How do you, as an employer make sure your workplace is as safe as possible, while at the same time avoiding costly government citations?
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was created to protect workers by establishing standards that all workplaces have to abide by. And, while you can’t foresee every conceivable danger, the following five steps, initially provided by the Take 5 Newsletter, will improve safety at your workplace and potentially avoid OSHA fines.
Step One:
Conduct an internal safety audit. Hire an external safety professional through a lawyer to do an independent audit to ensure they are in full compliance with OSHA standards. But BEWARE! OSHA could demand to see the audit and use it against you for hazards you have yet to fix. Make sure you protect your internal audits by working with counsel to conduct the audit. The report is then protected from disclosure to OSHA by the attorney-client privilege.
Step Two:
Create a culture of safety in your workplace, but make sure it is an authentic culture. Begin with management at all levels. This demonstrates to employees that safety is a priority.
Step Three:
Make sure your safety and health documentation is current and communicated. All employers much provide essential safety information to employees. Make sure that all employees not only receive the information, but understand the information. Check to make sure your documentation is kept current and regularly reviewed.
Step Four:
Train your employees. Once the documentation has been reviewed and understood, now it is time to ensure that they are trained in safety practices. An easy way to ensure this is through a simple quiz after the training is complete.
Step Five:
Protect contractors and temporary workers, too. It is the employers responsibility to ensure that ALL of its employees on their worksite is safe. As one of the leading safety staffing companies in the US, and as a contractor of safety professionals for many industries, ResponsAble staffing takes pride in providing you with only the best-trained and most competent safety personnel. We can be part of the solution to avoiding those costly OSHA citations as well.