Now is a great time to have an effective safety program in place. Formal and effective safety programs will start to pay off even more for those organizations who focus efforts in this area. Insurance costs, indirect costs of losses and potential OSHA citations are constant exposures to companies. In this article, the focus will be on changes to OSHA that will increase the incentive to have solid safety programs in place.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is now into the second year under the new presidential administration. It was promised early on the focus of OSHA will become more enforcement based. In keeping with this plan, OSHA recently announced some major changes with regard to enforcement. Many of the changes are already in effect or will be in effect by the end of 2010.

Safety Training Requirements
Safety training is required for all employees. Specifics of this would require several articles to adequately cover. To summarize, all employees must receive training on hazards related to their work. Some very specific training requirements common to C&D recycling would include lock out tag out, forklift driver training, use of personal protective equipment, machine guarding, etc. The change in place is safety training must be done in the language employees understand. The issue of translation during safety training has been answered. This will add some additional burden for employers, but is likely to improve the overall understanding of safety. A better understanding of safety by the workforce can improve overall safety results.

OSHA Citations
The penalty calculation is also being changed. This will increase the overall dollar amount for all penalties. Several of the main changes include:

• Cost of penalties for violations will increase. A serious violation penalty will increase in maximum fine of $7,000 to $12,000 each. Willful violation maximum penalties will increase from $70,000 to $120,000.
• The time period for repeat violations will be increased from three to five years.
• Reduction in citation amounts of more than 30% during an informal conference will require approval by the regional administrator.
• Reduction of penalties based on employer size will change. Employers with fewer than 25 employees will be eligible for a 40% penalty reduction, down from 60%. Employers with 26-100 employees will be eligible for a 30% reduction, down from 40%. Employers with 101-250 employees will be eligible for a 10% reduction, down from 20%.

Severe Violators Enforcement Program
This program will focus OSHA enforcement resources on employers that put employees at risk by demonstrating no effort to manage safety and follow OSHA standards.

Violators identified under this program will receive further focus by OSHA including:

• Inspections of other worksites of the same employer where similar operations exist;
• Increased number of OSHA inspections of the worksites; and
• Mandatory follow up OSHA inspections.

In addition to these changes, the staffing of compliance officers at most offices will increase. Many OSHA offices have already in-creased their staffing while others are in the process.

C&D Operator Response
The exposure to OSHA can be very significant and is a potential risk to virtually all companies.  The best defense against OSHA citations is planning in advance to be in compliance.  

Although all elements of what is required by OSHA is extensive, below are some primary activities that must be in place at a C&D recycling operation to maintain safety and to meet OSHA requirements:

•  Written Safety Policies—Operation specific that all employees have read and understand.
• On-Going Employee Safety Training—An annual safety training plan should be in place and administered to employees. Non-English speaking employees must receive training in the language they understand.
• Self Inspection Program—OSHA requires frequent and regular inspections of operations to identify hazards. Safety inspections must be documented and provide means to document corrective action. Some primary topics that should be focused on during self inspections are lockout/tagout, machine guarding, personal
• protective equipment, noise levels and air quality, and fall protection.

Benefits of Safety
There are many benefits of implementing a formalized safety program like avoiding OSHA citations, reduction in insurance costs and operational efficiencies. Safety is likely to have one of the largest returns on investment for a C&D operator and is worthy to receive significant attention.

About the Author
John E. Schumacher, CSP, is senior vice president at Assurance Safety Consulting in Schaumburg, Ill. He can be reached at 847-463-7224 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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