Dale Hamil
Illinois Electric Works
A buddy of mine consistently drives over the speed limit. I recall often hearing him say: “I’ll take my chances. If I get caught I’ll just pay the ticket and move on. Besides, I have a radar detector!”
Well, unbeknownst to him, the state police recently received new laser speed guns that are not picked up by most radar detectors. One day, they clocked him going 75 mph in a 55 mph speed zone. Needless to say, the state trooper who stopped my friend issued him a ticket. I’m sure the fact the radar detector was in plain sight put the trooper in a less than forgiving mood. Because he was traveling 20 mph over the speed limit, my friend incurred fines and court costs totaling $350.00, plus four points against his license. I’m sure his insurance costs went up, too.
My friend does not work for an EASA service center. That’s the good news. But his experience brings to mind the many costs that could affect a service center if he did work for one.
Substantial costs
Contrary to the “you-are-not-violating-the-law-unless-you-get-caught” mentality, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is there for a reason. There actually are a variety of ways of getting “caught.” And the costs are much more substantial than just the speeding ticket.
For starters, in the U.S. OSHA can fine your company $7,000 per incident and $70,000 if it is deemed willful, plus all the legal fees and management time the organization will incur. Moreover, the costs are more than just monetary; consider the intangibles.
Lost opportunities for business
The biggest cost of all may be your reputation. These days no customer wants to send their repairs to any company with a demonstrably poor safety record. Your company’s insurance Employer Modification Rate (EMR) and OSHA “recordables” can become disqualifiers in many instances. This can result in a considerable amount of lost business. Often, an EMR rate of more than 1.0 will remove you from a customer’s bid list. One can argue the fairness of this approach. However, the fact remains that a poor safety reputation will cost your company opportunities for business.
Financial impact on your business
In small companies, just one incident can mean large changes in the EMR and OSHA recordable rates. Add to that the burden of compliance and lack of resources that a small company possesses and there is a recipe for significant risk of financial impact to your business. Fortunately, EASA provides many resources to help navigate the complex laws and regulations to manage your safety program. The EASA Safety Resource Manual is a great place to start. The manual is available for free download from the “Members Only” section of www.easa.com.
If there is an incident that results in an OSHA investigation, it generally means personal injury – or worse – as a result. Slips, Trips and Falls, Lockout-Tagout, Machine Guarding and various material handling issues lead the list of OSHA’s frequent violations.
Remember: A safety standard violation is much more than a speeding ticket. No radar detector will save you.
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