No.  Safety First is a slogan.  Slogans may cause dissonance in employees when the reality in the workplace doesn’t match the words.  Integration of safety into your processes is an achievable reality and nets improved safety performance.  Thus, a better slogan is Safety Too.

No, counting severe injuries after the fact is a measure of failure.  A better metric is measuring accident potential and avoidance.  Loss time accidents are a measure of injury severity.  Where measuring efforts to identify hazards and avoid injuries is a proactive measure of success.

Yes, they may fine you if you don’t.

Absolutely.  However, injury producing accidents are only a part of a broader picture.  For every injury producing incident, it’s very likely that similar incidents have occurred that did not result in injury, or that were even identified as an accident.  Thus, being injured during an incident is largely a matter of chance.  The same is true for the severity of the injury.  Actively avoiding incidents is the best way to reduce injuries.  Secondarily, reacting to every incident that could have resulted in injury is a good way to avoid reoccurrence and future injuries.

If you have employees that produce goods or services, probably not.  However, you can easily reduce the frequency of occurrence.  Thus, greatly reducing the number of injuries per year.  This greatly reduces the annual costs of losses and the costs of insuring against them.

Immediately, or as soon as reasonably practicable, remove or correct the issues that prompted the citation(s).  If you think you need to involve an attorney for guidance, do so without delay.  If you need technical assistance to resolve the issues cited by OSHA, we may be able to help.  Contact us for more information.

No, any safety issues observed during our consultation is completely confidential.  Our goal is to help you and your organization identify and correct safety problems before injuries occur.

All employers are required to notify OSHA when an employee is killed on the job or suffers a work-related hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye.  A fatality must be reported within 8 hours.

An in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or eye loss must be reported within 24 hours.  Go to OSHA.gov for more details and contact information.

Any of the reasons to contact OSHA mentioned above may prompt a visit by a compliance officer.  A fatality will certainly prompt an OSHA visit.  Other things that may instigate a visit by OSHA are:

Imminent danger situations.  This typically happens when an OSHA compliance officer, driving by your workplace, happens to observe hazards that could cause death or serious physical harm.

1. Worker Complaints.  Employees may anonymously contact OSHA on their own to make allegations of hazards or violations.  Thus, prompting a visit.
2. Referrals of hazards.  Other federal, state or local agencies may report hazards or violations to OSHA and receive consideration for an inspection.
3. Targeted inspections.  These are inspections aimed at specific high-hazard industries or individual workplaces that have experienced high rates of injuries and illnesses.
4. Follow-up inspections.  OSHA may return to check for abatement of violations cited during a previous inspection.

No, top management commitment to safety and employee involvement in making your workplace safe is the first step.  Then, at a minimum, following all applicable OSHA regulations is the best way to make your workplace safe.

The first step in solving any problem is being aware that a problem exists.  Before top management can make better decisions affecting safety, they must be made aware of the problem.

Probably not.  Especially if upper management is making decisions that run counter to your efforts.  This is a very common problem and safety professionals often find themselves having to lead upward.  This is very precarious and must be handled delicately.

Only if they invite me to.

Our Safety Leadership Training is designed to improve how safety is perceived and then integrated into your business.  No matter what’s discovered during the training, the boss and upper management still have to want to improve safety to get results.

Absolutely.  When invited to.

If you want to prove they exist, they do.

No.  OSHA requires employers to provide employees an Emergency Action Plan, so they know what to do in the event of an emergency e.g., fires, evacuations, exit routes, employee/visitor accounting, and reunification.  Emergency Response and Crises Management Plans dive much deeper into multiple hazards that may affect the business.  This includes natural events such as weather and man-made events such as intentional or accidental acts that do harm to the business.  It includes what to do before, during, and after a significant untoward event.

Yes.  However, every business and facility are different and there’s not a once size fits all solution.  Our facilities hardening solutions are intended to make your business less attractive to criminals.

No.

Not necessarily, and this is a “hot button” questions for a lot of people, on both sides of the equation.

It’s also situational.  If the situation warrants it, and employees are vulnerable to intended or random acts of violence, various forms of protection should be considered, including non-lethal solutions.  However, if your facilities are reasonably secure and other trained and/or armed employees are present to react to a security threat, then it may not be the best solution.  Again, this is situational, and we can help to determine the best course of employees’ defense against violence.

Absolutely, but again, only if the situation warrants.  We are safety experts certified to train anyone to safely carry and use a firearm to defend themselves and others, including in the workplace if it’s allowed.