Employers looking for a way to make their workplaces safer, and possibly head off an OSHA inspection, now have a free way to do so. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s confidential consultation program allows employers to find out what safety hazards lurk in their businesses. It also gives them the opportunity to work with a professional safety consultant on a plan to correct these problems.
And here’s the big benefit: The consultant who finds these problems will not issue any citations or penalties. Therefore, if the company can correct problems before a federal OSHA inspector finds them, it can avoid the penalties that can be as much as $7,000 for each serious violation.
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Locally, the program is called “Safe Site.” Jim Gamelin, the state’s project manager for the program, said that companies that have been subjected to OSHA inspections after their free consultations are glad that they sought help beforehand.
”In those situations where we got there first, the employers were very grateful,” Gamelin said. “An employers (has) an opportunity to get an objective assessment of their workplace for free, without fear or penalty or fine. It obviously helps to reduce the incidence of injury and illness.”
Some 13,000 companies nationwide will be looking to reduce their injury and illness rates after OSHA sent them letters last month telling them that their workplace injury rates are unacceptably high. OSHA will send federal inspectors to visit the companies on this list with the highest injury rates. Seventeen hundred of those companies were in New England, 137 in Rhode Island.
Sometimes Gamelin finds that workplace safety hazards indicate that the company has larger problems than just the immediate safety violation. For example, a certain hazard may be evidence that the company needs more worker training or accountability.
“If I see a machine that’s unguarded, that speaks to some larger issues,” he said.
Companies that invite Safe Site consultants in must agree to fix immediate hazards that the consultant discovers. But Gamelin said he is reasonable about setting deadlines.
”I’m realistic in recognizing that there are a lot of extenuating circumstances, money being one of them,” he said.
In the rare occasion that an employer refuses to fix a certain problem, the Safe Site consultant is required to refer the problem to the federal OSHA. But Gamelin said this has happened just four times in 20 years. And some 200 sites are inspected through the program each year, he said.
Richard Fairfax, director of compliance services for OSHA, said: “The consultation is a wonderful program.” But he added, “No one can identify every single hazard.”
In making that statement, Fairfax was referring both to the consultants and to the OSHA inspectors. That is why OSHA encourages employers to take initiative to make their sites as safe as possible.
Those that do can earn a one-year exemption from a routine OSHA inspection. Through the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) employers working with Safe Site consultants who demonstrate exemplary commitment to creating a safe working environment can earn this exemption.
SHARP, which is designed to give small employers an incentive to create safety programs at their businesses, is open to companies with 150 employees or fewer, Gamelin said.
Though they are relatively unknown, these programs are not new, Gamelin said. The Safe Site program has been around in Rhode Island for two decades, he said. Often, he said, companies are surprised when they learn that these services have been available to them, for free
“It’s been around in Rhode Island for 20 years. Ironically, most employers aren’t aware of its existence,” he said.
