Does Your Business Meet OSHA Safety Guidelines?

OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is meant to help workers and not be a burden to employers. The purpose behind OSHA is to enhance workplace safety awareness. Recently OSHA has proposed increasing fines for various violations.

Revised OSHA Penalties

Currently penalties have not increased in as much as two decades. Under the current format, OSHA would increase the fine for a serious violation from $1,000 to $3,500. The maximum for a serious violation would also increase from $7,000 to $12,000. A willful violation, which means an employer paid no regard to the legal requirements in regard to employee safety, would increase from $70,000 to $250,000.

Umbrella corporations, like Walmart, are responsible for correcting OSHA violations in all stores as a result of a single store's infraction. According to OSHA, it is the responsibility of major corporations to ensure all individual businesses follow the same set of OSHA rules and thus are responsible for correcting any violations after the first infraction. OSHA does not fine individual stores - it fines the company as a whole.

So as a business leader, can you really afford $250,000 taken from your bottom line? Or worse, employee safety compromised and brand reputation tarnished because federal safety guidelines were not in place? Having a concrete safety plan will assist you in seeing opportunities deemed foreseeable by OSHA.

Writing Your Business Safety Plan - Mission Statement

You must state the purpose of your plan. Do not add too much detail because details are mainly for the body of your business safety plan. The mission state should encompass why your organization want to have a safe working environment. For example, I want to create a safe work environment to assist my employees deliver stellar customer service. Plain, simple and straight to the point.

Writing Your Business Safety Plan - Body

The body of your business safety plan should consist of a detailed S.M.A.R.T. plan. Do not fill the body with unattainable goals giving the perception of thoughtless words on paper. All aspects of your business safety plan should lead you to your mission statement. If each point does not lead you to the main purpose, then you need to start over from scratch.

Writing Your Business Safety Plan - Conclusion

Remember you are not writing a story, you are writing a plan of action. So an effective conclusion is not an ending, but an ongoing entity which revolves around your purpose. Utilizing your S.M.A.R.T. goals will enable you to keep your plan revolving.

Writing Your Business Safety Plan - OSHA Guidelines

After finishing your business safety plan make sure to review OSHA guidelines to ensure all safety regulations have been covered in the plan. OSHA publishes business guidelines on the official website. Businesses can also choose to contact OSHA directly for a printed copy of guidelines.

In business, the goal is to make money. No business can afford unsightly fine for lapses in safety protocol. Building a safety plan will assist you in seeing the unforeseeable.