Just on the heels of the Senate confirmation of a new director, the Obama Administration is asking Congress for a $50 million increase in OSHA’s budget. With the increased budget, OSHA plans on hiring an additional 130 inspectors across the nation to allow for increased enforcement.
What does this mean for your business?
First of all, this means that you best be prepared for a visit from your local OSHA representative.
In order to prepare for that visit, it would be a good decision to take some time to review your work policies regarding safety on the job with your employees. Many injuries on the job could be prevented if you take a moment to review your safety policies with your employees. In order to keep your employees safe, management should also be aware of what tasks their employees are doing while on the job. Management staff should be asking themselves, ‘Are my employees taking the necessary safety steps in place to keep safe on the job’.
If you business has had issues in the past regarding OSHA visiting and finding issues to improve upon, now would be a wise time to pull out that list and review with upper management staff . If OSHA was relaxed on an issue the last time they made their visit, they may have tougher restrictions and guidelines which could result in a fine for your company this time around.
Of course if you need assistance updating your hazardous communication policy and procedures, or just need a way to better organize your material safety data sheets give us a call today.
