by Mike Fagel
In what may seem like an unprecedented step, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is holding a series of meetings with labor and industry groups to actually ask questions first before announcing major regulatory reforms.
In an approach that those of us in industry have called "market research" for decades, it looks like OSHA is trying to learn from the industry.
Earlier this year, President Clinton issued a memo on the regulatory reinvention initiative to heads of all government agencies.
In short, he urged them to cut obsolete regulation; reward results, not red tape; get out of Washington and create grass roots partnerships; and to negotiate, not dictate.
Is it possible that they are finally getting the message in Washington? It's hard to say, but one thing is for certain: The way business is being done must change for all parties to make an effective change for safety and health.
I have been participating in OSHA reforms for more than 10 years and I hope that we will see a change in the attitude of regulators in Washington.
The draft version of OSHA Ergonomic Regulations was released in March after four false starts.
This version contains more than 600 pages of material on OSHA's view of how to resolve newly developing problems.
This document will most likely be the subject of a tremendous review effort before any formal action is taken.
Of major importance is the fact that OSHA can and does have the authority to issue citations under the general duty clause (5a1) of the act for ergonomic issues. But compliance with a rule by itself does not make your plant safer.
Your commitment to your organization's safety and health must begin today to make a difference.
OSHA has also announced a draft of the record-keeping provisions, some of which were discussed in the Keystone Report on record-keeping in 1989.
Some draft issues that might come to the forefront on record keeping could include the possibility of combining injury and illness columns on the log; recording workplace violence issues; logging stress-related incidents; recordability of restricted days; and definitions of first aid treatment.