The best defense

On August 26 the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the number of job-related fatalities for 2010. The BLS report said 4,547 workers died from occupational injuries in 2010 compared with 4,551 in 2009. In an economy where many of the most dangerous industries are experiencing record unemployment, the fact that the fatalities in American workplaces remain almost flat is disturbing.

I am a big promoter of a decrease in government intrusion in private enterprise. There is little doubt that when a situation gets to the point where the government determines that intervention is necessary it will always be over-burdensome on businesses. The most disturbing fact is that most of the time businesses are in the best position to address situations before the government steps in and regulates but simply fail to do so.

When it comes to workplace safety you will find unanimous agreement that a person should not have to put their life at risk unnecessarily to provide a living for themselves and their family. Many jobs that American workers do are inherently dangerous. Most construction work, for example, is dangerous. Most employees performing construction work understand that it is dangerous, as do their employers. Yet as the number of workplace fatalities continues at high levels, regulations are going to become more onerous and more costly to employers until the numbers drop.

What can and should employers do to help reverse this trend? They can begin by making safety in the workplace a priority, rather than a "back burner" issue. A written safety and health program that sits on a shelf gathering dust does more harm than good. It makes employers feel like they have done "something" so that if there is an injury they can dust it off and say "It shouldn't have happened because we have a policy to deal with these issues." It also undermines employee commitment to safety because if they know of the existence of the policy, and know that it is sitting on a shelf gathering dust, then they will not take seriously any efforts that the employer may take to deal with workplace hazards.

Employers should revisit their safety and health programs to make sure they are up to date and compliant with OSHA regulations. The Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS 618.383) set the minimum requirements for a safety and health program in Nevada: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-618.html#NRS618Sec383.

The plan includes the establishment of a training program for employees covering safety in the workplace. This requirement is not automatically fulfilled by simply having your employees having participated in an OSHA 10-hour or 30-hour course. It could, if the employer specifically commissioned an OSHA 10-hour or 30-hour course that was designed to specifically deal with the workplace hazards specific to the employer's workplace. But most OSHA courses are generic, and while providing very good, basic safety information, they are not site specific to a particular employer's workplace hazards.

To be effective (and compliant), an employer's training program must address the specific hazards particular to the employer's workplace. This type of program can only be developed after a thorough job-hazard analysis where the employer systematically evaluates every job task that their employees perform, digging to uncover every potential hazard that the employees might be exposed to while performing their jobs. Only then can effective safety training be developed and implemented.

The problem is employers are not doing this. OSHA is currently considering the adoption of an I2P2 rule, (Injury and Illness Prevention Plan) that would require employers to do this and more. California has had such a rule on the books for more than 10 years, and a recent study indicated that there are less than 40 percent of California employers that comply. If you think current regulations are burdensome, wait until you see what an I2P2 rule would require of employers!

It is undisputed that workplace injuries cost American businesses over $170 billion dollars a year. Liberty Mutual, a leading workers compensation carrier, announced in their 2010 report that they paid claims of over $53 billion in 2010. That is over a billion dollars a month! It only makes sense that employers work hard to reduce those losses. A small fraction of that money spent on safety training in the workplace would significantly reduce those numbers.

The power to limit the government's intrusion into our businesses by more regulations is in our hands. Private enterprise is in a better position to provide effective workplace safety than some governmental agency. Now is the time to step up to the plate and do that before Big Brother decides that it best knows how to run our businesses.

John Skowronek is an OSHA authorized trainer and safety consultant with Square One Solutions in Reno. Contact him at www.worksq1.com or follow him on twitter @KnotheadNed.