OSHA Must Come Clean
August 5th, 2004 by Hal
Work Injury Free
We can all now know what jobsites have the worst safety records thanks to the New York Times. Two years ago, the NYT filed a freedom of information request to get the 13,000 worst sites from OSHA. Well, OSHA resisted. A judge just ruled that OSHA must release that information to the public.
I'd also like to know the very safest jobsites. My reason is I want to learn from these people. While we need to be cautious around the worst sites, the greatest opportunity for improving the situation will come from studying the people who are doing the best. But that might take another fight. OSHA is under no obligation to share that with us.
You might wonder, "Why is this so important?" The Gallop Organization did a 25-year study of high performing organizations that was reported in the best-selling book First, Break All the Rules. They found that the opportunity for improvement is greatest among the people who are doing the best. When management (in the situation studied) gave their attention to the best performers the best performers improved by 50% to 200%. I'm not exaggerating. Read the book. By studying the best and giving them our attention we will also learn what we could already being doing everywhere else. Now that could be a big win! Read my other recommendations in an Open Letter to John L. Henshaw, Assistant Secretary, OSHA.
Read Safety Everyday's construction safety in the news sideblog.
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