OSHA Impact... Yes, Again.

People drive me crazy. They complicate things that don't need to be complicated and simplify things that can't be simplified. The graph I referred to in my last post was from an article by Charles C. Johnson at Andrew Breitbart's Big Government website. Hmmmm, imagine that, an anti-government website saying bad things about a government agency, I'm shocked. I'm also not going to get into politics, and I'll delete any comment that does, but I am going to talk about his graph and is contention that OSHA has no impact.

Johnson's article included a graph from the National Safety Council showing declining fatality rates in the US. He graciously included an arrow to point out 1970, when the OSH Act was signed. His contention is that the trend was already on the declining and therefore creating OSHA was unnecessary. What he utterly failed to do was to try to account for why the line was dropping, and by extension, what impact OSHA may or may not have on the decline since 1970.

Too many people seem to believe that there is a magic bullet that will cure everything that's wrong with the world (or workplace safety and health in this case). Those people need to come to grips with the fact that "there is one and only one true answer" is a ridiculous position (I'm not talking spiritually, this isn't intended to be a religious discussion).

Think about it, is there one perfect food? No, there is no food that tastes perfect every time, is health, is absorbed by the body in perfect proportion to our needs, and doesn't cost anything. Ambrosia doesn't exist (bacon is the closest thing I've found).

Applied to occupational safety and health, there is no panacea for the ills of the workplace. Does enforcement work? Yes it does, for some employers. Does compliance assistance work? Yes it does, for some employers. Has OSHA made an impact? Yes it has, for some employers.

What Johnson's graph doesn't show is everything else that has been done in the past 100 years to protect workers. Here are just a few of the things that have happened that have shaped where we are today:

• 1908 - US government passes an employer's liability law that applies only to railroads, but leads to state workers compensation laws (44 states adopted laws between 1911 and 1921).
  
• 1910 - US Bureau of Mines is established.
  
• 1911 - Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire leads to the founding of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE).
• 1938 - Fair Labor Standards Act passed, which includes limitations on child labor.
  

What are not included on this list are things like the National Electrical Code, the Life Safety Code, and the Uniform Building Code being adopted by local jurisdictions throughout the decades. EPA's restrictions on the use of asbestos, carbon tetrachloride and PCBs, and their restrictions on emissions of most chemicals, have made an impact on workplace safety and health as well.

And lest we forget, there are the huge strides in medicine, both in terms of traumatic injuries, as well as illnesses.

What does all of this mean? It means that OSHA is one piece, one brick, one slice, one (you pick the cliche) of a greater whole. How do we measure the size of that piece? I don't know, I keep asking on this blog and so far no one has given me a good answer.

Errata

Sorry for the long absence, busy. I know, I've already used that excuse, and I've said I would try to do better, but I have been busy and I will try to do better.

In my last post I said I wanted to have a S&H contest, but I can't seem to find the right show on TV. I thought it would be best if we could use a show/video that is posted on the internet instead of having to record something. So far I haven't been able to find anything I liked, so if any one has any ideas let me know. It can be a TV show or something posted on Youtube. I don't want a video of an accident, I want a video of people doing normal work. The clip needs to be 5-10 minutes long, so if you know of something, pass it along.

I still haven't heard anything about the Wal-Mart case. I'm a little disappointed, I was looking forward to asking the attorney if padding ones billable hours buy subpoenaing people not involved in the case was an ethics violation.

If anyone has any ideas for a post, let me know.

Those TV Shows

No, I haven't abandoned the blog, I've been very busy, those newbies can't train themselves. Actually, I'm not sure I can train them either. The kids right out of school think they know everything and can't seem to comprehend that they're actually pretty stupid. Those who came from consultation or private industry spend half their time complaining about the amount of documentation needed for each case.

Anyway, I received an e-mail from Ronald (he told me I could use his name) suggesting a new thread and asking me what CSHOs thought about TV shows like the History Channel's Jobsite, and all of the S&H violations we can all see. This gave me an idea, let's have a S&H contest, let's pick one of those shows and see who can find the most violations. First, we need to pick a show. Jobsite looks like it was just a two episode show, so that doesn't work. America's Dirtiest Jobs might work, but let's hear your suggestions first. Once we have the show I'll pick an episode airing date.

Now back to the question, what do I think when I see those shows? One word, not so elegantly, sums up my thought: Dumbasses!

Compliance Officers watch television too, do you really think we don't see these things? I know the agency has sent a letter to one of the home improvement shows pointing out their S&H violations and I've heard that we sent a letter to Oregon OSHA asking them to investigate the loggers on Ax Men. There's a quote that floats around: "Asking me to overlook a simple safety violation would be asking me to compromise my entire attitude towards the value of your life." I wish I knew who the author was so I could give them credit, but to paraphrase, I wish I could go do an inspection.

Being a Compliance Officer means never really turning it off. I know plenty of CSHOs who have been on vacation, noticed an problem (usually a trench or bad scaffold/fall protection), and started an inspection. And yes, I've done it.

I've said it before but it's worth repeating, most CSHOs do the job because it's what we believe. Trust me the pay, nice as it is, does not compensate for the stress and time away from the family.

Please, I'm Begging You

Please people, I'm begging you, stop with the political commentary, this isn't the place for it. All anti-government, conservative vs liberal, Democrat vs Republican rhetoric will be deleted!

Did I Miss the Memo?

Any one who follows OSHA's press releases has probably noticed a recent jump in the number of sig-cases (a sig or significant case is any OSHA case where the proposed penalty exceeds $100,000). I've certainly noticed a jump, although I don't have the numbers to back it up.

The left-wing politicos will, of course, claim it's the current administration doing what the previous one failed to do. And the right-wing politicos will, of course, claim it's another example of the left's assault on business. But here's the thing, no one has told me to do more sig-cases, just like under the previous administration, no one told me not to do sig-cases. There was no memo. There was no directive.

The fact that the number of sig-cases has gone up even though no one told us to do more, has lead me to the realization that we, as compliance staff, are self limiting, or at least self regulating. After I came to that realization I began to think about various conversations over the last 20+ years.

I remember conversations when the previous administration came into power that basically went like this: "Oh, this administration will never support a sig-case." That was it. This despite the fact that we received no memo saying we were doing too many sig-cases. For the CSHOs out there, think back over the previous administrations time, have any of you ever heard of a sig-case that was rejected once it went to the NO? Certainly once the NO attorneys take their hacks at it, the language, specific standard and penalty may be slightly adjusted, but none that I know of dropped below $100,000.

I remember conversations early last year that basically said: "Oh, this administration will support all our sig-cases." That was it. This despite the fact that we received no memo saying we weren't doing enough sig-cases.

This has lead me to the conclusion that we have allowed ourselves to be caught up in the liberal/conservative-hype-machine's rhetoric. We have suppressed our training and instincts in favor of what we assume the current administration wants, instead of making the administration tell us what they want.

This could lead to a whole new political science/sociology field of study that I think should be called Organizational Subconscious Psychology. Alternatively we could call it the Lemming Phenomenon.