Dealing with OSHA?

[10sun]

Any tips?

Girl got run over by a forklift on second shift last week because she wasn't paying attention and my operation isn't idiot proof.

I've already put down stanchions to make walking paths impassible by forklifts in that area, but I want to get ready for a possible OSHA audit -_-

Help? ><

[xKALECx]

Buy plenty of K-Y.


Seriously...they are the biggest bunch of asshole auditors I have ever seen. Much like EMTALA and Joint Commission in the medical field, they survive on audits. If they select for an audit, they will get money. Usually they find something miniscule, and tell you to pay a small amount as long as you prove improvement in said area within a set amount of months.

Just have ALL of your shit in a row. Be able to cite policies and procedures in your sleep and make sure you employees are in the same boat. Tons of educational posters in the shitters, cont' education in the workplace for people to attend on their sacred off days etc...

[Diekan]

OSHA will own you. Play nice and do what they tell you. Make sure you have PLENTY of documentation about this issue AND any previous issues.

Has she had accidents before? Do you have it documented? Was the accident avoidable? Do you have documentation to prove it? Was it a pre-existing hazard? Can you prove you didn't know about it if it was?

OSHA is all about documentation - they don't care what you "say" - they want to see it on paper.

If she's been in accidents before you might have some ammunition to defend yourself with, if not...

p.s. the fact you already took action to "correct the problem" is nearly an admission of guilt. You should have waited for the auditor to tell you it needs to be taken care of. You see the same thing happening in torts all the time. X person falls down the stairs of a store. The store in turn gets the stairs fixed immediately after and gets owned in court because of it. The law / government could very well see your actions of "fixing" the problem as an admission to having previous knowledge of the hazard, even if your intentions were honest. Or, they could see it as an admission that a problem did exist, then you could be held liable for not having it corrected previously. By NOT getting it fixed right away you could argue that it's not a hazard, which also gives you more ammunition by putting the blame on her, for her clumsiness. You really shouldn't have ordered it fixed.

[dammuzis]

was she driving?

even if she is a dipshit from idiotville its is ALWAYS the drivers fault

they will ask to see the forklift liscence of every person who is allowed to drive the lift (anyone who tells you that its not needed has never been audited)
they will ask to see the daily check report for forklift maintainence (no one ever keeps these)
they will ask you and all your employees seperately what are the policy and procedures regarding forklift safety

[Minrott]

How big is your operation? If you can afford to, I would bring in a consultant/insurance advisor. We used to have one at the foundry who would come through every week and put in corrective actions for all OSHA noncompliance items. If we followed his 'recommendations' his firm covered any OSHA fines.

[Tacks]

Contact OSHA and let them know you want to have one of their consultants come in for training. You're probably screwed for the accident you have now and can't get out of it. But if you let them think you're willing to work with them to improve workplace safety and you use their consultants they give you a lot of leeway. We went something like 131 days straight without an accident and also promised to have an OSHA rep in by the end of the year to discuss plant improvements so we're not even getting an inspection this year.

You letting them know that you want to improve safety will go a lot further than trying to cover up a situation that is already fucked.

[Diekan]

I'm telling you... fixing the problem ahead of time, like right after the accident is going to get you owned. I've seen it first hand. I've seen a similiar situation like this one take place a few years ago at a place I used to work. Someone got their foot run over by a lift, the person who got their toes crushed were not wearing steal toed shoes (they worked in a different department). The company went ape shit and started implimenting all sorts of "new" safety standards. When OSHA came in to investigate - because the person in question went to the hospital and ended up filing a complaint - the company got owned because OSHA saw their actions after the fact as an admission of knowingly ignoring safety concerns - even though the person who got hurt really had no buinsess in the area where the lifts ran. The general manager had said if they had left everything alone and let OSHA do thier thing, they wouldn't have had half the trouble.

[10sun]

Thanks for the information guys. I'll give you an update sometime when I have more energy. 13 hours today dealing with safety on top of my normal job responsibilities.

[Dylan]

You should erase any record of her being an employee, then slip her some cocaine etc into her breakfast and claim she was some drug addict that was trespassing.

[10sun]

She wasn't technically an employee anyways. We only employ those with valid work papers. She was a subcontractor who was at our operation on a somewhat fulltime basis.

[Dylan]

So, whats the problem?

I thought you did crack already you can spare some to save your own ass I'm sure

[Gaazy]

Ive dealt with them a little bit. Like others said, I think the best route is show them you are trying to correct the problem, that shows them you give a fuck. Not doing anything to try to fix it in my opinion would make you look like you couldnt give a shit and they will rail you even worse.

Oh, and suck up. Had the Enviremental Protection fuckers up my ass a month or so ago for some retarded shit, and once I started doing the whole suck up deal, he let me off with like 6 or 7 warnings and a fe wmonths to fix it. Suck up and dont back talk heh

[Diekan]

Ive dealt with them a little bit. Like others said, I think the best route is show them you are trying to correct the problem, that shows them you give a fuck. Not doing anything to try to fix it in my opinion would make you look like you couldnt give a shit and they will rail you even worse.

Oh, and suck up. Had the Enviremental Protection fuckers up my ass a month or so ago for some retarded shit, and once I started doing the whole suck up deal, he let me off with like 6 or 7 warnings and a fe wmonths to fix it. Suck up and dont back talk heh

That's absolutely wrong. You obviously didn't read what I said happened to one of my former employeers.

[Gaazy]

Im not saying try to cover up the problem or try to hide it. Im saying fix the fucking problem asap. Hell, if anything I would have fixed it right away just to make sure it didnt happen again, for my employees sake. Would already be fucked by osha anyways. And maybe thats not how it works anyways, but I just cant for the life of me see how leaving a problem unfixed and waiting for osha can help more than trying to fix it and letting them know you are trying to make your place safer.