous article I reported how a company failed to report an injured employee to keep the incident off the books.  Now we know it happens a lot more than we thought.  We don’t want to think it happens, but incidents cost money and production time.  The fewer incidents that are reported keep certain cost, such as worker’s comp prices and healthcare, from rising.  Also, many safety professionals job are dependent on showing a decline in the number of incidents reported.  Therefore a borderline call may never make it to the OSHA 300 form.  At least now we know that the incident rate reported by the BLS is not totally accurate.  The question is, will this really change anything? 

Let’s hear from you.  We value all your comments and concerns relating to this and any other issues.

Sources have been telling me that both OSHA & DOT’S PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration) are actively conducting on-site inspections for violations.  OSHA has released it Site Specific Targeting Plan, while PHMSA is

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration in May announced that it would focus on roughly 3,800 high-hazard work sites for unannounced comprehensive safety inspections in 2008. The visits will be part of OSHA’s 2008 site-specific targeting plan, according to a news release. OSHA has used such plans for more than a decade, honing in on different work sites based on injury and illness data.

“This program emphasizes to employers the importance of our enforcement efforts in ensuring safe working conditions for employees,” said Edwin G. Foulke Jr., assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, in a news release.  The work sites that will be included in this year’s targeting plan are those that have reported 11 or more injuries or illnesses resulting in days away from work, restricted work activity, or job transfers for every 100 full-time employees.

OSHA also will randomly select and inspect about 175 workplaces with 100 or more employees that reported low injury and illness rates for the purpose of reviewing how well they actually comply with OSHA requirements, the release said.  

PHMSA has been very active in enforcement of hazmat (49CFR parts 100-185) regulations concerning the shipment of hazardous materials in commerce.  DOT’s current maximum civil penalty is $50,000 per violation.  Considering a shipment may have multiple vioaltions this amount can increase rapidly.  The number 1 fined incident is lack of current training.

So you better be good and you better be nice or OSHA/PHMSA might fine you twice.

Part of my job is researching and reading articles written about safety and compliance.  I have many different sources (none that I want to testify about) for OSHA, DOT, Homeland Security and more.  One of the reoccurring themes everyone (except me) likes to report on, is who is getting fined and how much it is costing them.  Many of OSHA fines are well over the $100,000 mark, and DOT is similar, if not more.  There doesn’t seem to be a lack of companies or organizations to fine.  Whether it is a Disney, a GE or some small construction company, incidents are still happening and the companies are still paying the price. 

Recently, I read where a construction company got fined over $250,000 for 2 employees getting injured (no deaths).  The company had previously been fined over $100,000 and warned by OSHA.  People have told me that the DOT is now going after companies who ship hazardous materials improperly, fail to provide training, failure to have a security plan and other assorted compliance issues.  These fines are reaching well over $100,000.  Remember the fine is not the only cost of incident.  The general rule is an average incident today cost the company about $25,000.  That company will have to sell an additional $700,000 at 4% gross profit to make up that cost.  That is a lot of additional sales for most companies and that is only if you have 1 incident.  Also there is the loss of productivity, and the probable increase in worker’s comp to add to that total.

So what’s the problem?  Most companies are reactive and not proactive.  Look at how many organizations reach VPP or STAR status as a percent of all the companies in business.  Not too many.  As the economy worsens positions that are non-revenue producing are the first to go, such as training or the safety manager.    Even though we know the safety and trainer indirectly add benefit to the bottom line, it is hard to quantify the amount of money they save a company.

Time is money especially in the trucking industry.  I know there are truck drivers who remove their DOT placards after they leave a company to avoid having the state police stopping them for 30-60 minutes.  What is the safety or transportation manager to do?

Really, I don’t have the answer.  Maybe some of you would like to share your success with our readers.  I only know the problem is not going away nor does it seem to be slowing down much.  Each year the top fined areas of OSHA hardly change.  Statistics show injuries and deaths are going down, but I not so sure that is a good indicator of what’s really happening. The reporting system (if the injuries are even reported) has changed to reflect fewer incidents (no first-aid is reported even if the employee sits out half the day).  As an example, I was doing some DOT consulting at a company and an employee was cut and bleeding.  The employee was put in an office until after work hours and then taken to the doctor.  After a few stitches the employee can to work the next day and was told to sit around doing nothing.  He did not miss a day of work and the incident was not reported on the OSHA 300 log.

Maybe we should look more closely are the amount of dollars fined instead of the number of reported incidents to get a true indicator that we are really in compliance and acting in a safe mode.  Safety professionals are always working to get upper management to support the safety effort, and others say we need the support of the supervisors.  Guess what people?  SAFETY NEEDS EVERYONE’S SUPPORT or there will be a breakdown somewhere.  Just like the production line.  Everyone needs to do the job to make the system work.

You know The Compliance Resource Center does not often write about products, but there are times when something comes along which our readers might find interesting and/or useful.  Here is one of those products. 

If you ship hazardous materials you might want to consider the new software program by EZHAZMAT.  This new software walks you through the process of correctly shipping hazardous materials in compliance with 49CFR part 100-185.  The program identifies the correct shipping name, gives the shipper the correct markings on the package, creates a bill of lading and more. 

However, this is NOT a substitute for the training requirement in 49CFR part 172.700 or the security plan part (HM-232).  Training is still required every 3 years for ground shipping and every 2 years for air and ocean shipping.  Also all new employees involved with the loading or unloading of hazardous materials must be trained within 30 days.  

There are other software programs that will help you ship hazardous materials such as UPS’s WorldShip, and others. If you go to the EZHAZMAT site you might also want to take the hazmat quiz and test your knowledge.

As hurricane season approaches, the Department of Homeland Security’s Ready Campaign and The Advertising Council are reaching out to small businesses and encouraging them to “define their day after” by putting emergency preparedness at the top of their to-do list. A series of national public service advertisements entitled “Procrastination” were released nationwide last week for radio, print, Internet, and outdoor media. Tapping into the natural tendency for individuals to put off making plans for another day, the PSAs focus on what can happen when business owners choose to place making an emergency plan at the bottom of their to-do list.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, small businesses employ more than half of all Americans. However, Institute for Business and Home Safety research shows that, at the minimum, one in four businesses never reopen following a disaster. “Research conducted by the Ad Council found that more than 85 percent of small businesses understand that emergency preparedness is important, yet only four in ten businesses have a plan to protect their businesses,” said DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. “The ability of these businesses to survive and recover quickly from both natural and man-made disasters directly benefits employees, customers, the community, and the local, and even national, economy.”

The “Procrastination” PSAs were created by Neiman Group and mark the third round of national PSAs created for Ready Business, a component of the Ready Campaign. Ready Business is designed to help owners and managers of small- to medium-size businesses prepare their employees, operations, and assets in the event of an emergency by providing practical steps and easy-to-use templates. To date, the Ready Business effort has received more than $91.1 million in donated media support; its Web site has received more than 29.7 million hits and more than 2.6 million unique visitors; and more than 2.3 million Ready Business materials have been requested or downloaded from the Web site. For more information on SBA’s disaster program and preparedness tips, and links to the public service announcements and the Nationwide disaster guide, visit www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance/disasterpreparedness/index.html.

We most often think of employee safety with regards to manufacturing, construction or other miscellaneous industries with related safety incidents.  But how often do we consider the professional athlete as an employee or the fan in a safety situation? 

Dave from TechLife recently sent me an article by Scott Miller of CBS Sports about the number of breaking wood bats in baseball.  This number is increasing each year, and it is becoming a safety issue for the players (employees) and the fans.  Sports are becoming much more harmful to the employee.  About a year ago a minor league coach (an employee) was hit in the head by a foul ball and died.  The NAICS for sports is 71100 and the recordable rate is 5.8 that is comparable to construction and manufacturing.  We know there is an alarming increase in the number of injuries is sports such as football and hockey, but should athletics and OSHA be concerned about the incident rate in the industry as a whole?

Fans are also “in harms way” when a hard line drive or a bat flies into the stands or a herd of 30,000 people all want to leave a game at one time.  Someone(s) often gets injured.  These injuries will not appear on an OSHA 300 log even though the injury occurred on-site, because the fan is not considered an employee.  What happens when a vistor to your company gets injured, do you record it if it qualifies and a recordable?

Sports today are a dangerous profession.  The employees receive much more medical attention than employees in other professions.  Most athletic teams provide a medical staff both on and off site.  How many of you have a doctor, nurse or trainer on-site?

So when you think of employee safety and health don’t forget to consider the professional and non-professional athletic as an employee too.