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CASE OF THE MONTH
When companies settle charges with OSHA, they typically agree to take measures to “abate” safety hazards. But a recent settlement agreement between OSHA and a New York construction contractor may take abatement measures to a new and creative level.
OSHA cited Broadway Concrete for 15 willful and repeat violations because of fall hazards at a condominium project in Jersey City. The contractor agreed to pay $750,000 in fines and adopt a slew of abatement measures to improve safety at the site. Among the abatement measures: cutting salaries of senior job superintendents that fail to comply with OSHA requirements and job safety practices.
Getting companies to agree to hold supervisors directly accountable for safety violations in the form of pay cuts makes a lot of sense. But it’s not something you see in your typical OSHA settlement. At least, we’re not aware of any settlements that include such a provision.
Unfortunately, an OSHA spokesman was unable to confirm whether the wage-docking provision is groundbreaking because the OSHA settlement database doesn’t track this kind of information. If any of you have seen something like this, drop me a line, glennd@bongarde.com.
Cite: Broadway Concrete, OSHA Region 2, 09-127-NEW/BOS 2009-040, Feb. 19, 2009
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I think would certainly stiffle reporting. It could cause near-miss reporting to decrease and fatal incidents to rise.
I'm not sure how holding supervisors accountable for doing their job would reduce reporting.
97% of people in the workplace are doing what they think their supervisor wants. If they're acting unsafely, it is because 1)the supervisor wants that, or 2)the supervisor hasn't clearly communicated his expectation, or 2)the supervisor is not holding employees accountable for performance to safety standards in the same way he holds them accountable to other performance standards.
All three are Supervision issues. A large number of so-called 'safety problems' are in fact NOT safety problems: they are safety SYMPTOMS of training or performance problems.