In my position as editor of Onsite Installer, it’s critical to be vigilant in looking out for how the work of our contractors is portrayed in published stories and photos. A group of COLE Publishing staffers examines each work photo before it’s included in a layout. Safety is of utmost importance, and one of our duties is to make sure technicians are following best practices in our story/photo packages and especially the cover of the magazine every month.

We can’t catch everything, but we try. And when we don’t red-flag a photo showing a safety violation, I can assure you we hear about it from our eagle-eye readers.

I will tell you I’m surprised — and disappointed — to see occasional safety infractions in the dozens of work photos we receive for every project we feature. Among the most common issues we see are: a lack of appropriate shoring for workers positioned in the bottom of an excavation and failure to utilize common personal protection equipment, or PPE, including hard hats, reflective vests, safety glasses and gloves.

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?

In one extreme case, the owner of a small pumping company was shown performing every part of his job — including holding the end of the hose at the septic tank opening — without wearing gloves or eye protection. I called him to ask why he wasn’t wearing gloves and asked to set up a photo reshoot. To my surprise, he refused to wear PPE or meet again with the photographer.

“I never wear gloves while I’m working and I won’t wear them for your photographer. That would be dishonest,” he told me. The contractor insisted he’s never gotten sick from contact with a dirty hose and so he doesn’t believe he needs to wear gloves. “I take a lunch break and I don’t wash my hands. And I go right back to work after eating a sandwich,” he said defiantly.

Do you ever have a conversation so bizarre that you hang up the phone and wonder what just happened? That’s how I felt after talking to this contractor (who shall remain nameless) about his views on safety. While this was a disturbing exchange, I could take comfort in only one thing: that he was a sole proprietor with no employees. He would be the only person suffering from his ignorance.

I believe this particular contractor is an outlier. The vast majority of people in our industry takes safety seriously and always want to follow best practices while working around pathogens or using heavy equipment. Many of you hold occasional safety meetings to review procedures with your crews. Also, many installers attend training where safety issues are emphasized — for instance, the many seminars at the Water & Wastewater Equipment Treatment & Transport Show every February.

HELP FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Still, most of our installing companies would be considered small- or medium-sized businesses, and it can be a challenge to stay on top of every safety issue. Most of you don’t have a safety trainer or employee dedicated to monitoring how your crews are complying with safety regulations in the field. That’s where the On-Site Consultation Program coordinated through OSHA (the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration) might help.

Available since 1975, the On-Site Consultation Program aims to provide proactive safety guidance to smaller businesses. The voluntary program provides about 30,000 safety evaluations for small companies across 50 states every year. A relatively small number — less then 500 between 2013 and 2015 — involve wastewater industry companies.

That doesn’t mean installers and pumpers wouldn’t benefit from a safety evaluation.

“These services are all free and designed to help small- and medium-sized companies that don’t have the resources a lot of the bigger companies have,” says Doug Kalinowski, director of OSHA’s Directorate of Cooperative and State Programs. The U.S. Congress earmarks $57 million for the program annually, matched with 10 percent funding from the states, to help small businesses.

“Employers want to do the right thing. This way they have the resources without the cost,” Kalinowski says.

On-site consultations are typically up to a day long with the requesting company setting the areas to be covered and the goals for the visit. It starts with an opening conference, follows with a workplace walk-through and — in the case of an installing company — visits to work sites if requested by the company. A closing conference reviews the findings of the consultant and a written report follows.

The consultations are performed by state or university employees and are not part of OSHA’s enforcement program. The findings are kept confidential and not shared with OSHA unless they are released by the business that initiated the consultation. Kalinowski is well aware that many business owners are wary of encounters with the federal agency, so he assures this program is not used to target enforcement efforts.

“The message is that they have nothing to fear with enforcement if they ask for a consultation,” Kalinowski says.

MANY BENEFITS

In almost all cases, Kalinowski says the business owner and consultant work together to correct safety issues without incident and that employees are better protected because of it. He says on average the consultants find four to five safety violations and the range is typically two to 20 violations. Most are common-sense situations — like the pumper failing to wear gloves. Only a few extreme cases are referred to OSHA when a company doesn’t address a dangerous situation or a worker faces imminent harm.

According to OSHA, small businesses benefit from the On-Site Consultation Program by:

• Lowering injury and illness rates
• Decreasing workers’ compensation costs
• Reducing lost workdays
• Limiting equipment damage and product losses

“If somebody breaks their arm, workers’ compensation and medical costs can be significant. If your profit margin is 3 percent, think of how much money the employer has to earn to make up that cost,” Kalinowski says. “If you get rid of the hazards, people don’t get hurt, and that’s more important than anything.”

Kalinowski says a goal is to encourage small-business owners and crew leaders to be on the lookout for safety violations and stop them.

“A consultant can help management learn to identify the hazards themselves. The ultimate goal is for employers to become self-sufficient and identify and deal with hazards themselves,” he says.

ONE SAFETY TOOL

The On-Site Consulting Program seems like another tool you can use to protect your crews and the business you’ve worked so hard to build.

For many installers, workers are like family and you want to do anything you can to ensure they go home safe and happy at the end of the day. And as for your business, remaining profitable is a constant challenge. You don’t want to let workplace injuries and medical costs threaten a healthy bottom line.

And as for me, I would like to see fewer and fewer photos showing unsafe practices on the job site. I’m for any safety training that will improve the overall safety picture for the wastewater industry.