Construction Division

Ensuring Employee Accountability: A Call for Citing Employees Under OSHA's General Duty Clause

Companies acting proactively to protect their workplace are protecting and sustaining their bottom line by minimizing how a COVID-19 impact would affect their company. Administrative Agricultural Architectural Automotive Energy Engineering Food Service Hospitality Legal Manufacturing Retail Transportation, And many more businesses are protecting their employee, business risk and bottom line by being proactive and professionally disinfecting their workplaces.

Do you manage a warehouse, laboratory, hospital, school, medical facility, factory, or operation that uses small containers (usually less than 10 gallons each) of chemicals including: Solvents Reagents Paints Thinners Dyes Inks Acids Bases Cleaners Strippers Pool Chemicals Dry Cleaning Compounds Or Other Hazardous Chemicals Over time, you will find that bottles, jars, cans and various containers have accumulated that are out-of-date, contaminated, partially used, leaking, or simply no longer needed.

Learning about the most common OSHA violations and how they are classified will help you adjust your business model to avoid expensive fines, increase employee safety, and decrease time lost from accidents and investigations. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) classifies violations of its safety rules and regulations into one of five categories: Serious Violations “Other Than” Serious Violation Willful Violations Repeated Violations Failure to Correct Prior Violations Any of these violations can result in fines of up to $250,000 and possible disruption of your company’s operations. You can avoid these fines and disruptions by ensuring that your employees are properly trained in OSHA safety regulations. The 5 Most Common OSHA Violations Use this list of common OSHA violations as a bird’s-eye overview of how your company would fair during an audit. Are you making mistakes that could lead to an expensive citation? 1. Inadequate Fall Protection (1926.501) – 6,721 Slips and falls on construction sites and in manufacturing plants are the number one reason employers receive OSHA citations. According to OSHA guidelines, you must determine if working and walking surfaces have the structural integrity and strength to safely support your employees. Guardrail systems, personal fall arrest systems, and safety net systems must be in place before you allow your employees to work in areas of higher elevation. Employees using a hoist must also be protected from falling six feet or more by personal fall arrest or guardrail systems. 2. Minimal or Missing Hazard Communication (1910.1200) – 5,192 To avoid violations of hazard communication, you must ensure that the labels on hazardous chemical containers have not been defaced or removed and that the safety data sheets associated with these chemicals are accessible to your employees during each shift. You, as the employer, must also provide OSHA-approved training to any employee handling hazardous chemicals. The improper handling and disposal of hazardous waste are a health risk to both your employees and your community. 3. Unsafe Scaffolding (1926.451) – 4,295 Scaffolds and scaffolding components that are incapable of supporting their own weight plus four times the weight of its maximum intended load (workers) are a commonly cited OSHA violation. In addition, suspension ropes and all connecting hardware should support six times or more the maximum intended load transmitted or applied to the rope holding up the scaffolding. 4. Improper Respiratory Protection (1910.134) – 3,305 If you fail to provide your employees with the equipment necessary to protect their health, you could be issued an OSHA citation. Respiratory protection is essential for employees working around harmful gases, dust, smokes, vapors, fogs, and sprays. OSHA lists dozens of different respiratory protectors that are expected to be used by employees working in specific hazardous situations. Some of these respirators include positive pressure, supplied air, and pressure demand respirators. If OSHA finds your employees are not wearing the correct type of respirator according to their guidelines, you will be cited and fined. Familiarize yourself with the proper respiratory protection for your industry’s work environment and implement the correct regulations accordingly. 5. Lockout/Tagout (1910.147) – 3,002 This violation can occur when unexpected energization or startup of your business’s machines or equipment could harm an employee. This is an important regulation for the safety of employees who are required to repair or service heavy equipment and for employees who have to work in proximity to conductors and other electrical hazards. To avoid injury, you must utilize both lockout devices – a device that ensures machinery cannot be powered on until the device is removed – and a tagout device – a tag that clearly indicates the use of an energy isolating device. Tagouts ensure that machinery is not used until the device blocking power is safely removed. Preventing OSHA Violations Although OSHA representatives may seem overly exacting during an inspection, these common OSHA violations are all avoidable job hazards that can be prevented with the proper training and instruction from a qualified safety consultation firm. For more information about OSHA training, contact SEA Inc. at 501-568-3111 to speak with one of our certified trainers.

Looking at a company’s safety failures can push your company forward in understanding what not to do when it comes to workplace safety. A recent OSHA investigation determined that Ashley Furniture had endangered several thousand workers at its Arcadia, Wis., manufacturing facility. Since 1982, the agency has conducted 33 federal inspections and 23 state plan inspections of Ashley Furniture. The company disputes the allegations. Building a Culture of Safety The subtitle of the OSHA press release of February 2, 2015, reads: “Largest furniture retailer in the U.S. exposes employees to amputations, other hazards.” After a worker lost three fingers in a woodworking machine accident in July 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducted an inspection of the furniture manufacturer’s Wisconsin facility. The agency concluded that over 1,000 workplace injuries had occurred over a three-and-a-half-year period. The “12 willful, 12 repeated, and 14 serious safety violations” could cost Ashley Furniture $1.7 million in penalties. At least 10 percent of the injuries shared the same cause: machines that started unintentionally when workers changed tools or blades. It was found that the risk could be easily remedied with inexpensive, emergency stop safety mechanisms. In the “penny wise, pound foolish” category of misplaced priorities, the company appears to have cut safety corners and now faces a far greater loss in steep fines. Along with exposure to faulty equipment, the workers were not properly trained in safety when servicing the machinery. Company-imposed pressure to work quickly to meet deadlines and increase productivity was another contributing factor. OSHA discovered that workers were being exposed to corrosive materials because the facility lacked adequate drenching and flushing procedures. Engineering controls that minimize employee exposure to chemical hazards by either reducing or removing the hazard at the source, or isolating the worker from the hazards, were lacking. Three electrical safety violations were also cited. A willful OSHA violation is one committed with intentional, knowing, or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirement, or with plain indifference to employee safety and health. OSHA maintains that Ashley Furniture knew of the existing hazards and was willfully and intentionally negligent. The company has also been placed in the Severe Violator Enforcement Program for failure to address these safety hazards. Safety and Profits It’s a bit surprising to learn of the multiple risks that the largest furniture manufacturer in the country took with employee welfare, company reputation, and company capital. Reliable program development and expert training programs are available through environmental, health, and safety service firms specializing in training and compliance, such as SEA Inc. With compliance and safety management programs as well as portable and flexible training programs that are customized and site-specific, as well as conducted on site, there is no reason not to invest in the education and safety of a workforce. OSHA and the major insurance carriers estimate that for every $1 you spend on safety and training you get $4 in return. While $1,766,000 in penalties might not deal a huge blow to a nearly 4 billion-dollar company such as Ashley Furniture, any amount of fine is too much, in SEA’s opinion. Offering your employees OSHA training courses that meet or exceed the agency’s requirements, taught by SEA’s professional trainers with extensive, hands-on experience in the fields in which they train, ensures subject matter mastery for your workforce. Students obtain in-depth knowledge and understanding of the applicable regulations, as well as practical methods of implementation to minimize environmental, safety, and health risks in the workplace. Competence and confidence increase, injuries and non-compliance fines decrease. Employees learn how to work smart and work safe. Contact SEA Inc. to learn how our OSHA training courses, either in our facility or at your location, can help you maintain compliance, protect your workforce, and avoid costly OSHA violations. Call 501-568-3111, or toll free 888-627-8740 today.