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.