Plan It. Practice It. Pray…is Not a Safety System

As an employer, flying by the proverbial “seat of one’s pants” concerning employee safety is a formula for disaster.  OSHA and workplace safety compliance requires employers to have in place a written safety system that employees are verifiably trained on and making sure the rules are enforced in the workplace.  Safety compliance also means pre-job planning before workers commence activities.  This practice includes the following major steps for consideration:

• General Requirements
• Pre-job Walkthrough
• Job Safety Analysis Preparation
• Pre-job Safety Meeting
• Post-Job Review/Feedback

Employees should be informed of identified or potential hazards and prescribed safety measures prior to initiating work activities through review of pre-job safety planning documents. In general, pre-job safety planning documents include hazard analyses, permits, and other safety- and health-related work plans.  Supervisors should ensure the following activities are performed: 

• Research (to the extent possible) and identify known environmental hazards in areas employees   enter or in which they work.
• Identify known or potential hazards and list on the JSA/AJHA and (as required) other pre-job safety planning documents.
• Ensure that required training and permits are completed for those applicable items on the known or potential hazards list.
• Ensure and maintain documentation of competency/qualification.
• Ensure that pertinent information from the pre-job safety planning document(s) is communicated to all affected personnel before they perform work or enter the worksite.
• Ensure current pre-job planning documents are at the worksite.
• Ensure compliance with this practice.

If, after all else fails, an accident should occur in the workplace, the employer must be in a position to show that the cause of such an accident was due to employee misconduct, and not because the employer failed to train, implement, or prepare its workers for the potential hazards in the workplace.  Planning and pre-job training is crucial to helping avoid accidents and injuries in the workplace.

If you have further questions concerning this subject and workplace safety, continue and follow our Risk Manager on Your Side or contact Bruce Smith at Goosmann Law Firm, 410 5th Street, Sioux City, Iowa 51101.  Phone: 712-226-4000.