b'ar\'sCorner Fulfilling Your Safety Responsibilities GaryMRCA Legal Counsel Auman, Providingaworkplaceiseveryone\'s consafeThe methods byyouyour whichfulfill doesresponsibilities may not be the same as cern; itnot matter what the nature of your business is. Failure to provide aworkplace safe for your employees can result in serious injuriesyourin your industry. peers to your employees and even death. You all haveHow effective you are inthese theresponsibility to ensure that your employ fulfilling ees are provided aplace to work every day. saferesponsibilities has adirect impact on What do you do to ensure that this occurs?manyinvolving your business. Themethods by whichyou fulfillyourresponsibilitiesmayfactors not be the same as your peers in your industry. How effective you are in fulfilling these responsibilities has aimpact on many directaffect each of your businesses. But, Iwant to acquaint you with factorsinvolving your business.They willaffect your ability todo keep employees at work, they will affect your insurance premiumstwo recent changes with regard to OSHA that will have direct impact for workers\' compensationcosts, they willimpact the quality ofon how you approach safety and regulatory compliance. the work you are able to produce, the cost of producing that endNational The first of these is aEmphasis Program (NEP) which product, and finally, they will impact how you are affected by regu started on October 1, 2009. This particular NEP addresses recordlatory enforcement (Occupational Safety and Health Administrationkeeping. Theprogram wasput into effect because of concerns [OSHA] inspections). Some secondary impacts of providing aidentified to OSHA with regard to underreporting or misreporting safeof injuries and illnesses on OSHA 300 logs in the meatand workplace are how you are viewed by your peers in industry, and aspacking ayour ability to get work and bid jobs (two things thatpoultryindustries. The NEP,which was started because of these contractor,concerns, is not limited just to the employers in those industries. are more and more affected by safety records).The NEP affects all employers. safeThe importance of aisnew rules and regulations In providing aworkplace for your employees, you are confronted with several different obligations. You are expected to complyNEPnot that have been promulgated, but rather that OSHA isthat with state and federal laws concerning safety,recordkeep announcing training,there are significant problems with employer compliance in areas ing, and hazard evaluation. You are also expected to go beyond thecoveredby the NEP.Byidentifying those problems,OSHAhas "black letter law" and implement those techniques and approachesestablished probable cause to visit any employer andtheir that are necessary to ensure that your employees do not get injured.inspect These procedures may well go beyond what any particular safetyrecordkeeping compliance. This NEP willlast through September rule or standard requires. Finally, you must address the problem that30, 2010. confronts us all: employee apathy. Address this particular problemYour company may or may not be visited by an OSHA compliance officer to conductinspection for recordkeeping. If aoccurs, by effectively training your employees, providing incentives for theiranvisit safety compliance,andfinally,enforcing those safety rules andbe sure that your recordkeeping, as far as OSHA 300 compliance is concerned, is up to date. These are just aof suggestions for regulations you have implemented to ensure compliance and thatcouple your employees work safely.in you to help you ensure that you arecompliance with th~ O~HA First, and of greatest importance, is for you, as an employer, to300 recordkeeping requirements. An OSHA 300 must be maintained take time to employ the necessary expertise to identify those haz by any business that employs 11 or more employees in any calendar year. You are requir to record all injuries or diseases that occur ards to which your employees are exposed and then take steps toed either eliminate the hazards or protect your employees from them.in the workplace and meet the recording criteria. Although there Of almost the same lev of importance is to acquaint yourself withis too much detail in the recordkeeping criteria to go into in this elarticle, some basic criteria include: any injury that results in lost all the state and federalstandards that apply to the work you dotime, even one day, or restricted duty of any kind, must be recorded and dictate what either state or federalOSHA and other regulatoryon the OSHA 300 log. In addition, any injury requiring treatment agencies feel you need to do to provide your employees aplace safebeyond first aid must be recordedonOSHA0 log.OSHA to work.the30There are not enough pages available to me to acquaint you with300 recordkeeping requirements canbe found in Title 29of the Code of Federal Regulations 1904. This is aeasy standard all of the standards and the details involved in those standards thatvery continued on page 10 Midwest ValuesBusinessResourcesNetworking5'