Tag Archives: Safety

Annual Injury and Illness Summary Posting

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It’s that time of year again. Time to post the summary of the injuries and illnesses your employees may have had this year. The OSHA 300A annual summary must be posted by February 1. It’s a good time to make sure you have a current 300 and that it is filled out correctly.

There are a number of companies that will help you with it but the summary is not that difficult. Your requirement to log all injuries and illnesses can be a bit complicated but the form OSHA 300 which can be found at http://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/RKforms.html has all the instructions to fill the information out correctly.

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OSHA Starts SBREFA Process on I2P2

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It’s alphabet soup time again… or at least it feels that way. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has just announced the formation of a Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) panel to review the Injury and Illness Prevention Plan (I2P2) rules that have been proposed by OSHA last year. This is an important development because, although the rule has been in development over the past few years, we knew it wasn’t going to move forward until this process has gone forward. Continue reading →

Stress SAFETY!

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It’s that time of year. Everyone is geting into the swing of things and most gins are running 24 hrs if they are going to and it’s also the time that we see the most serious accidents. We have had a couple serious injuries in our region and I just received an alert from Texas.

Please take some time to review your safety procedures. Look at employee practices. Are they doing what they’ve been trained to do? Are shortcuts being taken? As it gets colder do employees put gloves on in areas that gloves aren’t allowed?

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>OSHA Continues to get SERIOUS on violations

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>The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently cited a saw mill in Vance, AL $121,400 in connection with an inspection resulting from a fatality at the plant. According to the Alabama HR Law Blog, the company was cited for 1 willful violation and several serious violations. The article didn’t detail any inspection history at the plant but said the employer had been made aware of the hazard that killed the worker and that other
workers had pointed it out without the company taking any action. There were also a lack of rails and guards that should have restricted employees from entering the hazardous area.

This is not to be taken lightly. While a willful violation is usually written when there had been previous OSHA activity at the plant and the facility failed to take action on prior citations, there is nothing in the law that requires it. A willful violation may be written anytime there is a blatant disregard for worker safety and where management knew or should have known about the hazard. Recent court activity has held that certain safety audits can be subpoenaed in connection with OSHA inspections. This means that if a serious hazard exists and has been pointed out to management OSHA can potentially write a willful citation.

It has been several years since we’ve seen OSHA at a gin but all it takes is a moment of inattention and that could change in an instant.

Please take the time when Barry or your insurance inspector are at your facility to go over your plant with a fine tooth comb. Find as many hazards as you can and TAKE CORRECTIVE ACTION. FIX THE PROBLEMS. The work you do will not only help prevent an injury directly, but it shows your employees that you care about their safety. No matter what you do, some accidents will happen but the action you take now can make the difference between a minor and a major injury. It can also make the difference between no fine and a HUGE penalty.

DSF