Designed to eliminate hazards from the workplace, OSHA’s Occupational Safety and Health Act protects employers as much as it does workers, ultimately saving companies the many expenses caused by work-related injuries.
As a federal regulator, OSHA has come under fire by employers for the usual reasons people criticize federal mandates: mounds of paperwork and an obsession with endless detail. Yet an accident on the job can cost an employer millions, beginning a complicated cycle that piles expense upon expense.
For example: Clark Jones, your best machine operator, seriously cuts himself because his machine lacks a guard. Clark’s arm injury prevents him from working for six weeks. As a result of Clark’s absence, productivity declines.
To stay on schedule, you pay other employees overtime. And despite the fact that you are paying top dollar for their work, these employees are less productive because they are fatigued. Tired employees are also prime candidates for work-related injuries.
Since Clark’s injury is serious, the problem compounds itself with the addition of workers’ compensation payments.
Furthermore, in the face of what appears to be serious nerve damage, Clark brings suit against the manufacturer of the machine that caused the injury. The manufacturer retaliates and sues you for negligence.
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