Monster Media 1996 #14/Monster Media No. 14 (April 1996) (Monster Media, Inc.).ISO/business/sba961.zip/F249.SBE

Text File | 1996-01-01 | 14KB | 333 lines

@110 CHAP 5

        ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
        │ OSHA -- EMPLOYEE SAFETY AND HEALTH REGULATION │
        └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

As noted elsewhere in this program, employers are required
by state law in most states to carry workers' compensation
insurance for the protection of employees who develop job-
related illnesses or who are injured on the job.  There are
also comprehensive and far-reaching federal laws that set
safety standards designed to prevent injuries that could
arise out of unsafe or unhealthy working conditions.  The
main federal law regulating employee job safety is the
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA).  The
Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued
reams of regulations and standards for workplace safety
that employers are somehow supposed to understand and obey.
This program will not try to summarize those thousands of
pages of technical regulations.  Instead, the following is
a summary of the highlights of some of the formal require-
ments and exemptions you should be aware of as a small
business owner under OSHA.

  . NOTICE TO EMPLOYEES.  OSHA requires that you post a
    permanent notice to employees regarding safety on the
    job.  In some cases, you may be required to post a
    second official poster about the rights of employees
    who are punished by an employer for objecting to the
    existence of unsafe working conditions.

  . RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS.  Under OSHA, it is neces-
    sary to keep a log of industrial injuries and illnesses.
    The Federal OSHA Form 200 can be used to satisfy the re-
    quirement.  At the end of each year, the information in
    the log must be summarized and posted prominently in
    your workplace from February 1 to March 1.  This re-
    quirement was eliminated a few years ago for most re-
    tail, financial, insurance, and service firms, but not
    for the following types of firms:

     .  Building material and garden supply stores
     .  Food stores
     .  General merchandise stores
     .  Hotels and other lodging places
     .  Repair, amusement and recreation services
     .  Health services

    Under OSHA, a Supplementary Record must be prepared af-
    ter a recordable injury or illness occurs, using feder-
    al Form 101 or any of the substitutes permitted to be
    used for this purpose under @STATE law.

    Neither of the above recordkeeping forms are ordinarily
    filed with the government.  Instead, these records must
    be retained and kept available for inspection for five
    years.  Note that the recordkeeping requirements have
    TEETH in them, in the way of potential heavy fines.  A
    recent newspaper article reported that a major U.S.
    company, a meat packing company, had been assessed pro-
    posed fines of over $2 million by OSHA for various al-
    leged OSHA recordkeeping violations.

  . EXEMPTION FROM RECORDKEEPING.  The federal act exempts
    small employers from most of the reporting and record-
    keeping requirements, and treats any employer with 10
    or fewer employees during the previous year as a "small
    employer."  (@NAME has @EMP employees.)

    However, the requirements of keeping a log and report-
    ing fatalities and multiple injuries are not exempted,
    regardless of the number of employees.

  . REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.  Federal OSHA reporting require-
    ments include the following:

     .  The Bureau of Labor Statistics may require cer-
        tain selected employers (including "small employ-
        ers") to report certain summary information on
        job-related injuries and illnesses annually on
        the "Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Survey"
        form.

     .  In the event of a fatality or an accident re-
        sulting in the hospitalization of three or more
        employees, an employer must notify the area di-
        rector of OSHA within 8 hours, describing the
        circumstances of the accident, the extent of any
        injuries, and the number of fatalities, and giving
        the name and telephone number of a contact person.
        There are severe penalties in the event you fail
        to give notice as required.


NEW OSHA HAZARD ASSESSMENT REGULATIONS
======================================

Most small business owners tend to groan and say "Oh...
shoot!" when they hear the term "OSHA," which is the
acronym for the federal Occupational Safety and Health
Administration.  That's because OSHA and its state count-
erparts in 25 states and territories are the government
agencies that enforce the thousands of pages of complex
job safety and health regulations in the workplace, and
because many small employers find it very costly and diffi-
cult to stay abreast of this multitude of safety rules and
procedures that they must adopt and observe for employees
under OSHA.

For years, OSHA regulations have spelled out a number of
requirements regarding the required use of personal protec-
tive equipment ("PPE") by their employees.  PPE includes
such equipment as safety helmets, special safety goggles,
gloves, protective face shields, and other such items that
must be worn by employees for their own protection against
physical hazards they might encounter on the job.  These
regulations apply primarily to industrial workers, but not
exclusively so, since many workers in, for example, whole-
sale and retail firms may also be exposed to danger when
working on loading docks, in warehouses, and similar situ-
ations where special protective gear (such as safety shoes)
is needed to prevent injuries.

Thus most small firms are not likely to rejoice when they
learn of this latest, complex set of new regulations issued
by OSHA, published in the Federal Register on April 6, 1994,
and effective for PPE that is purchased after July 5, 1994.

While the new regulation largely updates existing standards
regarding protection of a worker's head, eyes, face, and
feet, it expands coverage to include hand protection.  In
addition, PPE that is purchased after July 5, 1994 must
generally meet standards for safety equipment that have
been adopted by the independent American National Standards
Institute ("ANSI").  The ANSI standards have been incorpor-
ated by reference into the regulations.

However, the main new thrust of this regulation is to re-
quire all employers to perform an assessment to identify
hazards that would necessitate the use of personal protec-
tive equipment by their workers.  If such hazards are de-
termined to be present, or likely to be present, the
employer must:

   - Select, and have each affected employee use,
     the types of PPE that will protect the affected
     employee from the hazards identified in the hazard
     assessment;

   - Communicate the selection decisions to each
     affected employee; and

   - Select protective gear that properly fits each
     affected employee.

The regulation also requires that an employer verify that
the workplace hazard assessment has been performed through
a written certification that identifies:

   - The workplace that was evaluated;

   - The person certifying that the evaluation has
     been performed; and

   - The date of the hazard assessment.

In addition, the certification must identify the document
as a certification of hazard assessment, and it must be
available for OSHA inspectors.

Employers must also train employees as to the proper use
of the protective gear and put the training requirements
in certified (written) form.  This involves teaching each
affected employee when PPE is necessary; what type of PPE
is needed; how to don, doff, adjust, and wear PPE; the
limitations of the gear; and the proper care, maintenance,
useful life and disposal of the PPE.

Employers, take heed.  As with most OSHA regulations, this
one has teeth -- employers who fail to comply with the new
regulation can be fined up to $70,000 for each willful
violation, so these are not rules any employer can simply
shrug off, or "put on the back burner."

For many firms that are already adequately utilizing PPE
for their employees, the new regulation may amount to
nothing more than unwanted additional paperwork.  However,
the safety agency expects that the hazard review process
will result in much wider use of PPE and with it, preven-
tion of a great many workplace injuries.  According to
OSHA estimates, implementation of the new rules will
prevent four workplace fatalities and 712,000 lost
workdays annually due to injuries, as well as 65,000
"non-lost workday" injuries.

OSHA officials estimate that under the new standards,
there are some 11.7 million workers in 1.1 million work
sites who should be wearing some form of protective gear.
Thus, a very broad range of companies are covered by the
new requirements.

How, if at all, will this new regulation affect your busi-
ness?  For more information, consult your attorney or, at
a minimum, contact your local OSHA (or state OSHA equiva-
lent) office, or OSHA's General Industry Compliance
Assistance Office, at [phone].  You can also send
for a free copy of the Personal Protective Equipment rules
(a reprint of the regulation, with official commentary, as
printed in the Federal Register), by calling the OSHA
Publications Office at [phone] or by faxing your
request to the latter at [phone].


NEW OSHA PUBLICATION FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
-----------------------------------------

OSHA issued an updated "OSHA Handbook for Small Businesses"
in 1993.  It includes a self-inspection checklist and an
in-depth employee training section on OSHA's new blood-
borne-pathogen safety regulations.

The above booklet is available for $4 from the Government
Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402, or by calling
[phone].  (FAX orders:  [phone].)

The booklet's order number is 029-016-001-441.

@CODE: CA
CALIFORNIA HEALTH AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS
-----------------------------------------

California has its own OSHA-type agency, called CAL/OSHA.
CAL/OSHA essentially takes over the federal OSHA functions
within the state, for the most part.  CAL/OSHA's reporting
and recordkeeping requirements generally dovetail with the
federal OSHA rules, and you can even use the federal OSHA
forms in lieu of the CAL/OSHA forms.

Other CAL/OSHA requirements include:

  . If any occupational injury or illness in California
    results in lost work time beyond the day of injury
    or in medical treatment other than first aid, you
    must report it in duplicate within 5 days to your
    insurance carrier on Form 5020 (or on the carrier's
    own form).  The copy of this completed form will
    constitute your supplementary record that is required
    for recordkeeping purposes.

  . In case of death or severe injury to an employee from
    an occupational injury or illness, you must immediate-
    ly report it by phone or telegram to the nearest dis-
    trict office of the California Division of Industrial
    Safety.

  . Employers in the construction business must obtain
    special CAL/OSHA permits if erecting or demolishing
    a structure over three stories high or doing excava-
    tions five feet or deeper, in which a person is re-
    quired to descend.

SAFETY PLAN REQUIRED.  Senate Bill (S.B.) 198, a California
law which was enacted in 1989, requires a relatively com-
plex written safety plan to have been adopted and been in
operation by July 1, 1991 for ALL employers in California,
regardless of size.  Among other requirements, the company
safety plan must:

      . Identify a person or people responsible for
        implementing the plan;

      . Identify and evaluate workplace hazards and
        provide for periodic inspections to identify
        unsafe conditions and work practices;

      . Detail the employer's methods and procedures
        for correcting unsafe or unhealthy conditions
        and work practices;

      . Implement an occupational health and safety
        program designed to instruct employees in
        generally safe and healthy work practices;

      . Establish procedures to communicate with
        employees on health and safety matters;

      . Encourage employees to inform the employer
        of hazards at the worksite without fear of
        reprisal; and

      . Have a system to ensure that employees
        comply with safe and healthy work practices.

Employers without a written plan and someone to conduct
training and maintain the plan can be assessed a penalty
of up to $1000 (or $2000 if the violation is "of a
serious nature").

For help in getting into compliance with this law, order a
copy of the SB 198 HANDBOOK from the California Chamber of
Commerce for $52 (25% discount for members).  Write to:

        California Chamber of Commerce
        Attention:  Mark Mason
        P.O. Box 1736
        Sacramento, CA 95812-1736

        Or call, toll-free, 1-800-331-8877

@CODE:EN
STATE HEALTH AND SAFETY RULES
-----------------------------

Some 23 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands also
have a OSHA-type agency which enforces similar, or in
some cases, even more restrictive, health and safety
rules.

@CODE: AK AZ CA HI IN IA KY MD MI MN NV NM NC SC OR TN UT VT VA WA WY
@STATE is one of the states with its own OSHA-type
health and safety agency.
@CODE:OF
@CODE: CT NY
@STATE has its own OSHA-type plan, but only for em-
ployees of the state and local governments.  It relies on
federal OSHA to enforce job safety standards in the private
sector.
@CODE:OF
@CODE: AL AR CO DE DC FL GA ID IL KS LA ME MA MS MO MT NB NH NJ ND OH OK PA RI SD TX WV WS
However, most states do not, and instead rely on federal
OSHA to administer health and safety requirements within
the state, as in the case of @STATE.
@CODE:OF