U.S. businesses experience thousands of fires each year and all of them could have been prevented. The first step in preventing a fire is to write a Fire Prevention Plan. So, what is a Fire Prevention Plan?

After an injury has occurred physicians, will usually give modified work restrictions to the injured employee. We always encourage our clients to offer modified duty to the injured worker for a number of reasons.

1. Returning an injured employee to work with restrictions is beneficial because it allows them to have minimal income losses. The insurance company only replaces two-thirds of lost wages.

2. It can enhance the physical and psychological recovery process for the injured worker. Most physicians and healthcare providers agree that modified duty decreases the amount of time it takes to recover from an injury.

3. The employee and employer may also benefit from continued productivity, but more importantly by enhancing the employee’s sense of confidence and pride in the company. Injured workers on modified duty often become more productive employees after recovery once they see the company does care about them. Injured workers that remain off work for lengths of time often believe they are not missed and therefore not a valued employee.

Modified duty has been proven to reduce the costs of claims. These claim costs are not just limited to lost wages and medical expenses, but also to costs in retraining other personnel and/or working shorthanded for a period of time. Through decreased costs in productivity, medical expenses, and wage replacement the employer is able to have more control over their workers’ compensation insurance premiums and the company’s profits. While avoiding the injury is the most effective way to help control these premiums, having a modified duty program are definitely one of the most effective ways to control costs after an accident has occurred.

Rick Scott is the Safety Director for A Plus Benefits, Inc.

ARE YOU PREPARED???
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 seeks to assure that every working man and woman in the nation are safe and healthful in their working environment. Because OSHA has the authority to inspect your facility from top to bottom, inside and out, employers need to be prepared for the inspection process.

Every establishment covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act is subject to inspection by OSHA compliance safety and health officers. Compliance officers are vigorously trained in OSHA standards, and in the recognition of safety hazards. Similarly, states with their own occupational safety and health programs conduct inspections using qualified compliance safety and health officers.

When the Compliance Officer Comes Knocking
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, “upon presenting appropriate credentials to the owner, operator, or agent in charge,” an OSHA compliance officer is authorized to:

“enter without delay and at reasonable times any factory, plant, establishment, construction site or other areas, workplace, or environment where work is performed by an employee of an employer,” and to

“inspect and investigate during regular working hours, and at other reasonable times, and within reasonable limits and in a reasonable manner, any such place of employment and all pertinent conditions, structures, machines, apparatus, devices, equipment and materials therein, and to question privately any such worker, owner, operator, agent or employee.”

Inspection priorities
Obviously, not all 6 million workplaces covered by the Act can be inspected immediately; the worst situations need attention first. Therefore, OSHA has established a system of inspection priorities. These priorities, in their order of importance include:
Situations of imminent danger.

Catastrophes and fatal accidents.

Employee complaints.

Programmed high hazard inspections.

Follow-up inspections.

PROGRAMMED HIGH HAZARDS INSPECTIONS are what we usually experience.

Industries are selected for inspection on the basis of several factors, such as a death, injury or illness incident rates, and employee exposures to toxic substances. Depending on the distribution of the workplaces involved, special emphasis may be regional or national in scope. States like Utah have their own occupational safety and health programs and they use somewhat different systems to identify high hazards industries for inspections.

Inspection Process
Prior to inspection, the compliance safety and health officer becomes familiar with as many relevant facts as possible about the workplace, taking into account such things as the history of the establishment, the nature of the business, and the particular standards likely to apply. Preparing for the inspection also involves appropriate equipment for detecting and measuring fumes, gases, toxic substance, and noise.

Inspector’s Credentials
An inspection begins when the compliance officer arrives at the establishment. He or she displays official credentials and asks to meet an appropriate employer representative.

Opening conference
In the opening conference, the compliance officer explains why the establishment was selected. The employer will be given copies of the applicable safety and health standards as well as a copy of the complaint. The employer is then asked to select an employee representative to accompany the compliance officer during the inspection.

Inspection tour
The employer should determine the route to and from the alleged violation. The compliance officer should make every effort to not interrupt work operations, during his/her inspection. The compliance officer is allowed to speak to employees, take photos, perform instrument readings and examine records.

Some apparent violations detected by the compliance officer can be corrected immediately. When they are corrected on the spot, the compliance officer records such corrections to help in judging the employer’s good faith in compliance. Even though corrected, however, the apparent violations may still serve as the basis for a citation.

Closing Conference
After the inspection tour, a closing conference is held between the compliance officer and the employer or the employer representative. The compliance officer discusses with the employer all unsafe or unhealthful conditions observed during the inspection, and indicates all apparent violations for which a citation may be issued.

Inspection Results
After the compliance officer reports the findings, the area director determines whether citations will be issued, and whether penalties will be addressed. Citations inform the employer and employees of the regulations and standards alleged to have been violated, and the proposed length of time set for their abatement. The employer will receive citations and notices of proposed penalties by certified mail. The employer must post a copy of each citation at or near the place a violation occurred, for 3 days, or until the violation is abated, whichever is longer.

OSHA Penalties
Penalties before adjustment, if any, for size and history.
Willful Max $70,000
Min $5,000
Repeated Max $70,000
Serious Max $7,000
Failure to Abate Max $7,000
OSHA Notice $1,000
Posting of OSHA 300 $1,000
Posting of citation $3,000
Maintaining OSHA 300 $1,000
Failure to report fatality/
Catastrophe $5,000

Your Response
The Company has 30 days to respond to the citation.

Options:
Pay the fine within 30 days.
Apply for an Administrative Waiver.
Request an informal conference within 30 days with Utah OSHA.
Request a formal hearing within 30 days before an Administrative Law Judge.

Administrative Waive:
Utah OSHA may reduce the original fine up to 60% if the violations are corrected within the abatement period. To apply, each company must provide OSHA with the following:

Prepare and implement a written “Safety and Health Program”.

Designate an employee, in writing, to be responsible for safety and health at each location and give this person the authority to act on changing conditions and resolve unsafe conditions before allowing work to proceed.

Employees must undergo company specific safety and health training applicable to the tasks that they will be assigned, prior to beginning work. Document who attended the training, what subjects were discussed, and the date the training took place.

Prepare and implement a written “Drug-Free Workplace Program”.

Prepare and implement a written “Progressive Disciplinary Program”.

Prepare and submit copies of invoices for expenditures in abatement/correction of the citation, which may be used to further, reduce the penalty.

Rick Scott is the Safety Director for A Plus Benefits, Inc.

Working in hot environments can be dangerous. In many industries, such as laundries, foundries, bakeries, meat packers, food preparation, construction projects, workers face conditions that make them especially vulnerable to safety and health hazards. Higher summer temperatures increase those risks.

The combination of heat, humidity and physical labor can lead to fatalities. In 1999, 34 workers died and 2,420 others experienced heat related occupational injuries and illnesses serious enough to miss work.
Simple precautions, such as those listed on OSHA’s s Heat Stress Card, can prevent many heat related deaths and injuries. Available in English and Spanish, this laminated fold up card is free to employers to distribute to their workers. It offers a quick reference about heat related injuries, including warning signs and prevention tips.
You can call Rick at 1-801-443-1090 to request this card.

How to Protect Your Workers:
Encourage workers to drink plenty of water- about 1 cup of cool water every 15 minutes to 20 minutes, even if they are not thirsty. Avoid alcohol, coffee, tea and caffeinated soft drinks that dehydrate the body.

Help workers adjust to the heat by assigning a lighter workload and longer rest periods for the first 5 to 7 days of intense heat. This process needs to start all over again when a worker returns from vacation or absence from the job.

Encourage worker to wear lightweight, light-colored, loose fitting clothing. Workers should change their clothes if they get completely saturated.
Use general ventilation and spot cooling at points of high heat production. Good airflow increases evaporation and cooling of skin.

Train first aid workers to recognize and treat the signs of heat stress and make sure all workers know who has been trained to provide aid. Also train supervisors to detect early signs of heat related illness and permit workers to interrupt their work if they become extremely uncomfortable.

Consider a worker’s physical condition when determining fitness to work in hot environments. Obesity, lack of conditioning, pregnancy and inadequate rest can increase susceptibility to heat stress.

Alternate work and rest periods, with rest periods in a cooler area. Shorter, more frequent work-rest cycles are best.

Schedule heavy work for cooler times of the day and use appropriate protective equipment.

Monitor temperatures, humidity, and worker’s responses to heat at least hourly.
The general signs and symptoms of heat related injuries include the following:

· Initial deep, rapid breathing that becomes shallow and weak.
· Increasing dizziness and weakness
· Skin that is either normal-to-cool in temperature, pale in color, moist or hot dry or moist.
· Loss of appetite
· Nausea and/or vomiting
· Weakness or exhaustion
· Seizures
· Headache
· Muscle Cramps

First Aid
· Call 911, at this point. Providing cool water is not enough!
· Move the employee to a cool place.
· Remove as most of the employee’s clothing as you can.
· Cool the employee by applying cold, wet compresses and/or by fanning lightly.
· Place the employee in a supine position and raise his/her feet and legs 8 to 12 inches.
· If the employee is fully responsive and is not nauseated, have him/her drink cool water.
· If the employee is unresponsive or has an altered mental status or is vomiting, do NOT give fluids.

Rick Scott is the Safety Director for A Plus Benefits, Inc.