Last week, OSHA announced a National Emphasis Program (NEP) on recordkeeping.

The agency wants to find out whether the nation’s workplace injury rate is really at its lowest point ever as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

BLS uses reports issued by employers to tabulate the injury rate.

OSHA’s targets in this NEP: Facilities in high-injury industries that have much lower-than-average injuries. The theory: Some of these employers are under-reporting injuries.

OSHA told it’s inspectors on this NEP to ask employees about their company’s safety incentive programs, specifically if they may discourage reporting of injuries. The inspectors will interview a minimum of 10 employees, more if the facility has over 100 workers.

Inspectors have been told to obtain copies of these incentive programs and note their existence in their reports.

While the guidelines say most recordkeeping violations uncovered through this NEP will be classified as “other-than-serious” violations, the citations may also be raised to the willful level when inspectors can document deliberate under-reporting.

Existence of incentive programs may be used to back up raising a recordkeeping violation to the willful level.

What’s your theory on safety incentive programs? How can a company develop an incentive program that reduces injuries yet doesn’t discourage reporting of incidents? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

Our current Quick Poll asks about safety incentive programs. You can take our Quick Poll on our home page.

The report comes from the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE). The latest incident occurred earlier this month at a market in San Francisco.

What happened: A man represented himself as a DLSE investigator and sought cash in lieu of issuing citations.

An investigator will never request payment in lieu of citations or ask for money onsite, according to California state officials. If an investigator requests payment, employers should call the Division of Labor Standards at 415-703-4810. The Division will then contact local authorities.

Before an inspection, a real Labor Standards investigator will:

• identify him or herself using state ID and a business card
• discuss the employer’s rights and responsibilities during the inspection, and
• explain what happens during the inspection.

A federal OSHA factsheet on what to expect during an inspection can be downloaded here (PDF).

Starting this week, a group of 10 inspectors will be monitored. By the end of this month, all 379 will be tracked, according to The New York Times.

The tracking program is partially due to the case of former inspector Edward Marquette. He was charged last year with faking a report that he inspected a tower crane in response to a complaint. Authorities said he never visited the site, and 11 days later, the crane fell, killing seven people.

Officials have said it was unlikely the missed inspection had any relation to the incident.

Marquette has pleaded not guilty to charges. He also allegedly filed false inspection reports for cranes at two other sites.

A Buildings Department official said the agency doesn’t believe there are widespread reporting problems by inspectors. The monitoring system will also allow supervisors to dispatch the closest inspector to a building-related emergency and locate inspectors who lose contact with the department during hazardous inspections.

The union representing most inspectors doesn’t like the plan.

However, one inspector quoted by the Times said, “If you are where you’re supposed to be, you’ve got nothing to fear.” Inspectors will only be monitored while they’re on duty. When an inspector’s shift ends, the tracker will be turned off.

So, what do you think? Do safety inspectors need to be monitored? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

OSHA has issued a directive that cancels focused inspections for general industry for now. Focused inspections will continue in the construction and maritime industries.

The agency is in the process of considering a new Annual Operating Plan that will change the General Industry Inspection protocol.

OSHA developed guidelines for its inspectors to conduct focused inspections in the construction and maritime industries in 1994 and 1998, respectively. The agency says focused inspections allow it to use its resources more efficiently.

Focused inspections primarily address the predominant hazards of the industry. Comprehensive inspections look at a wide range of potential hazards.

In 2008, focused inspections were extended to general industry.

Information on focused inspections for the construction industry is here. Click here for information about the maritime program.

OSHA’s intent, announced recently as part of a release about a new national emphasis program, is to spend the next year hitting as many facilities as possible. OSHA calls it a new approach for compliance officers: Ask a series of tough questions and quickly move on to the next facility.

But don’t mistake “quick” for “easy.”  The goal is to verify that written and implemented PSM programs are consistent.

And acting OSHA head Jordan Barab has made it clear that compliance with PSM standards is a top priority.

A recent Newsweek article, written by a small-business owner, addresses the proposed “Employee Free Choice Act” and the self-described paranoia he feels at the thought of having his company become unionized.

The author raises some interesting points about wages and benefits. And he expresses concern that OSHA is a lot more likely to come calling on companies where unions have either waged successful campaigns, or are hoping to.

But what about safety? Do unions make it easier or harder to keep employees safe? Do they fulfill the promise of promoting safer working conditions, or do they promote a counterproductive us-vs.-them attitude and make it tougher to get rid of unsafe employees?

Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

For the last eight years, OSHA has de-emphasized recordkeeping inspections. That’s about to change.

OSHA is preparing a National Emphasis Program (NEP) on recordkeeping. Its targets:

• Companies in high-injury industries with low injury rates. OSHA will check to see that records match reality.
• Incentive programs that encourage employees not to report injuries. Example: The unit with the lowest injury rate for the quarter will win prizes or get a special financial reward.
• Disincentives to report injuries. Example: Workers who report injuries are disciplined or fired.

Speaking at the American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) Safety 2009 conference in San Antonio, acting OSHA administrator Jordan Barab said the agency isn’t opposed to incentive programs, as long as the incentives are for proactive measures.

Barab said he’s somewhat skeptical of behavioral programs that always blame workers for incidents and injuries.

In an interview with SafetyNewsAlert.com after his speech, Barab pointed to the 2005 BP Texas City, TX, disaster in which 15 employees were killed and 170 were injured in an explosion. Barab said the first thing BP did was to fire a bunch of workers “when that was only the tip of the iceberg,” according to an investigation by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.

On another topic, Barab said OSHA isn’t eliminating the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). However, he added that the days of OSHA forming alliances with various industry groups instead of enacting new or revising existing standards are over.

When will OSHA have a permanent administrator? Barab said at this point, it looks like it will be fall at the earliest. However, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has told Barab not to wait. When Barab took the position as interim head of OSHA, Solis told him to go full speed ahead on her workplace safety agenda, which includes vigorous enforcement and enactment of new standards. Barab will assume the No. 2 position at OSHA once a permanent administrator is confirmed.

Barab said OSHA will react quickly to injury trends, such as moving inspectors to Texas, starting in July, to counter the high number of construction fatalities in the state (see our earlier story here). “A SWAT team of OSHA inspectors will fan out over Texas,” Barab said, to visit sites in locales where construction fatalities and injuries have been a particular problem.

Check back with SafetyNewsAlert.com often this week for updates from the ASSE Safety 2009 conference.

“Make no mistake about it: The Department of Labor (DOL) is back in the enforcement business,” Solis told an audience of safety professionals in San Antonio, TX, attending Safety 2009.

She acknowledges that in these difficult economic times it’s more difficult for safety professionals to sell employee safety and health to their companies. For that reason, Solis said the agency wants to work with more companies to help them provide safer workplaces so that mothers and fathers can return home, uninjured, to their children each day.

But the current recession isn’t stopping OSHA and its parent department, DOL, from stepping up enforcement.

Solis noted that OSHA’s 2010 budget request calls for 130 more inspectors. In comments to reporters after her speech, Solis said, “I’d like to have more [inspectors], but we’re not in that position,” due to the economy.

The Secretary was asked about the lack of a permanent administrator for OSHA. Jordan Barab is the acting administrator and will assume the No. 2 position at the agency once a permanent head is confirmed. Solis expressed frustration with the U.S. Senate confirmation process. She noted that there are other nominees to DOL positions who have been in the pipeline for four months without being confirmed. She said it was important to have a new leader of OSHA, and that’s why Barab was appointed interim administrator, which doesn’t require Senate confirmation.

Solis said she hasn’t yet read the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that found deficiencies with OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program. She said she agrees with the concerns expressed by the GAO and by members of the House and Senate regarding OSHA’s enforcement capabilities.

The Secretary also took the opportunity during her speech in front of thousands of safety professionals in San Antonio to announce a new initiative to decrease construction fatalities and injuries in Texas. Since 2007, there have been 145 construction fatalities in Texas, a number Solis called “intolerable.”

Beginning in July, OSHA will increase the number of inspectors in Texas for a concentrated effort aimed at construction sites. If an inspector sees scaffold, fall, trenching or other hazards, they’re empowered to launch an immediate investigation.

Check back with SafetyNewsAlert.com often this week for updates from the ASSE Safety 2009 conference.

The just released Field Operations Manual (FOM) says to issue a citation classified as serious, OSHA must show that an employer knew about the existence of a hazard.

The FOM says an employer knew about a hazard if:

• the employer saw the condition
• an employee reported it
• an employee was previously injured by the hazard and the company knew about the injury
• the employer could have known about it if it had exercised reasonable diligence, or
• a supervisor knew about the hazard.

A serious violation must also have the substantial possibility for death or serious injury.

A link to download the FOM can be found here (free Adobe Acrobat Reader required).

The new Field Operations Manual replaces the Field Inspection Reference Manual published in 1994.

The most important section for companies is Chapter 3, Inspection Procedures.

The chapter includes:

• information on how inspectors choose their target companies
• the difference between comprehensive and partial inspections
• expectations at the pre-inspection conference
• review of a company’s own safety records (such as documentation of required training)
• the walk-around inspection itself
• the closing conference, and
• potential penalties.

You can download the manual for free here (document is a pdf, free Adobe Acrobat Reader required).

That’s the case with Phenix Lumber Co. in Phenix City, AL. OSHA has proposed $293,700 in penalties for 36 safety and health violations there.

For failing to correct five violations identified during a previous inspection, OSHA issued fines totaling $202,500. Those citations include failure to obtain audiograms for employees exposed to noise hazards, not implementing specific lockout/tagout procedures and lack of machine guards.

The other fines totaling $91,200 in penalties are for six repeat, seven serious and one other-than-serious violation. These include poor housekeeping of combustible dust, lack of safety signs, and using incorrect electrical and forklift equipment.

The company has 15 days to decide if it wants to contest any of the citations.

Since we started SafetyNewsAlert.com several months ago, we’ve heard from many readers that OSHA needs to hold employees as well as employers accountable for safety to reduce injuries and fatalities. Now, OSHA has taken steps with one company to do just that.

OSHA has fined 160 Broadway Corp., dba Broadway Concrete, $750,000 as part of a settlement agreement for 13 repeat violations involving fall hazards.

The amount of the fine is enough to get any company’s attention. But that’s not all Broadway agreed to.

Broadway has also agreed to reduce the salary of senior job superintendents who fail to comply with applicable OSHA and job safety practices.

So if these supervisors don’t enforce safety rules, their pay will get docked.

More costs than just a fine

Broadway will have to spend even more money as a result of this settlement. It’s also agreed to:

• Employ a full-time chief of construction operations and a corporate safety director to have authority over senior job superintendents in safety and health issues.
• Employ a full-time site safety director on each large project and have a safety director inspect smaller projects at least once a week.
• Provide safety and health management training to superintendents and supervisory personnel working on each site, and train company and subcontractor employees on each site’s safety and health plan.

Is this a good first step to make supervisors accountable for the safety of the people they manage? Should OSHA go further to dock rank-and-file workers’ pay for safety infractions? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

O.C.E. Warehouse and Distribution Center in Edison, NJ, was the recipient of one such inspection. Now the company faces $123,100 in OSHA fines.

OSHA received a referral from the Edison Department of Public Safety,  Division of Fire, alleging O.C.E.’s fire exits and aisles were blocked and that unsecured merchandise was being stored on racks.

O.C.E. was fined $100,000 for two willful violations and $23,100 for 12 serious violations.

The willful violations include failure to continuously maintain exit routes free of obstruction or impediments and for storing materials in damaged racks.

The serious violations include failure to:

• properly identify exit doors
• supply employees with personal protective equipment
• remove defective forklifts from service
• provide adequate training
• give adequate evaluations and procedures to forklift operators, and
• provide proper storage in workspace areas around electrical equipment.

You can read more about the case involving O.C.E. here.

A former OSHA inspector has told a TV station in Houston that he had to “game the numbers” when the agency came under Congressional pressure for not conducting enough inspections.

Ronnie Benavides, who worked for OSHA for more than a decade, told KHOU-TV that he felt pressured to be more aggressive, to do more inspections and write more citations, even if they had to be fabricated.

Benavides detailed one inspection in particular. A construction worker fell 29 floors to his death.

He said he and other OSHA inspectors who went to the site to investigate went overboard. He said they cited contractors for things that weren’t violations.

OSHA in the Houston area may have been under particular pressure to boost inspections.

In 2005, an explosion at the nearby Texas City BP refinery killed 15 workers.

Critics said OSHA wasn’t aggressive enough in enforcing safety at the plant.

OSHA denied any allegation that citations were manufactured.

The agency said more inspections were conducted in the Houston area in response to a building boom there.

The United Steelworkers Union told KHOU that it welcomed OSHA getting more aggressive, saying it’s long overdue.