Safely Speaking
With safety compliance, the old adage is true; “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

”Did You Know?

  • All employers in the manufacturing sector must obey the provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) with few exceptions?
  • All manufacturers with 11 or more employees must maintain records of all occupational injuries and illnesses as they occur and post them during February for the previous calendar year?
  • All manufacturers with 11 or more employees must provide training for employees in up to 17 OSHA sub-categories and records of that training should be maintained as part of the employees’ records?
  • All manufacturers must make the OSHA regulations for general industry available to all employees?

OSHA Inspection Triggers

So what exactly triggers an inspection by an OSHA Compliance Officer? Besides an unacceptable frequency or severity of reportable accidents, it’s the type of manufacturing business that you’re running. In the Central New York region, it is primary metals, woodworking, metal forging and stamping, logging, sawmills, and food processing.

One of the following two criteria must also be met:

  1. You employ more than 40 people; or
  2. You have lost workdays involving more than 14% of your employees.

Say that you run a small woodworking business and have seven employees. One lost-time accident is enough to do it. Not only would it raise some eyebrows at the OSHA office; but it could also raise some Workman’s Compensation rates. OSHA, Other Compliance Issues Made Easier for TDO Clients

Interestingly, the basic purpose of the OSHA Act is to encourage employers and employees to reduce workplace hazards and implement new or improved safety and health plans.
However, the acronyms OSHA, EPA, and DEC often cause concern. If you are worried compliance issues will trigger an inspection and result in fines, loss of business, layoffs, and headaches… TDO has a solution.

TDO performs OSHA and environmental audits using Certified Workplace Safety & Loss Prevention Consultants and Authorized OSHA Outreach Trainers. Since we do not have reporting obligations, we can evaluate your situation and make remediation suggestions to you and no one else.

TDO can help you fill the health and safety gaps in an overall company program. We write customized health and safety manuals, do walk-through inspections for compliance violations, provide training programs in any or all of the 18 OSHA Law Subparts, and offer advice on remediation of compliance issues.

For more information contact Bob Weller, federal OSHA-Authorized Outreach Trainer, at rweller@tdo.org or (315) 425-5144.

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