Employer Responsibility and the Cost of Safety

My work in safety management and training exposed me to the realities of protecting employees on the job-site. The safety of employees is the responsibility of the employer. 

Many employees, especially in the low skill areas, have little if any understanding of working safely. I have worked with employees that were obviously great at video games or other less benign endeavors, but had to be trained on how to safely use a power tool as simple as a drill gun or utility knife. 

As an employer, this can cost you significant time/money; just to safely onboard such employees. Nevertheless, under the "General Duty Clause" of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, it is your responsibility. Failure to follow the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, can become exponentially more expensive. Providing proper training for new employees is very important and the cost can be viewed as insurance against catastrophe.

Just as a refresher, following is the "General Duty Clause" as provided at Sections 5(a) and 5(b) of the OSH act, as defined at 29 USC 654:

Sec. 5. Duties

(a) Each employer --

(1)

shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees;  

(2)  shall comply with occupational safety and health standards promulgated under this Act.

(b) Each employee shall comply with occupational safety and health standards and all rules, regulations, and orders issued pursuant to this Act which are applicable to his own actions and conduct. 

I have underlined the the word recognized, because this implies additional responsibilities of the employer/you. Before we go any further, claiming ignorance of the hazard does not protect you the employer. 

The question then becomes, how are you supposed to recognize hazards in the work-place? Some hazards are easy to identify, while others require a detailed Job Hazard Analysis (JHA). While the JHA process is beyond the scope of this article, suffice it to say it can be time consuming and add more cost to your operation. But read on...

Balancing the cost of providing a safe workplace with the benefits should begin with an assessment of the cost of a serious injury to one of your employees. OSHA provides an "estimator" for providing the potential cost of injuries. Even a simple injury such as a fracture can create difficult to believe costs. The amount of additional sales required to pay for the injury can be high. Of course, if you have the increased sales without the injury, your bottom line gets a positive boost.

The cost estimator can be found at Cost estimator. Background and explanation of how the estimator works is found at Background. 

Considering the risks also should take into account part (b) of the general duty clause. You may think this only applies to the employee. Think again. You the employer also have the responsibility for setting rules, enforcing them, and using appropriate disciplinary action to ensure compliance. 

OSHA does not penalize employees, but if their failure to follow safety rules is ignored, you can be cited and penalized, in the event of an injury. Establish safety rules, enforce the rules, and use your disciplinary process to correct unsafe behavior. Terminating employment of non-conforming personnel, while not the best use of resources, can still be less expensive than ignoring the violations. So long as you use consistent non-biased disciplinary procedures, part (b) provides protection for you in creating and maintaining a safe workplace. 

Like it or not, worker safety is the employer's responsibility. Protecting your bottom line includes building safety into your operations. In the long run, Safety Pays.

For more information, I can be reached at david@postoakenterprises.com.