An effective Accident Prevention Program should include the defined responsibilities for management, supervisors, and employees. Management, by law, has responsibility for the safety and health of all employees as well as providing a safe workplace. Supervisors have responsibility for providing a safe work place as well as managing the production issues. Now we need to address employee responsibilities and what those entail.

Employers and supervisors should expect the employees to be responsible. This starts with getting to work on time, working safely through the day, and addressing concerns to their supervisor.

Suggested Areas of Responsibility

Employees are responsible to:
• Listen and learn from any training. Be an active participant in learning a job skill or safety issue.
• Ask for assistance if the training or instruction is not clear or you don't feel comfortable in performing the task correctly and safely.
• Report unsafe acts and near misses immediately. Especially if the unsafe act is on going. This will help keep the workplace safe for everyone.
• Address problems with the supervisor ASAP. BUT always try to give solutions to every problem. (You may understand more than the supervisor about the problem and how to fix it.)
• Re-address issues with the supervisor on un-resolved topics discussed in the past. (The supervisor may have forgotten about those topics.)
• Be an active member in the safety of the workplace. Participate in Safety Committee Meetings, Safety Meetings, and when trained on a safety issue.
These are just a few areas employees should be responsible for. The list is endless. Try to develop other areas to assist in safety and production. Bring these areas to the supervisor's attention and expect an answer. This input should be appreciated.
The name of this game is clear and open communication between management, supervisors and employees. The lack of communication is also one of the largest problems faced today in any workplace. Don't let this happen to you and your company.

EVERYONE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SAFETY

Safety is everyone's responsibility! As am employee, you should:
a. Learn to work safely and take all rules seriously.
b. Recognize hazards and avoid them.
c. Report all accidents, injuries and illness to your supervisor immediately.
d. Inspect tools before use to avoid injury.
e. Wear all assigned personal protective equipment.

On the other hand, it is management's responsibility to:
a. Provide a safe and healthy workplace.
b. Provide personal protective equipment.
c. Train employees in safe procedures and in how to identify hazards.
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Everyone must be aware of potential hazards on the job:
a. Poor housekeeping results in slips, trips and falls.
b. Electricity can cause shocks, burns or fire if not handled properly.
c. Poor material handling may cause back problems or other injuries.
d. Tools and equipment can cause injuries if guards or protective devices are disengaged.

Always use the protections that are provided on the job:
a. Guards on machines and tools keep body parts from contacting moving equipment.
b. Insulation on electrical equipment prevents burns, shock and fire.
c. Lockout/tagout assure equipment is de-energized before it is repaired.
d. Personal protective equipment shields your body from hazards you may face on the job.

In case of emergency:
a. Understand alarms and evacuation routes.
b. Know how to notify emergency response personnel.
c. Implement a procedure for leaving the scene safely so emergency personnel can do their job.
d. Wipe up spills promptly and correctly.

Safety benefits everyone! By incorporating safety rules, employees avoid injury as well as illness from exposure to hazardous substances. With fewer injuries, a business can be more productive and profitable. The welfare of the community is also enhanced by providing cleaner air and water and less chance of dangerous accidents that can put lives and property at risk.

Employee Responsibilities

Although OSHA does not cite employees for violations of their responsibilities, each employee "shall comply with all occupational safety and health standards and all rules, regulations, and orders issued under the Act" that are applicable. Employee responsibilities and rights in states with their own occupational safety and health programs are generally the same as for workers in states covered by Federal OSHA. An employee should do the following:
> Read the OSHA Poster at the jobsite.
> Comply with all applicable OSHA standards.
> Follow all lawful employer safety and health rules and regulations, and wear or use prescribed protective equipment while working.
> Report hazardous conditions to the supervisor
> Report any job-related injury or illness to the employer, and seek treatment promptly.
> Exercise rights under the Act in a responsible manner.

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO A SAFE WORKPLACE. OSHA REQUIRES EMPLOYERS TO PROVIDE A WORKPLACE THAT IS FREE OF SERIOUS RECOGNIZED HAZARDS AND IN COMPLIANCE WITH OSHA STANDARDS.

SPECIFICALLY, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO:

1. GET TRAINING FROM YOUR EMPLOYER as required by OSHA standards.
> Get training from your employer on chemicals you are exposed to during your work and information on how to protect yourself from harm. Employers must establish a comprehensive, written hazard communication program (Chemical Hazard Communication) Your employer must label chemical containers, make material safety data sheets with detailed hazard information available to employees, and train you about the health effects of the chemicals you work with and what the employer is doing and what you can do to protect yourself from these hazards.
> The program must list the hazardous chemicals in each work area, how the employer will inform employees of the hazards of non-routine tasks (for example, the cleaning of reactor vessels), and hazards associated with chemicals in unlabeled pipes and how the employer will inform other employers at a multi-employer worksite of the hazards to which their employees may be exposed.
> Get training from your employer on a variety of other health and safety hazards and standards that your employer must follow. These include lockout-tagout, bloodborne pathogens, confined spaces, construction hazards and a variety of other subjects.

2. REQUEST INFORMATION FROM YOUR EMPLOYER about OSHA standards, worker injuries and illnesses, job hazards and workers' rights.
> Request information from your employer on safety and health hazards in your workplace, chemicals used in your workplace, tests your employer has done to measure chemical, noise and radiation levels, precautions you should take and procedures to be followed if you or other employees are involved in an incident or are exposed to hazardous chemicals or other toxic substances.
> Request copies of appropriate standards, rules, regulations and requirements that your employer should have available at the workplace.
> Review the Log and Summary of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (OSHA 300) at a reasonable time and in a reasonable manner or have an authorized representative do so for you. (29 CFR 1904.7)
> Access relevant exposure and medical records. (29 CFR 1910.1020)
> Employers must inform you of the existence, location and availability of your medical and exposure records when you first begin employment and at least annually thereafter. Employers also must provide these records to you or your designated representatives within 15 days of your request.

When an employer plans to stop doing business and there is no successor employer to receive and maintain these records, the employer must notify you of your right of access to records at least 3 months before the employer ceases to do business.

> Observe any monitoring or measuring of toxic materials or chemicals, as well as harmful physical agents, such as noise, and see the resulting records. If the exposure levels are above the OSHA limit, the employer must tell you what will be done to reduce the exposure -- the right to observe monitoring exists only where monitoring is performed pursuant to a standard that provides employees with the right to observe.

3. REQUEST ACTION FROM YOUR EMPLOYER TO CORRECT HAZARDS OR VIOLATIONS.
> You may ask your employer to correct hazards even if they are not violations of specific OSHA standards. Be sure to keep copies of any requests you make to your employer to correct hazards.

4. FILE A COMPLAINT WITH OSHA if you believe that there are either violations of OSHA standards or serious workplace hazards.
> File a complaint and request OSHA to conduct an inspection if you believe serious workplace hazards or violations of standards exist in your workplace. You can file a complaint online, in writing, by telephone or fax. If you want an OSHA inspector to come inspect your workplace, put your complaint in writing and send it to the OSHA office nearest you.
(OSH Act, Section 8), (29 CFR 1903.11)
> Request in your written complaint that OSHA keep your name confidential if you do not want your employer to know who filed the complaint. (OSH Act, Section 8)

5. BE INVOLVED IN OSHA'S INSPECTION of your workplace.
> Have an authorized employee representative (such as a union representative) accompany the OSHA compliance officer during the inspection tour. (OSH Act, Section 8), (29 CFR 1903.8)

The authorized employee representative has a right to accompany an OSHA compliance officer (also referred to as a compliance safety and health officer (CSHO) or inspector) during an inspection. Under no circumstances may the employer choose the workers' representative.

Where there is no union or employee representative, the OSHA inspector must talk confidentially with a reasonable number of workers during the course of the investigation.
> Respond to questions from the compliance officer and tell the compliance officer about workplace hazards, particularly if there is no authorized employee representative accompanying the compliance officer on the inspection "walk around." (OSH Act, Section 8)

You and your coworkers have a right to talk privately and confidentially to the compliance officer whether or not a workers' representative has been chosen.

You may point out hazards, describe injuries or illnesses or near misses that resulted from those hazards and describe past complaints about hazards. Inform the inspector if working conditions are not normal during the inspection. Make sure that the inspector is aware if equipment has been shut down, windows opened or other conditions changed from normal.

6. FIND OUT RESULTS OF AN OSHA INSPECTION.
> Find out the results of OSHA inspections and request a review if OSHA decides not to issue a citation. (CPL 2.115)

> If health hazards are present in your workplace, a special OSHA health inspection may be conducted by an industrial hygienist. This OSHA inspector may take samples to measure levels of chemicals or other hazardous materials.

OSHA will let the employee representative know whether your employer is in compliance. The inspector also will gather detailed information about your employer's efforts to control health hazards, including results of tests your employer may have conducted.

7. GET INVOLVED in any meetings or hearings to discuss any objections your employer has to OSHA's citations or to changes in abatement deadlines.


8. FILE A FORMAL APPEAL of deadlines for correction of hazards.
> File an appeal of the deadlines that OSHA sets for your employer to correct any violation in the citation issued to the employer. Write to the OSHA Area Director within 10 working days from the date the employer posts the notice requesting on extension of the abatement deadline if you feel the time is too long. (29 CFR 1903.17)

9. FILE A DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT.

> File a discrimination complaint (under Section 11(c) of the OSH Act) within 30 days if you are punished or discriminated against for exercising your safety and health rights or for refusing to work (not guaranteed by the OSH Act) when faced with an imminent danger of death or serious injury and there is insufficient time for OSHA to inspect.

10. REQUEST A RESEARCH INVESTIGATION ON POSSIBLE WORKPLACE HEALTH HAZARDS.

> Contact the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to request a health hazard evaluation if you are concerned about toxic effects of a substance in the workplace.
> PROVIDE COMMENTS AND TESTIMONY TO OSHA during rulemaking on new standards.
Employer Responsibilities

Employers have certain responsibilities under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.
The following list is a summary of the most important ones;

> Provide a workplace free from serious recognized hazards and comply with standards, rules and regulations issued under the OSHA Act.
> Examine workplace conditions to make sure they conform to applicable OSHA standards.
> Make sure employees have and use safe tools and equipment and properly maintain this equipment.
> Use color codes, posters, labels or signs to warn employees of potential hazards.

> Establish or update operating procedures and communicate them so that employees follow safety and health requirements.
> Provide medical examinations and training when required by OSHA standards.
> Post, at a prominent location within the workplace, the OSHA poster (or the state-plan equivalent) informing employees of their rights and responsibilities.
> Report to the nearest OSHA office within 8 hours any fatal accident or one that results in the hospitalization of three or more employees.
> Keep records of work-related injuries and illnesses. (Note: Employers with 10 or fewer employees and employers in certain low-hazard industries are exempt from this requirement.)
> Provide employees, former employees and their representatives access to the Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses (OSHA Form 300).
> For 2002 only, post a copy of the totals from the last page of the OSHA 200 Log during the entire month of February 2002.
> Provide access to employee medical records and exposure records to employees or their authorized representatives.
> Provide to the OSHA compliance officer the names of authorized employee representatives who may be asked to accompany the compliance officer during an inspection.
> Not discriminate against employees who exercise their rights under the Act.
> Post OSHA citations at or near the work area involved. Each citation must remain posted until the violation has been corrected, or for three working days, whichever is longer. Post abatement verification documents or tags.
> Correct cited violations by the deadline set in the OSHA citation and submit required abatement verification documentation.

Refusing to Work Because Conditions are Dangerous

When you believe working conditions are unsafe or unhealthful, you should call your employer's attention to the problem. If your employer does not correct the hazard or disagrees with you about the extent of the hazard, you also may file a complaint with OSHA.

Refusing to do a job because of potentially unsafe workplace conditions is not ordinarily an employee right under the
OSH Act. (Your union contract or state law may, however, give you this right, but OSHA cannot enforce it.) Refusing to work may result in disciplinary action by the employer. However, employees do have the right to refuse to do a job if they believe in good faith that they are exposed to an imminent danger. "Good faith" means that even if an imminent danger is not found to exist, the worker had reasonable grounds to believe that it did exist.

But, as a general rule, you do not have the right to walk off the job because of unsafe conditions. If you do and your employer fires or disciplines you, OSHA may not be able to protect you. So, stay on the job until the problem can be resolved.

Your right to refuse to do a task is protected if all of the following conditions are met:
> Where possible, you have asked the employer to eliminate the danger, and the employer failed to do so; and
> You refused to work in "good faith." This means that you must genuinely believe that an imminent danger exists. Your refusal cannot be a disguised attempt to harass your employer or disrupt business; and
> A reasonable person would agree that there is a real danger of death or serious injury; and
> There isn't enough time, due to the urgency of the hazard, to get it corrected through regular enforcement channels, such as requesting an OSHA inspection.

When all of these conditions are met, you take the following steps:
> Ask your employer to correct the hazard;
> Ask your employer for other work;
> Tell your employer that you won't perform the work unless and until the hazard is corrected; and
> Remain at the worksite until ordered to leave by your employer.

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