Indiana Department of Labor Bi-monthly Newsletter
September/October 2009 INdiana Labor Insider
If an employee at your workplace does not have an accident this year, what is the underlying reason? Is it because your workplace has an effectively developed and implemented safety and health management system, or is it simply pure luck? Luck usually runs out. Without a well-developed and implemented occupational safety and health program, you are putting yourself, your employees and your business at risk.
Workplace accidents are an all too common occurrence and are very costly. In Indiana, in 2007, there were 125,000 non-fatal occupational injuries and illnesses. Federal OSHA estimates that collectively, employers pay almost $1 billion per week for direct worker’s compensation costs alone.
A good tool to begin the construction or strengthening of your occupational safety and health program is your occupational injury and illness records. These records are better known as the OSHA 300 Log.
Effective recordkeeping is just as important as safety training and personal protective equip¬ment (PPE) when it comes to avoiding workplace injuries and illnesses. OSHA’s Recordkeeping Standard (29 CFR 1904) helps ensure that by recording such incidents, they are less likely to be repeated. What you do with the information gathered on these forms can make a huge difference in assessing the integrity of your workplace safety and health program.
Let the OSHA 300 Log and associated injury and illness forms be your roadmap. Your roadmap will help guide you along a path of achieving superior employee safety and health. Begin by reviewing the current and prior year’s injury and illness information. It is important to look for commonalities—what equipment or machinery was the injured worker using, repairing or performing maintenance on? By identifying the source of the injury, you can easily assess if the equipment or machine’s safety features are adequate. Other things to consider should include when injuries most often occur. Do they appear to happen at a certain time of the day (early morning, mid-morning, after lunch or later in the afternoon)? In addition, the department (e.g. finishing, maintenance, etc.) where the injuries are occurring can also help pin-point potential problem areas. Identifying common trends amongst workplace injuries will help you to identify where training or retaining of safe work procedures may need to occur.
OSHA Recordkeeping information is available online at www.osha.gov.
Use the “A-Z Index” at the top of the screen and click on “R” for Recordkeeping.
Or click here for OSHA recordkeeping information.