Discipline safety violators- don't just "yell" at them

What do your supervisors do when they catch workers breaking a major safety rule- do they simply yell at the worker? A new court ruling highlights the importance of enforcing safety rules with discipline and documentation.

The case:

When a New York bridge worker fell to his death, OSHA cited the employer with a serious-violation fine. The company appealed, saying it provided the correct harness, but the employee ignored supervisors who “yelled” at him about it. But the court let the fine stand, saying that oral warnings alone aren’t sufficient. The company had a progressive-discipline plan for safety violations and supervisors should have used it.

Let me ask you- how do you handle the situation when you find someone committing a safety violation? Does it have to be “major” for you to react? Someone once told me that “what you walk by, you approve”. If you allow it one time, what does that tell the other workers? We must use discipline EVERY TIME we see a safety violation. Most of you have guidelines- if you don’t, get them! However, the key is how you honor those guidelines? If not, it can get you into a lot of trouble, and can be very expensive.

Bobby Bland PWCA, CIC
Commercial Risk Service