OSHA has been holding stakeholders meetings around the country to gather information about Injury and Illness Prevention Programs, which OSHA refers to as I2P2. The meetings are informal and OSHA is collecting information to develop a rule that it claims will help employers reduce workplace injuries and illnesses through a systematic process that proactively addresses workplace safety and health hazards.
For years, NUCA has promoted the use of OSHA’s 1989 Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines, which are voluntary guidelines. The elements included in the guidelines have been used by many companies to create successful safety programs. The elements include:

• Management commitment and employee involvement;
  
• Worksite analysis;
  
• Hazard prevention and control;
  
• Safety training;
  
• Emergency procedures; and
  
• Recordkeeping.

Many NUCA contractors have reaped the benefits of having a safety program. The benefits of having a written safety program that has been properly implemented are numerous. The most important reason for a program is to prevent workers from being injured or killed on the job, but being safe on the job also protects the public. Management and employees must remember that the cost of a person’s life outweighs all other benefits, real or perceived.
There are also the financial rewards for companies that implement successful safety programs such as fewer job interruptions, lower insurance rates, fewer liabilities, less damage to equipment and materials, elimination of temporary or permanent loss of a worker and fewer OSHA penalties. All this makes good business sense because the savings will offset the cost of implementing a program.

Before awarding a contract, many owners and prospective customers request a copy of the contractor’s safety program and experience modification rates to evaluate the effectiveness of the contractor’s safety activities. They’ll also check the contractor’s OSHA record online at www.osha.gov to see what kind of history the contractor has with OSHA. All this reflects on a company’s level of efficiency, production and quality control.

Proposed Rule in the Making

OSHA intends to create a rule that will require all employers to develop and implement Injury and Illness Prevention Programs for their companies. The agency believes an OSHA rule would encourage employers to proactively address workplace safety and health hazards.

It appears that the I2P2 rule would include the following elements, which are similar to the 1989 guidelines but more detailed and specific:

• Management duties, including items such as establishing a policy, setting goals, planning and allocating resources and assigning and communicating roles and responsibilities;
  
• Employee participation, including items such as involving employees in establishing, maintaining and evaluating the program, employee access to safety and health information and employee role in incident investigations;
  
• Hazard identification and assessment, including items such as what hazards must be identified, information gathering, workplace inspections, incident investigations, hazards associated with changes in the workplace, emergency hazards, hazard assessment and prioritization and hazard identification tools;
  
• Hazard prevention and control, including items such as what hazards must be controlled, hazard control priorities and the effectiveness of the controls;
  
• Education and training, including items such as content of training, relationship to other OSHA training requirements and periodic training; and
  
• Program evaluation and improvement, including items such as monitoring performance, correcting program deficiencies and improving program performance.

More Questions than Answers

Although NUCA believes that companies should develop and implement safety programs, do employers need OSHA to create another rule that tells employers what their company safety program must include to be successful?
NUCA is concerned that if OSHA creates the I2P2 rule, it may open the door for compliance officers to issue violations to companies that have programs in place, but have not crossed their T’s or dotted the I’s to OSHA’s liking. Not every successful safety program has included all the items listed in the six elements above, thereby leaving the door wide open for an overzealous compliance officer to issue citations. In the meantime, will companies continue to do business without developing and implementing a safety program?

In some situations, companies may take heed and create safety programs and others will purchase prepackaged boiler plate programs just to comply with the rule. Neither method guarantees that the safety programs will be properly implemented but these companies may appear to be in compliance. Will OSHA be able to remedy this situation by establishing the I2P2 rule?

Workplace injuries and illnesses can be controlled by integrating safety into your company management plan. A successful safety program depends on management understanding the importance of having and implementing a program that addresses the needs of the company. The program must fit into and be part of the company’s management system. Smaller companies may approach a safety program in a different, perhaps less formal way than a larger company would.

For example: Will a small company with 12 employees have to have a safety committee that will have to document and prioritize everything? Conversely, larger companies tend to document everything in 2- to 3-in. volumes, which is rarely reviewed or implemented by managers; However, all the policies are well written, procedures are established and the job safety analysis (JSA) is documented. It has been my experience that the more detailed and complicated the safety program is the more likely that it will end up on the shelf collecting dust. How will OSHA address these issues?

Successful safety programs are an integral part of a company’s management system, not just a separate package of policies, procedures and rules. Successful safety programs are created by the company managers, supervisors and employees that must implement them. They are not boiler plate programs with the blanks filled in.
What OSHA is trying to find out is:

• Are these the appropriate elements? Which elements are essential for an effective approach? Should additional elements be included?
  
• How can OSHA ensure that small business employers are able to implement and maintain an effective I2P2?
  
• Should an OSHA I2P2 rule apply to every business or should it be limited in some way based on an employer’s size, industry, incident rates and/or hazard indices?
  
• To what extent should OSHA rely on existing consensus standards in developing a rule?
  
• How can OSHA use state experience with injury and illness prevention in developing a rule?
  
• What mechanisms have been found to be effective for enabling employees to participate in safety and health in the workplace?
  
• Given the variety of names used to describe processes to reduce injuries and illnesses in the workplace, what is the most appropriate name for OSHA to describe this topic?
  

OSHA appears to be set on moving forward with a proposed rule as quickly as possible. When this happens employers will be given the opportunity to provide comments. Many of those comments will be based on the questions listed above so make note and be prepared to summit your opinions, comments and/or suggestions.

Opinion: Rulemaking Is Not the Answer

Even though construction companies and employers of all sizes can benefit from effective safety programs, an OSHA rule is not going to be of much help in getting companies to take action. Employers need assistance and guidance, not regulations.

If your company does not have a safety program in place, now is a good time to start one. If your company has a program in place, audit it annually and keep it up to date. For more information about auditing your safety program watch for an article in the September/October NUCA Safety Newsletter (Note: The newsletter is available to NUCA members only).

Whether OSHA creates or drops the idea of rulemaking, your company can benefit from having a safety and health program in place. Implementing a safety program today that fits your company is a win-win situation so why not do it and show OSHA that employers do not need OSHA rules to show them how to do the right thing.

George Kennedy is NUCA Vice President of Safety.