Regarding fatal accidents, Zans noted, “If you have a work-related death, you must call OSHA within eight hours of the incident. If an incident involves three or more employees, you must call OSHA within eight hours.

“OSHA will follow up on every complaint. If you want to know if your business is on the inspection list, visit www.osha.gov and you can usually find out.”

A high incident ratio — the number of reported incidents divided by employee hours (EH) — is another sure way to prompt an OSHA inspection, and Zans has some advice for that.

“A high EH is good, which includes overtime hours, so don’t let OSHA figure the ratio because they will use a lower EH formula.”

THE INSPECTION

The four major areas are:

1. Credential verification;

2. Opening conference;

3. Inspection tour; and

4. Closing conference.

“Demonstrate good faith during the visit,” Zans said. “Practice the ‘Three Ps’ — be professional, polite, and prepared. And don’t request a warrant; it signals an adversarial relationship.”

He suggested that businesses try and get the highest management level involved in the inspection, including the safety and health manager, the maintenance supervisor, and at least two “regular” employees.

“Lay a foundation with a simple greeting such as, ‘I’ll round up the people responsible to meet you — it may take time to get the team together.’ Politeness usually wins out.”

Zans said that OSHA is entitled to ask for a one-on-one interview with any employee. And the employee can’t refuse, nor can that employee be accompanied by an attorney, unions steward, manager, etc.

He added that “a lack of effective employee communication involving hazardous conditions is the most common thing cited by OSHA.”

Once the inspection is complete, Zans said that OSHA “must tell you what they have found and what needs to be done.”

After hearing the findings, “Overwhelm the inspectors with questions on how to fix the problem,” suggested Zans. “Never pay a fine on its face value; utilize your right to appeal.”

THE APPEAL

He said that in many cases, businesses will get an immediate 25% reduction in the fine if they show good faith, another 10% if a meeting is scheduled, and as much as 60% if the meeting is successful.

But Zans advised against letting a judge intervene in the appeal. “Judges are unlikely to overturn or reduce a fine because it would appear that they are questioning the legality of the standard,” he said.

Sidebar: The Keys To Meeting Training Requirements

He was referring to the OSHA training requirements for knowing and understanding workplace hazards. His training materials listed the following standard requirements:

Zans stressed that some training topics are mandatory for new employee orientation. He said that OSHA identifies a seven-step method for training new and current employees. The steps are:

1. Determine if training is needed.

2. Identify training needs.

3. Identify goals and objectives.

4. Develop learning activities.

5. Conduct the training.

6. Evaluate program effectiveness.

7. Improve the program as necessary.

According to Zans, there are three types of employees — primary, collateral, and incidental — and each must complete training to meet OSHA standards.

Primary employees are those that have direct exposure to the hazard, which requires specific documentation of training. Collateral employees are those employees who work near a hazard or work with a hazard as a secondary part of their job, which also requires specific documentation of training. All other employees who should have awareness of workplace hazards are classified as incidental; these employees usually do not require specific documentation of training.

“Some companies treat every employee as an affected (primary), and they all get the same training,” said Zans. “OSHA says that if training is not documented, it did not occur.”

— John R. Hall

Publicaiton date: 08/12/2002