A surprise inspection by a government regulatory agency can be devastating to a business – Rendering citations that can cost thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars or even a jail term.
Important as it is to protect your company from the wrath of regulatory agencies, it is most important to protect your employees from harm. So it is always important to remember, regulatory compliance ultimately leads to a safer workplace.
We invite you to take advantage of our Environmental Health and Safety training and consulting that will help keep your company in compliance while keeping your employees safer on the job.
But, you probably won’t.
It’s been our experience, and much to our chagrin, that most of our members seem to prefer to hide their heads in the sand. Hoping it’s not going to happen to them. But when the regulatory compliance officer shows up at the door, who is the first called? The Association. As if at that point there is something we could do. It’s too late. The horse has left the barn. Now you pay the price for ignoring the responsibility.
We can conduct facility inspections, perform regulatory compliance reviews, and conduct employee safety training. We have the unique ability to present an industry specific OSHA 10 Hr. Outreach presentation designed to guide managers, supervisors and safety committee members in formulating a sound, effective and compliant safety program. But guess what? Even after we tell them it comes free of charge, only a small percentage of our members take advantage of this very valuable service.
So I would like to ask if you would be so kind as to send me an e-mail telling us why it is that your company chooses not to use this service.
If there is a logical or rational reason we would love to know. Try as we might, we just can’t seem to catch on to why many of our members take so lightly, this critically important part of doing business.
We really would appreciate your opinions. Please send your thoughts to me at: jerry@pialliance.org
By the way, here are a few “did you knows”
- New OSHA regs have the potential to increase fines three-fold.
- No longer are they willing to “negotiate” fines
- An unheeded citation may increase the fine 10 times.
A $15,000 citation to a bakery in upstate NY went to $150,000 for failing to abate the hazards for which they were initially cited.
- There is much more aggressive OSHA activity directed at the printing industry due to a rash of amputation injuries nation-wide.
- Here is a situation in which you never want to find yourself:
A printing company CEO resigned his position after reporting to the parents of one of his company’s employees that their 21 year old daughter was killed in his facility. Cause of her death: failure on the part of a company supervisor to follow a Lockout/Tagout procedure.
You see, this is serious business. You may wish to consider giving this much closer attention than you have in the past. You know the story about the alligators in the pond.
One last point, if the hesitation is the belief it costs the company money to have employees participate in safety training, here’s a thought that comes to you from Printing Industries of America:
A survey conducted by them shows printing company executives report that on the average, there is $4 saved for every $1 invested in workplace safety.
That’s a 4:1 Return on Investment!
How’s that grab you?
Jerry Banks, Manager of Membership Services, jerry@pialliance.org
Print & Graphic Communications Association
Amherst, NY
