It’s Just Good Business

All business owners want to be successful and one very essential component of a successful business is safety and health. If you own a business, safety and health is an aspect that you have to really take a close look at. There are many reasons why safety and health are crucial to employers and employees in the workplace. Again, a successful business consists of safety and health.

There are a wide variety of reasons why safety and health is crucial for running a successful business, but here are a few:

It demonstrates that the business is socially responsible.
It enhances and protects brand value and it’s image.
It increases the productivity of employees and enhances pride in their work.
It enhances the worker’s commitment to their company.
It builds a healthier workforce and increases the worker’s competency levels.
It allows for control of risk and decreases business disruption.
It allows for control of insurance costs, including workers’ compensation, resulting in decreasing business costs.
It allows businesses to meet the safety and health expectations of their customers.
It encourages the worker force to have an active life.

Every business could take pleasure in various benefits if they invest in safety and health. Its simple improvements could increase profitability, competitiveness and also motivate the employees. By having a safety and health system, the workplace could have an effective and efficient framework to help minimize and/or eliminate workplace injuries, accidents, medical illnesses and even death. Don’t forget that this means savings for the business.

As a business owner, you are morally and legally responsible for the safety and health of many components in your business, such as your employees, other workers affected by the workplace and also yourself. The primary goal of safety and health is to nourish and foster the working environment for all individuals in the workplace. Keeping everyone safe and healthy will surely increase the efficiency and productivity of the entire business, which will lead to a successful and prosperous business.

Contact STS Solutions, Inc. and let’s work together to enable a safe and healthy work environment.

OSHA REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Beginning January 1, 2015, there will be a change to what covered employers are required to report to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Employers will now be required to report all work-related fatalities within 8 hours and all in-patient hospitalizations, amputations, and losses of an eye with 24 hours of learning of incident.

Previously, employers were required to report all workplace fatalities and when three or more workers were hospitalized in the same incident.

OSHA states that the updated reporting requirements will enable employers and workers to prevent future injuries by identifying and eliminating the most serious workplace hazards.

Employers have three options for reporting these severe incidents to OSHA. They can call their nearest area office during normal business hours, call the 24-hour OSHA hotline at 1.800.321.6742, or they can report online at www.osha.gov/report_online.

New Twist on OSHA Electronic Injury and Illness Report Rule

OSHA has stated that it is afraid that illness and injury will be underreported by employers under the proposed injury and illness report rule. As a result, it is proposing new rules to prevent employer retaliation against reporting. They have reopened comment on the rule to receive feedback on new retaliation prevention proposals.

During the original comment period, concerning injury and illness reporting rules earlier this year, the Association of Energy Service Companies (AESC) provided comment. The AESC concluded that the proposed rule will do little to reduce injuries and illness on the job site. It will, however, force employers to disclose information that may result in violations of worker privacy and compromise business confidentiality. In addition, the proposal will reverse the “no-fault” approach to record keeping while reducing the employers’ incentive to record questionable injuries. Finally, OSHA fails to account for the total costs its rule making will impose on businesses, while claiming unsubstantiated benefits. The AESC urged OSHA to withdraw the rule making.

Adams and Reece, a labor law firm, also has provided a summary on the implications of the new proposal. “Those provisions will require employers to: (1) inform employees of their right to report injuries and illnesses free from discrimination or retaliation; (2) implement injury and illness reporting requirements reasonable and not unduly burdensome; and (3) prohibit disciplining employees for reporting injuries and illnesses.

Under the new rules, the following types of employer activities are expressly prohibited:

Mandatory drug testing every time an employee reports an injury (unless there is a reason to suspect drug use).
Demanding that employees report illnesses and injuries within a certain time after being injured or becoming ill.
Requiring employees report injuries and illnesses in-person to someone at a distant location (i.e., requiring field employees to report to someone in the office as opposed to their supervisor in the field).
Terminating employees who are injured because they failed to abide by the employer’s safety rules.
Disciplining employees who report injuries or illnesses or terminating employees who have more than X injuries.
Enforcing vague safety rules like “situational awareness” and “work carefully” only after an employee is injured.
Enrolling employees in “Repeat Offender” programs”.

For more information, please follow this link:

http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=OSHA-2013-0023-1443

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Category: Safety Management

It’s Just Good Business

OSHA REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

New Twist on OSHA Electronic Injury and Illness Report Rule