SEBC 2020 Virtual Exhibitor Showcase First Edition | Page 45

business | Workplace Safety
OSHA - Oh Sh...oot
By: Justin R. Zinzow
You are showing a colleague the
photographs from your vacation to Big
Sky Country, still relishing in the sounds
of silence and the intoxicating scent of
ponderosa pine you left just yesterday,
and in walks an OSHA representative
welcoming you back with a Citation and
Notification of Penalty.
The story, however, does not start or end
there. By this point your facility or your
jobsite, or both, have been inspected
on at least one occasion by OSHA. This
could have been a routine inspection,
or one triggered by an accident. It is
wise to learn about your obligations
under OSHA before an inspection and before
receiving a Citation and Notification of Penalty
because the price you pay thereafter may
be significant. That price can be the penalty
itself, the legal costs to contest a Notification
of Penalty, increased worker’s compensation
costs, and even losing future bid opportunities
because of required OSHA incident disclosure.
The OSHA of today is a far cry from its origins.
OSHA was passed by Congress in 1970 and
became law in 1971 after an increase in
accidents and deaths spanning five decades,
starting with World War II. Manufacturing
during the war was focused on defeating Hitler
and keeping wages at pace with extraordinary
inflation, sometimes sacrificing health and
safety for the good of the cause.