Top 10 OSHA Violations and How to Avoid Them

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Carmella Stafford
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1 Top 10 OSHA Violations and How to Avoid Them

2 INTRODUCTION From human resources violations to overtime pay, companies are constantly striving to minimize risks to their business by implementing protocols and regulations. In manufacturing, the potential risks that can occur are even greater and, at times, even deadly. While regulations and industry standards exist to give you a baseline for safety in your workplace, injuries continue to occur every year. When it comes to emergencies, it s not a question of whether or not they will occur, but when so what can you do to reduce risk? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) seeks to reduce the number of workplace injuries and conducts inspections each year, but relying on this agency alone is often not enough. In order to really make a difference in how your organization approaches safety, a cultural change has to occur. At the end of the day, safety is not just the responsibility of those in charge and is best managed when everyone has a role to play. OSHA violations can and will happen and avoiding a costly citation starts with preventive measures through risk management. THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act into law, requiring employers to provide their workforce an environment free from occupational hazards. 1 The following April in 1971, the United States Congress created OSHA to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. 1 In 2016 alone, OSHA conducted over 75,000 state and federal inspections. 2 Since then, OSHA has worked hand in hand with the Department of Labor to conduct thousands of workplace assessments annually. In 2016 alone, OSHA conducted over 75,000 state and federal inspections. 2 With the new regulations and guidelines set forth by OSHA, from 1970 to 2015 the number of work related deaths has decreased from 38 workers per day to 13 a day, and injuries or illnesses have been reduced from about 10 in 100 workers to just 3.9 in Despite the vast improvements in how employers approach safety for their workforce, injuries, deaths and violations still occur. Each year, hundreds of employees receive citations for violating the standards set forth by OSHA and the cost to these businesses not only impacts the bottom line, but their reputations as well. 1

3 THE COST OF AN OSHA CITATION When you receive an OSHA citation, you could find yourself responsible for hefty fees. Last year, OSHA increased its fees for the first time in 25 years, and they break down their new pay structure in the chart below. In addition to these federal fees, OSHA also requires states to adopt maximum penalty fee that are at least as effective as their federal penalties, meaning that in addition to a federal violation you could also face comparable state fees. 3 This means that each violation has a compounded effect financially, and it could also have a severely negative impact on your reputation as an employer. 3 In his article for Forbes, Howard Mavity of employment law firm Fisher Phillips writes that the consequences of an OSHA violation could potentially extend beyond simply writing a check to pay for fees, even if your citation is later dismissed. Long before litigation, OSHA issues press releases that contain bombastic statements and mentions of citations by the time an employer is vindicated, the damage is done and customers are lost. 4 VIOLATION TYPE(S) Serious Other-Than- Serious Posting Requirements Failure to abate Willful or repeated *applies to all three categories listed 2017 FEE (MAXIMUM) $12,675 per violation* $12,675 per day beyond the abatement date $126,749 per violation On top of threats to your reputation and strains on your budgets, the price of an OSHA citation can be deadly. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) annual report on workplace fatalities states that in 2015, the number of deaths increased from 4,821 in 2014 to 4,836 the highest it s been since As leaders, you have ethical and, truly, moral obligations to keep your workers safe when they are in your facilities. 5 When you take all of the factors financial, reputational, and ethical into account, the cost of OSHA violations can be devastating for manufacturers of any size. In order to keep your workers safe, it s best to know what OSHA commonly sees so 2

4 TOP 10 OSHA VIOLATIONS Each year, OSHA updates their list of the top violations to reflect their total assessments for the year before. In general, the violations that make up the list are actually consistent year over year, and the top three have remained in their positions for years. The top 10 OSHA citations for 2016 are: 2 CITATION CITATION NUMBER* OSHA SAYS 1FALLS HAZARD COMMUNICATION 3 SCAFFOLDING RESPIRATORY PROTECTION 5 CONTROL OF HAZARDOUS ENERGY This section requires employers to provide protection for each employee exposed to fall and falling object hazards. 8 The purpose of this section is to ensure that the hazards of all chemicals produced or imported are classified, and that information concerning the classified hazards is transmitted to employers and employees. 10 each scaffold and scaffold component shall be capable of supporting, without failure, its own weight and at least four times the maximum intended load applied or transmitted to it. 11 In the control of those occupational diseases caused by breathing air contaminated with harmful dusts, fogs, fumes, mists, gases, smokes, sprays, or vapors, the primary objective shall be to prevent atmospheric contamination. 12 This standard covers the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment in which the unexpected energization or startup of the machines or equipment, or release of stored energy, could harm employees. 13 *Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 3

5 TOP 10 OSHA VIOLATIONS (cont'd) CITATION CITATION NUMBER* OSHA SAYS 6 POWERED INDUSTRIAL TRUCKS LADDERS MACHINERY AND MACHINE GUARDING This section contains safety requirements relating to fire protection, design, maintenance, and use of fork trucks, tractors, platform lift trucks, motorized hand trucks, and other specialized industrial trucks powered by electric motors or internal combustion engines. 14 Ladders shall be capable of supporting [specified loads] without failure. 15 One or more methods of machine guarding shall be provided to protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks ELECTRICAL (WIRING METHODS, COMPONENTS AND EQUIPMENT) 10 ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS DESIGN *Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) This particular citation encompasses several aspects of wiring, from cable sheaths to Christmas lights. 17 The big takeaway from this protocol is that wiring of any kind needs to be meticulously maintained and properly installed. Electric equipment shall be free from recognized hazards that are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees. 18 4

6 HOW DO RISKS OCCUR? While these violations may rise or decline in their place on the list, the fact that the citations have changed very little over the years shows us that these are most likely to occur in your facilities and may, in fact, already be occurring. Although the type of citation that can occur may not change, the number of instances is something that you can mitigate through risk management in other words, we all need better protocols, inspection and communication in our facilities. Most likely, you already have safety protocols in place that address both federal and state regulations. All facilities have training requirements and training, and we train to a protocol or a rule. For example, you may require certain protective equipment that employees must wear at all times, such as steel toed shoes, safety glasses and long pants. This protocol is what we want to sustain 100 percent of the time but the reality is, even the smallest deviation from these protocols results in a gap in safety and, ultimately, creates risks. MINDING THE GAP When we deviate from these standards that are set out for us, we create a gap in safety. Think about your day to day work. Has there ever been a moment where you might have deviated from a set protocol because it was easier? Maybe someone was out sick and there was no one to replace them on the assembly line, or maybe you were working with a new person. While that may have just been one day of doing your job differently, each instance of deviating from safety standards adds to the gap. More instances means more severity; the broader the gap, the bigger the losses, and the greater the opportunity that a severe hazard may occur. For example: Slip, trip and fall accidents happen at a high frequency. While one instance at your facility may not make a huge impact in that moment, it adds up over time when you take into account how many other facilities are also experiencing these accidents. We can avoid this by taking risk away at the forefront by looking at the data and knowing the number of instances in your own facility. Start by implementing preventive measures as part of your risk management efforts. RISK MANAGEMENT Not every emergency is a crisis, but as an employer you have a duty to do your best to address everything that you can with the right tools and practices. Risk management is how you manage safety on the forefront by spending your money wisely to protect employees to do their jobs. By reducing the number of losses and missed opportunities for safety procedures through proactive work, you ll actually minimize the overall cost of risk and, in some cases, even lower your insurance premiums. BENEFITS OF RISK MANAGEMENT Reduce actual losses and missed opportunities Minimize the cost of risk for your organization Provide peace of mind to stakeholders Keep the business safe for both clients as well as employees Allow business to remain in operation after losses Lower insurance premiums 5

7 In doing so, you ll provide peace of mind for your stakeholders as well as keep the business safe for both employees as well as your clients. Furthermore, in the event that an emergency does take place (and, more often than not, they will) your business will actually be better equipped to bounce back and remain in operation after they occur. However, with your busy day to day work and all of the tasks you have to do throughout the day, not to mention all the workers whom you manage, in most cases it doesn t make sense to implement grandiose safety procedures that take an unnecessary amount of time. Rather, implementing risk management in your facility has to do with common sense, consistency and sustainability. THREE QUESTIONS Risk management impacts both the people on the floor and those that work in the office. With so many people with a role to play in your safety culture, you have to ask yourself the following three questions: Does this safety protocol make common sense? Can this safety protocol be done with consistency? Is this safety protocol something that we can sustain long term? Risk isn t something that just happens. It s not as simple as something that we can print out or put on our phones; it s an in-depth process that takes time. If there s a common sense protocol in place that isn t done consistently, it won t be sustained long term, and you ll see that your gap will increase. The opposite is also true, in that if you re doing a safety protocol that doesn t make sense, it naturally won t be sustained. The first step to create these protocols is to identify the most common risks in your facility. IDENTIFYING RISK There s no such thing as over training when it comes to risk and safety. The type of risks you commonly see are most likely top of mind, and when it comes to creating a protocol, following a five step process will ensure that the risks you see are in need of regulation: 1 IDENTIFY 5 MONITOR & MODIFY 4 IMPLEMENT 1. Identify the risk 5 STEP PROCESS OF RISK ASSESSMENT 2. Analyze the risk and ensure that it is truly a hazard 3. Strategize how to prevent the identified risk 4. Implement these processes that will change the risk behavior 5. Monitor and modify the risk and processes and it will only work if we continue this step Like we mentioned, you most likely already have an idea of what risks are worth noting in your facility. For example: Maybe you know that your facility s parking lot frequently gets icy in the winter, and that this can pose a hazard for employees driving on and off the premises as well as walking to the building on the sidewalks. Other times, you may not be sure that a risk is truly a risk and that s when frequency versus severity comes in. 3 STRATEGIZE 2 ANALYZE 6

8 FREQUENCY VS. SEVERITY Sometimes, you may not be sure if something poses a risk. An accident that happened in your facility may have been a single occurrence, for instance. In order to determine a risk at this stage, we like to use the Frequency vs. Severity model. A risk can occur frequently with low severity, and they can also occur infrequently with high severity. Using the chart in Figure 1, you can determine where an accident falls on the chart. If an accident happens with low severity and low frequency (quadrant I), it s most likely not going to be as pressing as a high severity and high frequency accident, or even a low frequency and high severity one. Frequency also refers to the frequency of loss. Higher frequency of loss is always going to go to severity of loss, which means that something more severe when it occurs. occur as well as their frequency over time. Such software can also bring to light a recurring accident that you may not be aware of, and it can help justify modifications to your facility or safety procedures to administrators. At the end of the day, there are risks in all of these hazards and we need to think about not only the things that happen frequently but also the things that we have to insure independently against. GUIDANCE FROM THE TOP When you re in the planning stage, ensure that you also take your state s regulations into account. Each organization has individual codes and standards that we need to adhere to per our state, or authority having jurisdiction (AHJ). Here are some common ones that we all must acknowledge: Fire Codes SEVERITY OF LOSS LOW HIGH LOW III I DATA COLLECTION RISK PROCESS FREQUENCY OF LOSS IV II HIGH National Fire Protection Association Local fire marshals to come inspect the facilities and become familiar with your buildings and assets Regulatory Agencies OSHA EPA Division of Health Services Regulations NC Dept. of Labor FDA CDC To discover your state s regulations, OSHA has a full list of regulations on their site. 19 One of the best ways to determine where a risk falls on the Frequency vs. Severity spectrum is through the collection of data. Having a safety management system can help with the accumulation of data so you can see type of instances that 7

9 BARRIERS TO CHANGE As with any change to daily operations, you may find that there are barriers to change in your organization. They can arise anywhere from top management to board members to even the employees who work on your floor. The bottom line is, safety culture isn t top down everyone has a role to play, and anyone can spearhead safety and take ownership. As we mentioned before, some of the key benefits for risk management include: Reducing of actual losses and missed opportunities Minimizing of the cost of risk for your organization, including lower insurance premiums Providing peace of mind to stakeholders Keeping the business safe for both clients as well as employees Allowing business to remain in operation after losses Maintaining a positive brand reputation In addition to human resistance to change, there s also the question of time. Making a change to your organization s culture, and even the way that it s structured, is a time intensive process. Having a safety management solution in place can be of great benefit, not only expediting the implementation of new safety standards with best practices but by also providing a third party team who can objectively help you make the right decisions for your business. Dude Solutions, for example, works hand in hand with clients to ensure that they have a way to not only document and gather data for incidents but to also provide employees with a way to easily report potential risks that they spot on the ground floor. POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT With all the time you invest in creating a safety culture and gathering data, you want to make sure that you are developing a program that not only gets approval from those in charge but also engages your employees. Oftentimes, only focusing on what went wrong instead of finding solutions and celebrating success will only be a detriment to your safety efforts. As Mavity mentions in his article, only focusing on what went wrong, or those lagging and leading indicators in your data, isn t beneficial to creating a positive safety culture.⁴ Doing so can actually lead to the inverse effect that you want, as employees may stop reporting risks and safety hazards out of fear of repercussions.⁴ Develop a plan for positive reinforcement, such as a reward system for the number of days without incident. Remember, you want to enforce accountability and personal responsibility, not turn safety into a blame game. RISK MANAGEMENT STARTS WITH YOU OSHA violations happen, and accidents or emergencies are almost a certainty in manufacturing. What you can do is encourage and nurture a safety culture in your organization so that everyone has a role to play so that everyone focuses on safety. Work culture is about a set of values, beliefs and norms that unite your company together and safety culture should be no different. The right risk management plans will support your goals as a company. By being proactive about reducing the number of incidents, you ll be able to bridge the safety gap. 8

10 About Dude Solutions Dude Solutions, parent company of SchoolDude, FacilityDude and TheWorxHub, is a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider of operations management solutions to education, government, healthcare, manufacturing and membership-based organizations. The company combines innovative technology with operational insight to transform the places people learn, live, heal, work, and play. Today, more than 9,000 organizations are using Dude Solutions award-winning software for facilities, energy, safety, IT and a growing suite of related enterprise applications to increase efficiencies, improve service and save money. For more information, please visit our website. RESOURCES 1 About OSHA. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, ² Commonly Used Statistics. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, ³ OSHA Penalties. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, ⁴ Will OSHA's Shame Game Improve Workplace Safety? Howard Mavity, Forbes, ⁵ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Summary, Bureau of Labor Statistics, ⁶ 10 Leading Causes of Injury Deaths by Age Group. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ⁷ Fatal Occupational Injuries by Event or Exposure and Age. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ⁸ Safety and Health Regulations for Construction: Fall Protection. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, ⁹ Falls in the Workplace. National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety, CDC, Occupational Safety and Health Standards: Toxic and Hazardous Substances. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Safety and Health Regulations for Construction: Scaffolds. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Standards: Personal Protective Equipment, Respiratory Protection. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Standards: General Environmental Controls, Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout). Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Standards: Materials Handling and Storage, Powered Industrial Trucks. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Safety and Health Regulations for Construction: Stairways and Ladders. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Standards: Machinery and Machine Guarding, General Requirements for All Machines. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Standards: Electrical; Wiring Methods, Components and Equipment for General Use. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Standards: Electrical, General. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Links to State Plans' Safety and Health Standards and Regulations. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, info@dudesolutions.com dudesolutions.com

HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT

HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT SOP-28 Preparation: Safety Mgr Authority: President Issuing Dept: Safety Page: Page 1 of 11 Purpose To provide guidelines for identifying, assessing and controlling workplace hazards; To ensure the potential