Know Your Liabilities

“I should have insisted that he wear his safety equipment.”

“He would still be alive if we had taken the time to show him the proper way to operate that machine.”

No one wants to hear those words. Unfortunately, statements like these are heard all too often after a worker is injured or killed on the job. If, in worst-case scenario, such an injury or death occurred in your company, would these words ring true?

Each year, 6 million Americans suffer work-related injuries or illnesses, costing businesses
$125 billion. Did you know that, as a business owner or as a supervisor, you have specific responsibilities in providing a safe work environment for all employees? There are severe consequences if you don’t:

• Workers are injured or killed.
• Your company becomes a target for negligent lawsuits.
• You become personally liable.
• Your workers comp rates soar.
• Employee morale suffers and productivity drops.

It is important that you know and understand your responsibilities.

OSHA states that employers must provide employees with jobs and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that are causing, or are likely to cause, death or serious physical harm.  Owners and anyone in a supervisory position may be held liable for breaches of this standard.  Penalties may include fines and/or prison time.

Here are some specific requirements imposed by OSHA:

Provide well-maintained tools and equipment, including personal protective equipment.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Are the tools and equipment used by my employees in good working order?
• Are all employees required to use tools and equipment trained to do so?
• Are machine guards in place, and do we have a procedure in place to ensure that they stay in place?
• Do all employees have (and wear) appropriate personal protective equipment (gloves, safety glasses, hard hats, boots, etc)?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” then you are liable!

Provide training required by OSHA standards.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do all equipment operators have current verification of training?  (If it isn’t in writing, it didn’t happen!)
• Do those who erect scaffolding have current verification of training?
• Do we have appropriate personnel trained in First Aid/CPR?  Are they able to provide current verification?
• Have we appointed and documented “competent persons” for equipment operation, scaffolding, inspections, and anything else requiring designation of a “competent person?”
• Are employees trained to properly use equipment during orientation, before they actually begin work?

If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” then you are liable!

It is important to realize that, in order to absolve your liability, you must be able to provide verification.  For example, if you are accused of failing to provide adequate training for your equipment operators, do you have the documentation necessary to “prove” that a disgruntled employee bringing this suit was, indeed, properly trained?  If OSHA cites you for a violation because you have scaffolding improperly constructed, do you have the documentation necessary to “prove” that the employee responsible for setting up the scaffolding was, indeed, properly trained?

More over, are you satisfied that your workers are working in the safest conditions you can provide?  Providing the proper tools and equipment, and the proper training, will go a long way in providing those safe conditions.

Employees are a company’s greatest asset, and it is up to owners and supervisors to make sure each worker goes home at the end of the day as healthy as they were at the beginning of the day.  And at the end of the day, you want to go home without muttering the tragic statements above.

For more information about your responsibilities to your employees, click here.

Contact us or request a proposal for more information!