So if you are wondering the value in investing time, energy and resources toward a Safety & Health program for your company in these tough economic times, than please keep reading as I share a little story with you.

So I was contracted by a General Contractor to help oversee, audit and manage safety on one of their larger jobs going. This includes duties to make sure that contractors have turned in their site safety plans & MSDSs as well as identify hazards on the job site and document them. Then the findings would be used to create corrective actions and then assigned to the responsible contractor(s) in the weekly foreman's meeting to be fixed. This whole process is kept in a binder in the job trailer for review.                          

So I was out in the field when my phone rings and it is the site Super on the other end of the phone saying "An OSHA Compliance Officer just walked through the door, get your #ss up here!"

I then headed up for what I expected to be the start of the Opening Conference. So I walk through the office door and the Super introduces me and says "this is our site safety compliance officer". So when we ask why he was there he gave us the name of a building he was looking for on a particular campus, just so happens the campus he was looking for was over an hour away. As he was looking for the building/contractor that where do for inspection he could not help but notice the 150' crane and seven story building going up, so he stopped.

Then the Compliance Officer asked for a little overview of our program. I was then able to point him in the direction of the Site Safety Plans, MSDS books and all the certifications and documentation that we had onsite. Explained the Site Audit and Corrective action process that we do as well. This all took about fifteen minutes or so. I am now waiting for him to tell me that he would like to head out to the site and do a walk around.

BUT WAIT, what happened next is almost unbelievable, he said that it looks like we had things under control and he did not spot anything that he felt an imminent danger, therefore he asked for some help in getting directions to the location he was supposed to be at and off he went!

The moral of the story here is that if you choose to be PROACTIVE in safety, the pros far exceed the cons. You can avoid penalties & fines, workers comp claims, civil suits, loss time in production and are recognized in your industry as "doing it right". This can also become a tool for marketing and setting yourself aside from your competition.

Now if you choose to let safety go by the wayside you will increase the chances you could seriously hurt of kill someone, be fined & penalized, get dropped by your workers comp carrier, loose a job or bid because your MOD rating is too high.

If you would like to learn more about how to be proactive in mitigating your risk and avoiding potential fines than contact Safety Trainers today.