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You may be aware of the safety standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and that it's your responsibility to ensure that your workers are safe. You also may know that it can cost you dearly if you fail to provide workers with protection that complies with OSHA roof safety standards. If an accident or injury does happen, you know there will be an inspection of your facility and unannounced follow-up inspections down the road. What you may not know is that there are many misconceptions about OSHA inspections and believing them could unintentionally land you in hot water. Let’s break down the most common false assumptions and keep you—and your business—on the straight and narrow.
One of the most commonly held misconceptions about OSHA inspections is that they only happen to larger companies. This is completely false. Whether you have thousands of employees, or fewer than 10, you could still be subject to an OSHA inspection. It's true that OSHA is a fairly small entity and it doesn't have the manpower or other resources to observe every business all the time, but that doesn't mean you don't have to comply with the roof safety standards.
If you lay awake at night, concerned about OSHA just popping into your business for a random inspection, you're worrying too much. With an estimated 8 million businesses to oversee, OSHA has to prioritize which businesses it inspects. Rather than randomly choosing companies, OSHA roof safety standard inspections are usually triggered by one of the following
While this one seems pretty straightforward, the truth is, you can keep OSHA inspectors from entering your facility temporarily. You can request that inspectors get a warrant before they can perform an inspection. This may not be the wisest move, however, because it can give the impression that you have something to hide. Even though technically you don’t have to, it’s a better idea to let the inspectors in.
yle="fon4. Work Should Be Halted in the Event of an OSHA Inspection
The last thing that you want is for an OSHA inspector to see any of your employees work in an unsafe environment. It seems logical that if you halt work in your facility, the inspectors can easily do their job and any non-compliance issues may not be noticed. In reality, it could result in criminal charges and additional fines.
You're concerned that maybe there are some areas on the rooftop of your facility that represent an OSHA violation. You might think that if you request a rooftop safety standard inspection from OSHA that you'll be able to identify and fix the issues without worry of citations. This is completely false. Whether the violation is a missing metal guardrail, an inadequate horizontal lifeline system, or other faulty roof safety systems, you very well may be cited and fined.
You've developed an extremely comprehensive written safety policy that addresses rooftop fall safety. Let’s say you’ve installed an OSHA approved metal guardrail, and you provide workers with equipment like harnesses and a horizontal lifeline system. But no matter what your written safety policies are, OSHA won't enforce them. They're job is to enforce violations based on their own safety standards.
It's a commonly held belief that OSHA inspectors get paid more if they find more violations. It certainly might feel that way when an inspector starts nitpicking your roof safety systems. After all, they look at every detail of every metal guardrail, horizontal lifeline system, swing gate, safety net, and safety harness you use. But the truth is, OSHA's budget is set by Congress and all the fines it collects go to the U.S. Treasury. So, there's no incentive for inspectors to find a large number of infractions, other than to provide a safe workplace for your employees.
If you're issued a fine based on an OSHA rooftop safety standard inspection, you might be concerned about paying. With fines starting at $12,934 and topping off at $129,336, you've got the right to be worried. Of course, the fastest way to resolve the problem is to fix the violation and pay the fine. But, if you feel as though the citation is inappropriate, or that it was caused by employee misconduct, you have some options.
The truth is, if your employees are well-trained in safety and you have no complaints, imminent dangers, previous injuries, or other red flags on the jobsite, inspections are unlikely. Make OSHA roof safety and fall protection a priority within your company from the top all the way down to the newest employee. Perform regular inspections yourself to identify and address any fall hazards on your roof safety systems and within your facility to help protect your workers and to insulate your company from financial and other losses.