May 12, 2016 | Barb Carr

Will public shaming lead to better safety?

This is old news to most (or should be) but OSHA finally published the long awaited rule on injury reporting:

https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/finalrule/index.html

So now that information will become more public will companies improve their records to stay out of view? Some things to think about:

*If they did not care about worker’s safety before, why would they care now?
*Will anyone even pay attention?
*Will management put more pressure on the operation to reduce rates?
*Will management give the operation additional resources to accomplish it?
*Will the media misuse the information? Will it be used politically?
*Did you just become your PR Department’s best bud or worst enemy?
*Will it actually help companies choose better business partners? (many companies have been requiring rates during the RFP process anyway)
*Is everyone else in the organization now throwing in their 2 cents on how you run your business?

I look at this a few ways:

*If you already have a good program and record, this should be of little concern to you from the public information standpoint.
*Assuming that is the case, as a former corporate safety manager, I see this as a HUGE cost for companies to comply. But there has been (and still is) plenty of time to get things in place.

At the end of the day, you cannot control regulations. But can you control your injuries? You bet.

Two of the best ways to lower your injury rates? Do better investigations and audits. Why not join us for a future course? You can see the schedule and enroll HERE

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