Posted by Debbi Kuhne on Tue, Feb 15, 2011 @ 12:58 PM
Were almost identical to the Top 10 OSHA Violations for 2009!
1. Scaffolding
2. Fall protection
3. HazCom
4. Ladders
5. Respiratory protection
6. Lockout/Tagout
7. Electrical Wiring
8. Powered Industrial Trucks
9. Electrical Systems design
10. Machines
The top 10 list changes little from year to year. It appears this is an area where we haven’t learned from our mistakes. It’s time to start paying attention and not continuing to make the same mistakes over and over.
Safety should be your number one priority! Not just to avoid an OSHA violation or keep your Experience Mod under a 1.00! You want to make safety your number one priority to assure that your employees leave their workday in the same physical condition (with all the same body parts) as they arrived.
A good place to start is to conduct regular reviews of equipment and procedures with employees. Are safeguards in place? Do employees understand how and when to use the equipment? Is there a policy in place for disciplining those who decide to “take short cuts”?
Awareness is the key to workplace and construction jobsite safety and you can involve every employee in your program. Let’s see if we can make a difference in the top 10 for 2011!
Are you a Connecticut contractor that might need some assistance to get your staff up to date on OSHA training and fine prevention? Maybe you'd like a second set of eyes to make sure that your jobsites are compliant with OSHA regulations?
Request a Consultation with one of CRA's Risk Advisors.
Posted by Dan Phelan on Mon, Dec 20, 2010 @ 09:29 AM
If you made it back home from holiday shopping yesterday a little early yesterday, you might have been lucky enough to catch the 4th quarter of the New York Giants/Philadelphia Eagles game yesterday. If you missed it, the Giants went into the final half of the 4th quarter with a 31-10 lead. 99/100 times, this is enough of a lead to easily win the game, especially at home when the opposing team is cold, demoralized, and wishing to get off the field. However, the Eagles rallied. Scored 3 consecutive touchdowns, and as the clock wore down to the final seconds of the game, the Giants brought out their punting unit in hopes of icing the Eagles, and regrouping in overtime. After a lousy snap to punter Matt Dodge, he kicked a line drive to the worst possible receiver, (from the Giants standpoint) Desean Jackson. A line drive has the least amount of hangtime, which prevents the defense from getting to the receiver in a timely fashion, and in this case, allowed Jackson to run for 65 yards and a touchdown to win the game as time expired.
At the start of the 4th quarter, no one expected the Giants to lose, but a series of missteps cost them the game, as well as the lead in the NFC East as the playoffs are only 2 games away.
What does this have to do construction insurance?
Many contractors we speak to don't feel that they have any sort of safety or experience mod problems, and because of their good record on both, they let their guard down. I liken this to the attitude that the Giants had going into the end of the 4th quarter. They had dictated the game, and had done the majority of scoring with very few errors until the end of the 4th quarter and had no reason to believe that they wouldn't win. But just a few errors cost them big time.
What could a few errors in judgment or ill conceived plans do to your safety record? What would happen if your exemplary experience mod factor shot up over 1.00 and you couldn't bid jobs for the state or certain general contractors? Just because you played well for the first 3/4s doesn't give you an automatic pass for the rest of the game. Even the best plans, the biggest leads, the lowest experience mods, and a great defense (safety record) are fallible. As you start planning how your construction company is going to improve their safety program for 2011, keep in mind that safety is something that matters for all four quarters of the game and all four quarters of the year.