OSHA: Still Trying to Get It Right

PEST Program Supports OSHA Enforcement

Overall, in a nation with tens of millions of active construction sites, OSHA inspects fewer than 10,000 per year.

“OSHA is willing, but it simply doesn’t have the inspectors to investigate more sites,” says LHSFNA Occupational Safety and Health Division Director Scott Schneider. “The PEST Program gives Laborers a way to help.”

PEST stands for Photo-Enforcement Safety Tip sheet. The LHSFNA publishes regionally-specific sheets for each of the three most common construction worksite hazards – trenches, scaffolding and falls. Each sheet provides OSHA area enforcement phone numbers for each state in its region.

OSHA accepts call-in complaints about serious safety violations and will respond within 24 hours to a reported hazard that is life-threatening. The PEST sheets stress the importance of reporting “imminent danger” situations and, also, suggest that a digital photo will encourage a prompt agency response.

The two-sided sheets can be downloaded from the LHSFNA website.

[Steve Clark]