Nevada OSHA Requirements - Help!

[vegasadmin]

Back in October, we received a visit from a State OSHA inspector.  He found a few violations and we were fined.  We paid the fine and I thought that was the end of it.  Yesterday we received a letter with a form to fill out, listing the citations and asking that we detail when and how they were corrected and return the form to them by April 30.  This morning, I asked my boss (who was out all day yesterday) about them, since I had no idea what the citations referred to (they're identified as Citation 1, Item 1, etc., with no details).  He said, "Oh, they're listed on that letter I gave to the foreman in October."  Turns out, he'd received a letter listing the violations in detail and passed it directly to the foreman to take care of.  I never saw the letter, which is odd since I usually open the mail.  (I suppose it arrived on a Saturday; boss is here every weekend and gets Saturday's mail and goes through it before I come in on Monday.)  Foreman filed the letter and hasn't done a single thing to correct any of these violations!  That's partly because six months ago, we thought the business was going to go under and this wasn't a top priority but mostly because neither boss nor foreman could care less about government agencies and rules.  This mornign, after boss asked him about it, foreman brings the letter to me and says, "Ok, we'll have to work on these together."  This is so annoying - we have less than two weeks to get this stuff together and I could've been working on it for the past *six months*!  Oh well, nothing to do about it now except get it done.

Four of the five violations seem straightforward and relatively easy to do.  But the fifth - none of the three of us has a clue what to do.  It states, "The employer did not assess and verify that the required workplace hazard assessment had been performed through a written certification that identifies the workplace evaluated, the person certifying that the evaluation had been performed, the date(s) of the hazard assessment, and identifies the document as to certification of hazard assessment."  What does that mean, in plain English, and what are they asking us to do?  Anyone have any clue at all?  (My next step is to call the OSHA people and ask them what it means and what they want, but since that means admitting to them that we haven't done a thing about these violations in six months, I really don't want to make that call.  And believe me, it'll be me that has to make it, not boss or the foreman.)  I'd appreciate any suggestions anyone has!

[fireproof]

I believe they are getting after you for not notifying them in writing that the problems had been taken care of (because, of course, they hadn't - though they don't know this).  Your ONLY option in this case is to get the corrections done and get that letter written by April 30.  And be scrupulously honest in all your documentation - don't fudge the dates.  If worst comes to worst plead honest confusion about what was expected (true), and remember that YOU did nothing wrong (also true).  

In this case I don't believe there was any intention to evade responsibility, just ignorance of what the responsibilities were - you might try contacting the inspector, hat in hand, and plead for compassion (or at least for him to explain himself more clearly in the future).  Tell him you respect his business and want to comply completely, but have trouble understanding governmentese (it might work).

[andream]

Okay, it's not as bad as it sounds.  OSHA requires that workplaces which fall within certain guidelines have an evaluation for workplace hazzards, normally this is a self evaluation utizling OSHA's form, but in your case I can't be sure. Sometimes (Depending on your type of business) it's as simple as MSDS sheets and other times depending on your type of business very time consuming.  But, tell bossie to quit worrying, he's not done a work place evaluation.  He's probably gonna pay another fine and certainly it needs to be done prior to your deadline.  The question is, can it be done in house or must it be done by a certified consultant? I can't answer that one for you.  Your best bet is to do a bit of net searching and find some safety companies who are heavily involved with OSHA specs and other items, and see if you can get them to answer this question for you.

there ARE forms for self evaluation located on the OSHA  Website, but again i can't be sure if they will fulfill your mandated requirements sooooo, heres a bit of rope tossed in your direction... A list of consultants in  who specialize in Nevada OSHA compliance.
http://w3.expertpages.com/public/rt_acct.php?V_TID=409&V_RID=7,18&V_SID=29

Call one or two, bite the big fee bullet and have them help you straighten it out.  Might be less than anymore potential fines.

Hope this helps, let me know!
Andrea

Edited by andream on 18/04/02 06:17 PM.

[jahdra]

What it seems to be saying is that you haven't done a workplace walk-through for hazards and had the employee(s) who did the walk-through sign off on a document titled something like "Shop Walk-through" that lists the potential hazard(s) to be checked.

Since I don't know what industry you work in, I'll give you an example from a door shop: After the monthly safety meeting , the foreman and the manager walked through the shop, checking for hazards, e.g. the saw guard is missing and must be replaced, electric cords are on the main walkway and they must be contained so no one trips over them, etc. You need to do this NOW, so you have at least one to show them. You may be liable for fines for not doing it monthly since your inspection, but maybe it's not required monthly.

I agree, calling OSHA is like calling the IRS, don't do it unless you have no choice.

[andream]

Yep I agree with Jadra , with a codicle, what OSHA identifies as a hazard and what a foreman identifies are two entirely differnt animals.  I strongly suggest an expert consultation, even via phone.  OSHA can and will shut down a business if they feel validated in doing so. And the level of fines egads, it can get right on scary!
Andrea

[countrigal]

Somewhere you should have a book or site that lists OSHA's requirements for your company.  As a med facility, we have quite a few that we must contend with (in addition to other inspection facilities) and that's what my office lives and breathes for.  We have an OSHA manual that we can pull our required information from, what the regulation is, what it means, how to meet it, etc.  If you don't have one, look into putting one together (after meeting these deadlines of course).  You can normally get a report from OSHA that lists what you passed and failed on, giving you the requlations that you need to be aware of, which means you should be able to get those standards off their website.  This will normally tell you how to meet the intent of the standard depending on the type of company you are.  If you know what the standard is, look on their website and see if that doesn't tell you the intent and what they'll be looking for as far as justification/proof that it's been done.

The most important thing... relax.  You'll probably pay a fine again and need to follow through on corrections this time, but it was a learning experience (costly, but one that is learned).  Andrea's links should prove extremely useful.

CountriGal
Deskdemon Editorial Board Member

[vegasadmin]

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions.  It may be difficult for you to believe, but the fact is, neither my boss nor the foreman (we're a custom cabinetry shop with 7 shop employees and me in the office) care one bit about OSHA, either federal or state, requirements.  I will get little or no help from them, because they both believe and have stated outright that this is stupid, the rules are stupid, no one follows the rules, it's a waste of time, etc., etc.  Remember, they've both known for six months that these things needed to be done, never said a word to me about them, and never did anything about them themselves.  Boss is not beneath shutting down the company himself if he gets too fed up with stuff.  He's had many profitable companies in the past and he knows he can start another one if he needs to.  (As a matter of fact, he recently has, in a completely different industry.)  We did get some information from Nevada OSHA awhile back; I'll take another look at it.  (Since I had no idea we had to do anything other than pay a fine, I glanced through it and filed it when we received it.  Fortunately, I knew better than to throw it away.)  To make things just a little more complicated, when we were visited by the inspector, we had over 11 employees, now we don't.  Some of the things we were cited on may no longer apply to us, but I don't think that means we can't respond to them.  This morning, boss said not to worry about this stuff till we get another letter.  I'd rather get it done, because once it's done our file will be closed and if we get it done in time, it'll save us money (no more fines!).

Not worried or scared about dealing with the OSHA people (the inspector was nice enough while he was here and just doing his job), but some days I find it very frustrating to deal with boss and foreman!

[andream]

LOL! You tell Bossie he needs to give you a nice day off with pay next week since it's Administrative Professionals Week in the US , matter of fact print this out and take it in to him after we work a bit of Admin Magic on it: to WIT:

Everyone who thinks Vegas Admin performs ABOVE And Beyond the call of duty and should get a day off, signify by typing AYE!


AYE! from London!

Andrea

Edited by andream on 18/04/02 09:51 PM.

[chris68]

AYE From NY!

Chris68
Deskdemon Forum Board Staff

[claudiamag]

Aye from California

[jahdra]

AYE from Silicon Valley!

(Vegas Admin, our shop foreman was like that, too. The manager nearly killed him when he said, oh, the saw guard's broken, we'll just remove it!!!! Did I mention he was missing fingers?)

[holly]

AYE from DERBY, UK

[Jackie G]

AYE from Edinburgh.



Jackie
www.iqps.org
DeskDemon Forum Board Staff

[aconroy]

AYE from Sheffield.

Amanda

[juspeachy]

AYE from Georgia!

JusPeachy