NFIB/Ohio Safety Seminars Focus on Improving Small Businesses’ Relations with OSHA
“We’re from OSHA and we’re here to help.” For a long time, these have been among the most dreaded words of many small-business owners across America. It is no secret that since the creation of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a lot of ill will has been created between the agency and small employers. You don’t have to look too far to find a horror story of a small business’s experience with OSHA.
Aware of this pervasive feeling of mistrust and disdain, OSHA is attempting to improve their image in the small-business sector and have enlisted the help of the National Federation of Independent Business to help their cause. One of the ways they are doing this is by speaking to groups of small-business owners across the country about OSHA’s new approach to fulfilling their enforcement duties. This was the focus of a series of workplace safety seminars held last fall by the Ohio chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB/Ohio).
NFIB/Ohio and its workers’ compensation third-party administrator, GatesMcDonald, conducted four educational workshops across Ohio that focused on “Improving Your Experience With OSHA.” These sessions were attended by approximately 150 small businesses in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Toledo. These employers learned how OSHA is putting more of a priority on consultative services than they have in the past and were treated to some of the specifics behind those services.
“We’ve always maintained that a heavy-handed, regulatory approach by the federal government is not always the best way to ensure that employers provide safe workplaces,” said Shawn Combs, NFIB/Ohio Assistant State Director. “In many cases, a better way to achieve the same goal is to help educate the small-employer community in what they need to do to comply with relevant safety regulations and help them design programs to meet those goals.”
OSHA’s On-Site Consultation services is one example of their attempt to do just that. Under this service, a safety consultant from OSHA will come out to an employer’s workplace and do a safety audit, highlighting what exposures exist and outlining key areas the employer needs to focus their safety efforts.
Realizing that many OSHA standards require employers to train their employees in the safety and health aspect of their jobs, one segment of the seminar focused on effective training programs. The audience learned what OSHA looks for in training programs and discussed strategies for meeting these expectations.
And for those employers who are treated to a visit by an OSHA inspector, the seminars featured a tutorial on how to handle these situations. Items discussed included the employer’s rights and responsibilities during an investigation, the rights of the inspector, and ways to properly handle communications with the inspector and employees during an inspection.
These seminars were but one element of an alliance between OSHA and the National Federation of Independent Business. The alliance was created last summer to promote greater awareness of and compliance with workplace safety regulations. The sessions were also part of a much broader workplace safety program managed by NFIB/Ohio and GatesMcDonald for NFIB members in Ohio.
