OSHA Inspections

[Old Monkey]

Who has had them? Did you get warnings or fines? What sorts of things where they interested in?

Two of my buddies in town have told me that OSHA is making the rounds checking out tree services in town. One friend got videotaped using a saw without PPE. In his defense he told them that the only tree service in town that he knew of that followed all the rules was mine. While I'm flattered, being brought to an OSHA inspectors attention doesn't fill me with gratitude. We are really focusing ourselves on obeying the letter of the law right now. Its actually pretty cool timing as I can use this with the guys to hammer home safety at the expense of those "bad old OSHA" people." They can be the bad guys and I can have a safer crew without feeling like a shrew.

DOT is also pulling folks over by the score for inspections right now.

 

[SkwerI]

IMO safety is a state of mind. Blindly following a set of rules without actively paying attention to your own safety and those around you as you work does not make a person safe, only legal.

I'm not saying rules are bad, but thinking that following the rules to the T of the letter will make your crew safer is wishing for a fairy tale. Accidents happen when people don't think, regardless of the amount of PPE they are wearing.

 

[top hopper]

Ive been told if you volunteer for an OSHA inspection they will not fine for minor infractions. But go through the motions and tell you what you should have been fined for. I do not know this as fact but merely heresay.

 

[sotc]

I havn't had a run in with them since i've been in business for myself. That said, when I was in alaska we seemed to get inspected twice a year. Mostly they want to see a safe attitude and a company tht is trying to be safe. This doesn't stop you from being fined but often you will get warned instead and they will want to reinspect to make sure you have fixed whatever issues they find.

 

[NeTree]

If you're a SP with no employees, just tell the inspector to frig himself and get off your job site.

Otherwise, be nice... and remember that those guys couldn't get real jobs and were beaten by bullies as kids.

 

[stehansen]

Never have seen them.

 

[simplypete]

I think the DOT would have a good time if they pulled me over. My one ton with 10 yards of chips would prob. be a bit over the gvwr. Other than climbing by myself every once in a while I do pretty well with all the safety stuff.

 

[thattreeguy]

Ive been told if you volunteer for an OSHA inspection they will not fine for minor infractions.

But go through the motions and tell you what you should have been fined for. I do not know this as fact but merely heresay.

Ok check it out, yes correct, there is a compliance or consulting division....sign up for a consult or evaluation of your programs...they wont let the investigative division toy with you over your books for a bit, theyre cool,
do you have an illness injury prevention plan, material safety data sheets?
company handbook, with policys, copy of employee's orientation , equipment inspection records, (trucks to gear)etc.
this type of stuff has to be readily available.

these folks help with some of that bs, and have things to load up into your computer for you.

1st aid cpr, training records, for whatever tasks your men do, if they do it, they have to be signed off on some general forms just to show they are qualified to do it and who signed them off.
tailgate meetings too.

They want to see an effort on your part to train, and keep your men safe

major violations....no cpr 1st aid....$18,000.00 dollar fine, start from there

close every door to your shop, you got a spliced extension cord...your cited, unsecured welding tank your cited...dont let them see anything more than they have to....
i lived thru a wall t o wall inspection.......cause when the guy died , no one had 1st aid cpr, and no one could bring down the boom, and the owners hardly had training records..it was a mess

dot isnt nearly as cary

 

[Burnham]

State or Federal OSHA, Darin?

 

[klimbinfool]

Right Burnham....makes a difference

 

[treesmith]

IMO safety is a state of mind. Blindly following a set of rules without actively paying attention to your own safety and those around you as you work does not make a person safe, only legal.

I'm not saying rules are bad, but thinking that following the rules to the T of the letter will make your crew safer is wishing for a fairy tale. Accidents happen when people don't think, regardless of the amount of PPE they are wearing.

I agree completely. Our work is inherently dangerous, PPE or not, OSHA or not, ANSI or not..... I've climbed for years without a hardhat or safety glasses. I always wear ear plugs, because I don't like loud noise, and I want to be able to hear my grandkids some day. I always figured the groundies needed the hardhat worse than I did, as they were the ones BELOW the danger. As to glasses, once they get sweaty and dirty, it gives me a headache to look throught them. Don't get me wrong...hardhats are fine, so are safety glasses. But one-handing is a no-no also and plenty of it goes on (fess up).

Main thing is, like several other threads going at this time, there's a group of losers out there who got jobs getting paid to pick on others.

 

[treesmith]

If you're a SP with no employees, just tell the inspector to frig himself and get off your job site.

Otherwise, be nice... and remember that those guys couldn't get real jobs and were beaten by bullies as kids.

Do you know anyone who's ever done that Eric? And I agree about them not being able to get real jobs. I've always thought that if all the folks who hod these so-called jobs would quit them and get real jobs, the problems would go away. I don't know how it is everywhere else, but most gov'mint employees have attitude problems. Even the ladies at the tag office act as if they brushed their teeth with Preparation H before coming in to work. I think they have to pass a snurl test before being hired. "Alright, let's see you snurl up and make a rude expression...Great! You're hired!"

 

[Burnham]

You folks are way off base on pigeon-holing all OSHA types as losers.

In Oregon, a good percentage of the inspectors that handle industrial climbing came out of the business themselves.

And OR-OSHA has gone out of their way to get training on current technology and methods...I know 'cause I have done multiple equipment, climbing, and aerial rescue demos for them, at their request.

When they decided to re-write the operating rules, last drafted in 1946, back in 2006, they pulled a group of stakeholders together to help draw up the new regs. Arborists, natural resource management climbers, loggers, and a range of gov't folks who actually do the work, like me.

They are not a bunch of ivory tower know-nothings.

 

[Old Monkey]

Come on Burnham we all know that Government workers are scum, the lowest vermin on the face of the Earth. Just admit and you'll feel better.

 

[Burnham]

Yeah, I know Darin...I just forget sometimes.
:roll:

 

[Old Monkey]

I don't know if it is State or Federal OSHA folks who are checking out Tree Services. If I meet them I'll let everyone know if they are nice folks or not.

 

[olyman]

If you're a SP with no employees, just tell the inspector to frig himself and get off your job site.

Otherwise, be nice... and remember that those guys couldn't get real jobs and were beaten by bullies as kids.

hahahahahaaa--good un--aint it the truth, like cops---

 

[NeTree]

Do you know anyone who's ever done that Erik?

Yeah, ME- a few years ago.

 

[BlackSmith]

be glad you don't have to deal with MSHA...

 

[Dave Shepard]

I've heard those guys are real SOBs!

 

[treesmith]

Yeah, ME- a few years ago.

I had always thought that was the kind of reception they needed, but had never heard of it being done.

 

[treesmith]

You folks are way off base on pigeon-holing all OSHA types as losers.

I'll take your word on that Burnham. What I was referring to, and I think some of the others that have been looking at OSHA in that light, is that it seems odd in a "free" society that we a regulated to death. Most folks recognize the inherent dangers that tree workers face day in and day out, but what gives any particular person or group of persons the aythority to "regulate" or "monitor" tree workers? I've seen the pictures of rock climbers, climbing underneath the outward lean of a rock face, held there by nearly nothing (if anything at all). I am not in the least bit interested in trying THAT, but it's amazing that there's no OSHA monkey dancing around singing the safety song. If we all avoided danger as much as humanly possible, we wouldn't get much accomplished.

When the almighty CDL was pressed upon us years ago, I heard of several older truckers who went ahead and retired rather than face the humiliation of an oral exam. They had been driving for years, but couldn't read that well. So did the CDL laws make the roads safer...or just create a new realm of authority (and revenue)?

 

[treesmith]

I took my two oldest daughters ziplining while in the mountains last week. They actually used a screw-lock 'biner for one of the attachment tethers. I didn't mind, as I knew the 'biner wouldn't come unscrewed, OSHA or not.

It's interesting that OSHA leaves so much to tree workers' discretion. Porty attachment...cow, timber, clock, Masterblaster style...it's up to you. Limb attachment...clove-hitch, running bowline, timber...again, up to you. Carabiners? NO QUESTION ABOUT IT...BIG BUBBA HAS DECLARED...IT SHALL BE A LOCKING CARABINER!!! (Like it or not, we call the shots. And iffen you don't like it, why here's your ticket!)

That's my point. It has nothing to do with concern and EVERYTHING to do with money. The surgeon general (what a title!) has declared that smoking cigarettes can be hazardous to your health. Does that give some stooge the right to go around handing out citations to smokers? "I see that you're doing something dangerous there, Sir. That'll be $50." Does anyone but me see how far this could go if we had a less than honorable and upstanding government?

 

[gf beranek]

Government workers don't make the policies, but they do have to follow them if they want to keep their jobs. So after a while they don't try to amend or make administering policy easy on the public.

It's just my job, man. And you have to do what I tell you. And that is that.

After enough years of telling people what they have to do a government worker can become callus towards the public and see their jobs as "Us and them"

OSHA, DOT, DMV, IRS to name the big ones, and the attitude trickles down to local government entities. US and THEM.

 

[MasterBlaster]

"MasterBlaster style?"