Cal OSHA Targets Employers With High Injury Rates

Workplaces deemed by the state to be high-hazard shops—those with X-Mod rates of at least 1.25 or a history of accident or complaint referrals —may find themselves targeted by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH). DOSH's special High-Hazard Unit (HHU) is launching a new pilot program that will target employers in industries with high incidence of workplace injuries and illnesses as a way to more effectively target its enforcement visits and conserve the state budget. Currently, employers identified as high-hazard by HHU are notified that they could be inspected and also are offered help from the Cal/OSHA Consultation Service. But under the pilot program, DOSH will examine employers with high injury and illness rates, requesting that they send copies of their injury and illness report (Log 300), to Cal/OSHA. The log and other criteria will be used to select employers for inspection.

The state claims that its goals are not only to enforce and issue citations. After the inspection, DOSH will assist the employer in developing an abatement plan to address any hazards found in the workplace. DOSH Chief Len Welsh explains that the concept behind the program is to "fine-tune the presence we have. The point is to deliver services appropriately." He says that the problem with HHU’s current approach is that DOSH visits a workplace, issues a citation and then just "walks away." According to Welsh, "You haven't necessarily fixed the problem." Some employers are concerned because they have not experienced DOSH’s helping hand, and feel that inspections are nothing more than an effort to find violations in order to aggressively issue inflated citations.

DOSH says it will revisit target workplaces at one- and three-year intervals to determine if their safety cultures have improved and if the program works as intended. DOSH also is considering targeting firms in industries that might not have received high-hazard inspections. Welsh says Cal/OSHA wants to send the message to dangerous industries that they are being targeted and watched, while giving them tools to improve. Not everyone is convinced that using injury and illness logs is the right way to proceed with the program. Some observers, including Linda Delp, director of UCLA's Labor Occupational Safety and Health program, fear that employers will underreport injuries in order to avoid scrutiny. But Welsh says DOSH will use a number of factors in targeting inspections. Final criteria for selecting employers, as well as the structure of the program, are still under study by DOSH.

COUNSEL TO MANAGEMENT:

Employers should review their safety programs and should conduct routine safety inspections of premises and equipment. Employee safety training should be carefully documented, and safety rules should be enforced through discipline. Cal/OSHA has become more and more aggressive in its citation practices, and employers should be prepared to face significant penalties if they are inspected. A strong safety program, a good record of preventing accidents and injuries, and a low X-Mod will help employers avoid Cal/OSHA scrutiny, will reduce workers’ compensation costs, and will prevent the loss of productivity resulting from lost work time due to injury.

The goal of this article is to provide employers with current labor and employment law information. The contents should not be interpreted or construed as legal advice or opinion. For individual responses to questions or concerns regarding any given situation, the reader should consult with Saqui & Raimondo at (831) 443-7100 in Salinas, or (916) 782-8555 in Sacramento.