Software Club 210: Light Red/Club_Software_210_Light_Red_Micro_Star_1997.iso/sba/f249.sbe

Text File | 1997-01-15 | 15KB | 355 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
requirements 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 necessary
    to keep a log of industrial injuries and illnesses.
    The Federal OSHA Form 200 can be used to satisfy this
    requirement.  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
    requirement was eliminated a few years ago for most
    retail, 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
    after a recordable injury or illness occurs, using
    federal 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
    proposed fines of over $2 million by OSHA for various
    alleged OSHA recordkeeping violations.

  . EXEMPTION FROM RECORDKEEPING.  The federal act exempts
    small employers from most of the reporting and
    recordkeeping 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 reporting
    fatalities and multiple injuries are not exempted,
    regardless of the number of employees.

  . REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.  Federal OSHA reporting
    requirements include the following:

     .  The Bureau of Labor Statistics may require certain
        selected employers (including "small employers")
        to report certain kinds of 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 resulting
        in the hospitalization of three or more employees,
        an employer must notify the area director 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
counterparts 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
difficult to stay abreast of this multitude of safety rules
and procedures that they must adopt and observe for their
employees, under OSHA.

For years, OSHA regulations have spelled out a number
of requirements regarding the required use of personal
protective 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, wholesale and retail firms may also be exposed to
danger when working on loading docks, in warehouses, and
similar situations 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
incorporated by reference into the regulations.

However, the main new thrust of this regulation is to
require all employers to perform an assessment to identify
hazards that would necessitate the use of personal protective
equipment by their workers.  If such hazards are determined
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 sim