FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH SAFETY STANDARDS CAN COST THE ULTIMATE PRICE- A LIFE
Compliance with safety standards, whether OSHA or CCOHS, is not just about minding the law–it’s about protecting your employees and your business. Failure to comply with safety regulations generally results in a fine and correctable action can be taken. When failure to comply results in injury or death, the price to pay is far more than monetary for all involved.
Think you are in compliance? Of the Top 10 most violated OSHA standards in 2014, failure to comply with the Canadian equivalent of what is listed as #5 was the cause of a mechanic’s death in 2013, just one year prior. Compliance with the national safety regulation required to ensure equipment does not activate while employees are in harm’s way would have saved the mechanic’s life. While this incident occured in Canada, 29 CFR 1910.147 was the fifth-most violated OSHA standard in 2014!
Compliance with safety standards is a matter of life and death. The Canadian mechanic was killed when using non-locking air chuck to inflate a patched tire. During inflation, the tire came off the rim and the air pressure caused the wheel assembly to strike the worker in his head and hands, killing him. Sadly, the dealership did not have a locking air chuck on the premises, which, if they had, the worker would not have had to hold the valve stem while inflating the tire.
Do not take compliance for granted! While slips and trips are always a top workplace concern, a dealership has many potentially hazardous areas. Resources are available for US and Canadian dealers to ensure that your dealership is a safe place to work.
See the list of the 2014 Top 10 OSHA Violations
US Resources:
OSHA’s On-site Consultation Program offers free and confidential safety and occupational health advice to small and medium-sized businesses in all states across the country, with priority given to high-hazard worksites. To locate the OSHA On-site Consultation Program nearest you, call 1-800-321-6742 (OSHA) or visit http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/smallbusiness/consult_directory.html.
Canadian Resources:
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) is Canada’s national resource for workplace health and safety information.CCOHS’ Inquiries & Client Services (ICS) is a free service available to all Canadians help you gather information on workplace health and safety so that you can make informed decisions about specific issues in the workplac, identify hazards, take action to prevent injuries, or to control conditions that may affect the health of yourself and other workers.