Safety and health program assessment in relation to the number and type of safety and health violations

Abstract

The Ohio Bureau of Employment Services (OBES), through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration On-Site Consultation Program, provides safety and health (S&H) consultation services to small high-hazard companies. During a full-service consultation, the S&H Program Assessment Worksheet (Form 33) is completed and the S&H violations are determined. Form 33 consists of 25 indicators, each with a score of 0 (lowest) to 4 (highest) to evaluate a portion of the S&H program. To examine the hypothesis that employers with a higher score on their S&H program would have fewer S&H violations, a study collected and analyzed data from records maintained in the archives of OBES. Of 534 full-service site visits performed between June 1995 and December 1996, 107 case files were complete and appropriate for this study. Data analysis revealed that the number of serious violations (SV) and the number of regulatory violations (RV) were significantly (p < 0.01) correlated to all 25 indicators on the S&H Program Assessment Worksheet, whereas the number of other-than-serious violations (OSV) were significantly (p < 0.05) correlated to only 15 indicators. The best predictors of the number of SV were the indicators of Timely Hazard Control and Emergency Planning and Preparation; best predictors of RV were the indicators of Timely Hazard Control and Accountability; and best predictors of OSV were the indicators of Hazard Identification (Self-Inspection) and Emergency Planning and Preparation (Equipment). Employers who scored higher on the indicators of the quality of their S&H programs had fewer S&H violations, and the indicators of Hazard Identification, Timely Hazard Control, and Emergency Planning and Preparation showed the highest influence in reducing violations.