Most contractors know OSHA requires them to maintain certain safety records including OSHA notices, an injury and illness log, and information for employees on known hazards. But there are other steps a contractor can take to protect itself against OSHA citations. One important step is to develop a written safety plan which sets standard procedures for employee training, for regular safety inspections and for safety meetings. Even if your company already has informal training and safety procedures, a few hours spent reducing those procedures to writing will greatly increase your chances of avoiding a citation or obtaining a reduction of a penalty, should a workplace safety issue arise.
The employee training section of the plan should state specific hazards and safety practices on which the contractor will educate his employees. The plan should address both hazards that are common to the contractor's particular trade and general standards governing areas of job safety for which OSHA citations are most frequent, such as personal protective equipment, noise, machinery, power tools, ventilation, signs and signals, back-up alarms and equipment checks. In addition, the contractor should maintain a written record of each employee's training and should not allow anyone to operate equipment or machinery until training information is on file.
The plan should designate a competent person as company safety inspector. That person should be required to make frequent and regular inspections and should be authorized to halt or correct any unsafe work methods, to call a safety meeting immediately and to notify everyone of particular concerns or hazards. The safety inspector must keep written records of his inspections and actions. The plan should also call for regular safety meetings to update employees on safety standards and on particular hazards. Minutes of the meetings must be kept by the safety inspector. Even if a citation issues, a written safety plan and a written record of efforts to comply with it will go a long way towards convincing OSHA that this contractor gives high priority to workplace safety.
Should a citation issue, a contractor must contest it in writing within fifteen working days. This notice of contest should be prepared by counsel. But if the deadline is near, the contractor should send a certified letter to OSHA, return receipt requested, stating that the company contests the citation, penalty and the abatement order. Doing it yourself is preferable to missing the deadline. Once the deadline expires, a contractor cannot contest OSHA's assessment, no matter how severe the citation or penalty. It is important to contest everything - the citation, the penalty and the abatement order - since future citations and penalties will take all of those into account.
The same notice of contest letter should request an informal administrative review. That allows the contractor to open settlement negotiations with OSHA prior to any court action. Those negotiations are often productive and may well lead to a reduction in the amount of the fine and the severity of the citation, particularly where the contractor has a sound and properly documented safety program. Even if no settlement immediately results, the dialogue with OSHA officials and the information gained during the informal review often prove invaluable in court and in subsequent negotiations. A thoughtful safety plan properly implemented will reduce job site accidents, will reduce exposure to OSHA citations, and will likely reduce the penalty imposed on any citation that is issued.
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