Keep It Simple, To The Point and Relevant – 10/17/22

Safety E-QuickTips

U.S. Compliance Systems, Inc.

Monday Oct 17, 2022

Keep it Simple, To the Point and Relevant

When it comes to workplace safety and compliance, we tend to believe that for it to be effective it must be difficult and take a lot of time.

Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look.

We’ll start with OSHA.

Have you seen the regulations for just construction and industry?Hundreds of pages in small print, with including links to OSHA’s letters of interpretation so everyone understands what is being said.

Then we have the OSHA 10- and 30-hour training.That’s right 10 and 30 hours. Need I say more?

And what about OSHA’s Multi-employer worksite policy? You know, the one that talks about how OSHA can cite the creating employer, the exposing employer, the correcting employer or the controlling employer.

Moving on we have employers being told to complete JHA’s, AHA’s, JTHA’s, and AHA’s, being asked to provide copies of their Safety Data Sheets (SDS), or they need to prepare their Site Specific Safety Program.

I can go on if you want. But if you’re like me, you’ve probably heard enough.

But here’s the good news – workplace safety and compliance doesn’t have to be that difficult.

Did you know that you can take OSHA’s hundreds of pages and reduce them into 4 simple steps? In fact, in some court cases, OSHA judges use these 4 steps to determine if an employer met their obligations under the law to protect their employees.

Imagine that. OSHA judges using 4 simple steps when they have all those pages of regulations they could rely on.

If you’ve read our Safety E-QuickTips in the past, maybe even just a couple of months ago, you may remember these.

1.Establish Safety Policies and Procedures
2.Effectively Communicate Your Safety Policies and Procedures to Your Employees
3.Provide Regular and Frequent Workplace Safety Inspections
4.Enforce Your Safety Policies and Procedures.

As for all the other things I mentioned above like training, JHA’s and SDS, let me be perfectly clear. I’m not saying they can’t be helpful. I’m just saying we’re spending too much time on a lot of stuff rather than focusing on what is important, so everyone is becoming so overwhelmed they end up doing nothing at all.

So, if you want to implement and manage workplace safety and compliance in a way that really protects employees – keep it simple, to the point and relevant to the work being performed.

And if you want to make sure your Safety Program meets OSHA’s requirements, make sure it meets the 4 simple steps above.

Employee QuickTip

Understanding the hazards associated with the work you do on a regular basis is the easy part.Taking the time to protect yourself from those hazards is where it gets more difficult. Take the time and do the difficult part, you won’t regret it.

Employer/Management QuickTip

Don’t just put in the time when it comes to workplace safety and compliance.Spend that time well and make sure what you do is relevant to the work being performed.

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Thanks for Reading and Please – Stay Healthy and Work Safe.