A worker’s life is forever changed, the company is out nearly $100K in addition to the cost of the actual injury, and the company is now under the Severe Violator program because of multiple egregious violations.
All of this could have been prevented by looking at safety as core value and not a cost center.
This is an article worth reading, even if you’re a seasoned safety pro. It’s a stark reminder of why safety is so important. Once you strip everything else away, there’s a worker with a partial amputation whose life if forever changed and even more employees who have been lucky that they weren’t hurt before this incident occurred.
Absence of injuries does not mean your site is working safely, it just means you’ve been lucky. And presence of a safety program isn’t safe unless there’s a relentless focus on sending your employees home to their families at the end of the day as healthy — or better — than they were when they arrived at work.
Source: http://ehstoday.com/safety/osha-cites-tortilla-manufacturer-amputation
