Maintaining OSHA compliance is one of the core responsibilities of safety managers at any commercial or industrial facility. While your state or region may have additional safety protocols and requirements, knowing the ins and outs of OSHA compliance and any changes to these requirements should remain your top priority. This means more than knowing the standards, where they apply, and how to ensure your workers and facilities comply with them. It also means being aware of the potential penalties and liabilities of failing to do so.
In past decades, companies that violated OSHA guidelines would be fined. Today, they can face increased fines, more intense inspections and audits, and placement on a public log of offenders. Through OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program, employers that continually fail to meet OSHA standards face more scrutiny and punitive action. Learn more about the program and what industrial fall protection strategies you can put in place to steer clear of it.
What Safety Managers Need to Know About OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP)
OSHA established its Severe Violator Enforcement Program in 2010 as an additional measure to ensure adequate enforcement of its safety guidelines. When conventional penalties, notices, and failure communications don’t sufficiently motivate employers to create safer working conditions, OSHA auditors can ramp up punitive enforcement methods by placing organizations on the program. This triggers actions like increased frequency of inspections, additional inspections for other worksites belonging to the company or parent companies and required follow-up inspections. This increased attention often forces employers to create more stringent work protocols and invest in the required resources to comply with OSHA guidelines.
In 2022, the scope of the program widened via Directive Number CPL 02-00-169, giving OSHA the authority to penalize a wider range of companies. Previously, the program focused on particularly harmful or dangerous violations, specifically those categorized as a “high-emphasis hazard”; today, the program has a wider focus that includes companies demonstrating willful and/or repeated violations of OSHA safety standards through “high gravity serious violations.”
While safety managers should already take steps toward OSHA compliance to minimize workplace-related injuries and keep employees safe, it is especially important to be proactive and stay off the Severe Violator Enforcement Program list. Some of the detriments of being placed on the program include:
- Increased likelihood of extensive penalties and fees
- Risk to the company’s brand reputation, as companies are registered on a public SVEP log
- Disruption to uptime and productivity to comply with inspection requirements and changes in workplace policies
- Being on the program for a minimum of three years, with removal only being possible after all penalties have been paid and compliance issues resolved. Some companies may be able to remove themselves after two years if they agree to an Enhanced Settlement Agreement.
On a personal level, safety managers can face professional consequences for overseeing facilities that receive violation notices or are placed in SVEP. This can damage your career trajectory, result in termination or placement on a PIP, or make you lose professional credibility.
How to Pass Inspections and Mitigate Worker Risk: Fall Protection
Every facet of safety in your facility needs its own action plan so your employees are as safe as possible. These different aspects include fire safety, chemical exposure, fall protection, and multiple others. Each area can follow the same basic steps, but the remainder of this guide focuses specifically on industrial fall protection measures like installing self-closing industrial safety gates and vertical lift gates.
Follow these five steps to minimize your facility’s risk of being placed on SVEP for fall-related risks.
1.) Comprehensively Audit Your Facility’s Fall Protection Systems
Before OSHA audits you, it’s best to audit yourself. Conduct comprehensive safety inspections of your facility’s indoor and outdoor fall risks. Make sure you meet or exceed OSHA requirements for fall protection in areas such as:
- Ladders
- Staircases
- Raised platforms and catwalks
- Mezzanine
- Tall or elevated equipment
- Exposed edges at construction sites or similar settings
Fall protection has three types, or layers, of prevention that adhere to OSHA requirements for fall protection. These three layers are visual warnings that indicate unsafe ground, physical barriers like a vertical lift gate that ensures there are no open elevated edges, as well as fall restraint hardware like harnesses to catch workers if they do fall. Conduct routine inspections to ensure there are no gaps in your perimeter or lapses in any of these three areas.
2.) Ask for Feedback and Collect Data About Violations or Incidents
Your employees may have a unique perspective on fall hazards in the facility. For example, self-closing industrial safety gates may stay propped open for convenience or the warehouse loading dock door may be open for ventilation. These may be hard to catch during inspections that don’t take place during peak operations. You may also get feedback about uncomfortable hardware or impractical workflows that you can modify for better adherence.
3.) Add Hardware and Safety Solutions to Meet or Exceed OSHA Guidelines
Use these initial findings to identify gaps in your resources, training, and physical hardware that meet OSHA requirements for fall protection. The latter category includes compliant railings, fall harnesses, self-closing industrial safety gates, and other installations. Look for high-quality products that are built and distributed by reputable vendors.
4.) Address Situational or Behavioral Risks
Sometimes, the hardware itself may already be compliant with OSHA requirements for fall protection but is still insufficient. For example, your installations may simply not account for teams that leave the loading dock open once the inspector leaves. Rather than trying to fight employees on constant violations, especially if the warehouse doesn’t have cooling, construct additional barriers that block employees from falling through the open door. This allows both sides to “win” and increases both employee safety and employee comfort.
5.) Continually Audit Your Own Facility to Maintain Compliance Over Time
Staying compliant with OSHA requirements for fall protection isn’t a single task that you can complete and then set aside. Instead, make internal, randomly scheduled inspections an ongoing part of your team’s job responsibilities. This will ensure your safety protocols keep up with operational changes and continue to reduce the risk of flagged violations on official inspections.
Avoid Violations and SVEP With Durable Fall Protection Solutions from Tractel
Staying compliant and off the SVEP log is good for business. It’s also good for employees. At Fabenco by Tractel, we’re continually developing new fall protection solutions that make it easy to comply with OSHA guidelines, local safety regulations, and industry-specific requirements. Contact us today for assistance or browse through our selection of industrial fall protection gates, vertical lift gate options, guardrails, and restraints to actively improve safety at your facility.
