Ignoring Cal-OSHA is not the smartest thing to do.
How does an employer ignore OSHA in the first place? Employers who choose not to comply to the standards and policies that have been set in place for the purpose of providing a safe environment for employees to work in is ignoring Cal-OSHA.
Illness Injury Prevention Program
All employers are required to have an Illness and Injury Prevention program the program must address 8 specific areas of compliance.
As we talk with employers we are finding that many employers do not even have a Safety Program. Of those that do many of the programs are poorly written and do not cover all of the eight areas that must be covered.
For those employers, whose Illness Injury Prevention program does meet eight standards most employers by far are failing to document that they are doing the very things that their program says they will do.
Any of the above would be ignoring Cal-OSHA. In addition to that many employers are not conducting regular safety training for their employers.
Continuing very few employers are conducting worksite inspections and fixing the hazards that are found during the inspection.
Non-compliance could be costly
To help you the reader understand this let’s take a brief look at an actual case.
Not too long ago Trinchero Family Estates was fined $44,575 by Cal-OSHA.
On August 31, an employee was killed while unloading a truck. During the investigation, several violations were found.
- The company failed inspect the facility for hazards. Of course, if you don’t to the inspections you will not find the hazards and if you don’t find the hazards those hazards are just waiting for an employee to fall into one and get hurt.
- The company failed to inspect its forklift.
- The company also failed to have its employees trained on the proper use of the forklift.
- The company also failed to provide safety training on how to unload this truck properly.
A life could have been saved with just a little care and thought. But like many employers in California, they choose to ignore Cal-OSHA. The $44,000 is nothing compared to what will happen when this company is sued in a civil court.
They will lose in civil court and will find that there is no defense for them. Why is there no defense for them? Because they ignored Cal-OSHA Standards. In many cases like this, the fines that are levied on the business pale in comparison to the cost and payout of a civil lawsuit.
Sadly, had the company spent some time and effort on developing a solid program implement policies that would ensure that the employees had a safe working environment things would be totally different.
CES Today is your Cal-OSHA Experts
If you are wondering if your Illness Injury Prevention Program is compliant give us a call. Better yet sign up for our 30 day Free Membership Trial. We will not need a credit card or a commitment for anything from one.
During your 30 days, we will conduct an onsite OSHA Mock Inspection of your facility. We will review your employee handbook and your safety program too. You will also be able to use our famous employer’s hotline to get all of your compliance questions answered. Last comment ignoring Cal-OSHA is way to costly to continue to do if in fact, you are. Now is the time to protect your employees and your business.
So, with nothing to lose and so much to gain what are you waiting for?