Cal/OSHA inspections need not be painful and frustrating. While Cal/OSHA’s requirements can be daunting and complex, an inspector has a great deal of discretion in the conclusions he or she draws about your workplace. The better prepared you are, the more likely you’ll get through the inspection process without citations. In a CER webinar titled “Cal/OSHA Inspections: How To Effectively Prepare For A Surprise Visit From Cal/OSHA,” Don Dressler outlined some best practices for employers to prepare for Cal/OSHA inspections.
Prepare for a Cal/OSHA Inspection in Advance
In order to prepare before an inspection, there are many resources at your disposal. Here are some resources to help you as you prepare:
- Cal/OSHA Consultation Service. "If you’re not familiar with these folks, get familiar with them." Dressler advised. "They will come out and do their own inspection – and they’re not going to cite you – they’re going to say ’here’s what you need to do and here’s how you need to get ready.’ They’re very helpful folks and they can be basically the preventative service to get your act together."
- Your workers’ compensation insurer loss and safety team. They can give good advice on what you’re doing right and wrong and can explain their viewpoint, Dressler says.
- Your staff.Train your own staff to do hazard inspections, which should be part of your written safety plan anyway. You should perform at least an annual hazard inspection of your operations and document it. Have employees from a different department conduct the process using a good checklist.
Conduct Your Own Accident Investigations
When you have an accident in the workplace, a best practice is to conduct your own accident investigation. Dressler advised that "employers are required to report – within 8 hours – a fatality or a serious injury, a serious injury being one where the employee is hospitalized overnight or has lost a limb or other amputation or serious injury." In these instances, you know there will be an OSHA inspection and you should conduct your own accident investigation and site inspection at once. This will allow you to be better prepared when the Cal/OSHA inspection begins.
Plan for Cal/OSHA Inspection Logistics Before the Inspection Occurs
If you are subject to a Cal/OSHA inspection – whether due to an accident or randomly – you should plan the logistics in advance to avoid fumbling around when the time comes. Here are some questions you should answer for yourself:
- Where to hold the opening conference?
- Who will meet the OSHA inspector and accompany him/her on the walk around?
- Do you have materials, camera, or other items needed to document and record what the inspector sees and records?
- Can you quickly locate OSHA logs, your illness and injury prevention plan, hazard communication plans, etc.? (If not, be sure to change that!)
Answering these questions in advance gives you the opportunity to be prepared and more relaxed when the inspection occurs.
Demonstrate Compliance with Your Safety Plan
How can you demonstrate compliance with your safety plan? In the webinar, Dressler outlined eight steps:
- Ensure your employees know who is responsible for safety.
- Have a plan to communicate about safety.
- Take steps to ensure compliance with your safety plan, and be able to communicate these steps.
- Know when your last hazard assessment was conducted and what the results were. (Conduct these on a regular basis).
- Ensure your hazard assessments cover the areas where you have had work injuries.
- Ensure you have accident investigations that determine the true cause of the injury.
- Ensure all employees are trained in safety (and have documentation to prove it, including information regarding who was trained, on what, when, and by whom).
- Ensure you have written records of hazard assessments, when done, by who, and what corrective action was taken.
To register for a future webinar, visit CER webinars.
Don Dressler of Irvine-based Don Dressler Consulting has been working with safety recordkeeping for over 15 years as the head of an agricultural trade association’s safety and loss control staff and since 2003 as a safety and human resources consultant and attorney. Dressler focuses on safety, employment and human resources issues, accident investigations, OSHA compliance and workers’ compensation.