SURVIVING AN OSHA INSPECTION

Did you know that at any time an inspector from OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) can show up and inspect your site? He or she will walk your site and list any activity or practice that doesn't comply with current OSHA regulations, which can lead to a penalty. Even small, rural builders are susceptible to these inspections, which is just one more reason why safety should always be a priority on any construction site.

A THRIVING SAFETY PROGRAM IS THE KEY TO A NO-SWEAT OSHA INSPECTION
When your company implements a thriving safety program that lives and breathes part of your "business as usual" mentality, you're more apt to survive an OSHA inspection with flying colors. Also, remember that OSHA inspectors are people too. If they can tell your company works to adhere to a regular safety program, that your employees are knowledgeable and informed, that tailgate safety meetings are the norm, etc., they are much more likely to give you a warning as opposed to documenting actual citations.

Conversely, if it is clear that your company places no emphasis, or bare minimum emphasis, on safety, inspectors will be concerned and will be more inclined to cite you in an effort to shock your company into action.

The following tips can help you to prepare for and survive an OSHA safety inspector:

Make safety a part of the company culture. Perhaps the most important thing you can do is make safety a part of the company culture, and this starts at the top. Your managers must be on board and the safety program must be a living breathing entity that evolves and changes to proactively accommodate the needs of each job site and project. Safety always comes first, and that means a budget for extra training, equipment needs, extra time spent in classes with key team leaders, etc., should be accounted for whenever you're bidding a project that will require a scope of work that is new or not the norm for your workers. When safety is part of the culture, it will show through and through during your inspection, even if there is the occasional violation here and there.

Familiarize yourself with an OSHA safety checklist. Ideally, your site manager or a foreman should regularly walk the site with a construction safety checklist in hand, as if it were a real OSHA safety inspection. This is the best way to see which items, if any, need to be corrected. If you do these at least bi-annually - quarterly is even better - you may see there are certain areas where employees are continually missing the mark, whether it be lax fall protection, a lack of signage, or a failure to set up proper precautions/accommodations for peak temperature months at both ends of the spectrum. Click Here for a good example of what an OSHA Safety Inspector would be looking for.

Know which situations are more likely to prompt an inspection. Since OSHA programs are sponsored by the government, budgets are always an issue. This is one of the reasons why smaller and rural contractors often feel they're "off the hook," under the false assumption that OSHA has their eye more focused on the big guys. While this is true in some ways, there are a myriad of situations that can trigger an OSHA inspection.

Random: Sometimes, it's just luck of the draw. Or perhaps an inspector happens to pass your job site on his way to and from work and has decided to take a look around. In any case, random inspections do happen and nobody is ever completely off the hook.
Complaint. If there is a complaint from a neighbor, passerby or anonymous employee, it will trigger an inspection. In most cases, these inspections will be focused on the complaint area, although the inspector has the right to keep looking around.
Post-accident. If there has been a job site accident, you are almost guaranteed to have an OSHA inspector sniffing around in the very near future to evaluate the general safety conditions on site and to highlight any areas that need to be amended.
Follow-up. If you have had a previous inspection that resulted in warnings or citations, your site can expect to have a follow-up inspection.
Volunteer yourself. That's right! When you call and request an OSHA safety inspection, you can't be cited. OSHA wants to promote a construction safety culture too, and a volunteer inspection works towards that. The inspector will do a wall-to-wall visit, note anything of interest for you to correct and will come back for follow up. This is an excellent way to roost out any latent issues that have been overlooked so they can be amended.


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