Workplace Safety Awareness Council Blog

Just arrived back from the TFM Forum at the Del Coronado in San Diego. What a great hotel and what a great event! We were able to meet in small focus groups and discuss safety one-on-one - what a great experience.

One issue that came up was the changes to OSHA that we can expect now that we have a new President in office. You've probably heard me say that when we have a Republican in office we typically don't see many changes to OSHA. Reason? The focus is on keeping the "business machine" churning and we don't want to add regulations that may negatively impact business.

When a Democrat is in office we typically see OSHA get more funding and more regulations created. After all, the Democratic platform is "looking out for the little guy".

Recently President Obama put together a report on the upcoming budget and it had some very interesting things to say about the OSHA budget. You can read the report in its entirety(fy10-newera.pdf) but page 83 speaks about OSHA. In particular here is what the report says:

"For the past eight years, the Department’s labor law enforcement agencies have struggled with growing workloads and shrinking staff. The President’s Budget seeks to reverse this trend. The Budget will increase funding for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, enabling it to vigorously enforce workplace safety laws and ensure the safety and health of American workers"

Now understand that we're not taking a political stand here. I'm simply stating historical reality, so be warned, OSHA may be changing and you better be ready!

By the way, if the Hotel Del Coronado sounds familiar, there's been about a half dozen movies filmed there including "Some like it Hot" and "The Stuntman". Here is a picture at sunset:

Labels: OSHA Compliance, OSHA Training, Safety

Just arrived back from the NFM&T conference in Baltimore and we had a great group.
The general feeling we're getting out there is that safety managers are more interested in the return on investment of safety than ever before. And it makes great sense! A recent study by Liberty Mutual found that for every dollar spent on safety you can expect a $3 - $4 return on the $1 investment! That's pretty powerful stuff, in any economy.

Think it doesn't work? While working with a group of municipal power companies in Florida, one risk manager was able to reduce his company's workers comp and liability insurance costs from $1 million dollars to just above $375,000 in a three year period. That's not a one time savings of $625,000 - its an annual savings of $625,000 based on smart safety goals - $625,000 each and every year!

Imagine what a similar savings would do for your company. better yet, imagine what a similar savings would do for you personally. Think job security, a healthy raise, new doors opened, the ability upgrade your position and salary. Pretty good options, especially in this economy!

To find out how to achieve similar savings in your organization, click on this link for a recent webinar that we conducted. This webinar may just be the jump start you need to make some serious changes in your organization and career:

http://www.wpsac.org/webinarinquiry.php?webinar=webinar3

See you on the blog very soon!

Labels: Compliance, Liberty Mutual, OSHA, Safety, Workers Comp