Your company has worked tirelessly to streamline your business and maximize profits. It has retained highly skilled, valuable employees. The role of company safety has been delegated to an employee who has safety knowledge but whose expertise lies in a different specialty such as Supervisor, Plant Manager or Human Resources.
All appears to be running smoothly — right?
But what if an employee has an accident on the job, or if your business was the subject of a snap inspection? How would you react to an OSHA safety audit?
If you’re confident that your safety program is 100 percent covered, then it’s safe to stop reading. But if your business has ever been cited by OSHA or if you’re concerned about injury prevention or worker’s compensation claims, then D&D Safety Consulting has advice that may save you time, trouble, and money.
PROBLEM: Lean businesses assign the role of company safety to an employee whose expertise lies in a different specialty (e.g., human resources, plant manager, supervisor, maintenance, or other staffer). This person may have safety knowledge but isn’t a "certified" safety professional. SOLUTION: Partner with a certified safety professional consulting company to guide the employee assigned to safety and bring your company up to OSHA compliance. |
It’s possible to balance a lean business model and employee efficiency to breeze through an OSHA safety audit unscathed. In fact, it’s easier than you think. We know that you care too much about your company to allow unidentified safety issues and liabilities to undermine your company's bottom line.
Benefits of assigning safety responsibilities to existing employees
It’s a brilliant idea to utilize your current workforce for safety. This makes investors and executives happy because it saves the salary and benefits costs of additional employees. Your staff are happy because their workplace safety is overseen by a fellow employee they know and trust. The safety specialist is happy with a title upgrade, a pay boost, and a set of responsibilities that truly make a difference to the business.
Of course, all of this assumes that the employee has been properly trained to spot all of the components of OSHA safety standards specific to your industry.
Delegating safety responsibilities undermines safety if you don’t have a customized written safety program.
Considerations involved with delegating safety responsibilities
Assigning responsibility for ensuring safety compliance follows a pattern similar to that for delegating other company responsibilities. It’s essential to select the person with the proper skills and temperament for the job, and to do so early, before safety problems develop.
Without the right objective, your safety program is headed for a bumpy path.
By the time you create the position, your business’s safety objectives and expected outcomes should be spelled out in writing and part of the company culture. Your staff members need to be told regularly how important safety issues are, and what the procedure is for making problems known to the safety manager.
Setting safety objectives
OSHA’s expectations require a robust safety program with written protocols that are implemented throughout your company. Under it, your business establishes company-wide processes and procedures, implements certified safety training, maintains training completion records, and demonstrates continuous improvement. It is proof that your company has its employees’ safety 100 percent covered!
The only way to establish accurate safety objectives is with a customized written safety program. Without it, there will be gaps in safety.
Understanding and identifying safety gaps
Safety gaps
Every business that delegates safety to existing personnel overlooks 20 to 30 percent of safety updates and new components of OSHA regulations. D&D Safety refers to this as the safety gap. It’s the area in which OSHA writes most of its citations. These overlooked safety issues may result in thousands of dollars in penalties:
Serious Violations: $13,653 per violation
Failure to Abate Violations: $13,653 per day (beyond abatement date)
Willful or Repeated Violations: $136,532 per violation
As you can see, identifying safety gaps is smart business.
The best way to identify safety gaps
Improving the knowledge of the person responsible for your company’s safety is the best way to identify gaps in your safety program. An OSHA-certified safety professional can do just that.
Teaming up with a safety consulting business like D&D Safety makes sense for your lean business structure. In fact, it’s the perfect partnership for your business. D&D supports your using existing personnel for everyday safety, but educates them to bring them to the next level of expertise. First, your consultant identifies safety gaps relevant to your industry. Next, D&D writes a customized safety program that exactly meets your needs. Your consultant provides OSHA customized “certified” training to your safety manager and points out areas in which the business could improve employee safety. We can even provide workplace safety training to your entire staff.
D&D Safety Consulting offers OSHA safety services that streamlined businesses like yours can afford. Complete safety programs start at just $1,950. Compared to the smallest OSHA penalty of $13,653, it’s smart business to team up with the certified safety professionals at D&D Safety.
Call us today at 216-352-1900 for a no-obligation safety assessment. For additional information about D&D Safety, visit our website at danddsafety.com.
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