April 6, 2007—The US Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced that it will conduct one “Swept Up in Safety Week,” without prior notice, during each quarter of this calendar year.
These weeks are aimed at reducing an upward trend in construction-related fatalities in the Southeast, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. OSHA compliance officers will focus enforcement efforts on construction sites throughout the region.
The “Swept Up in Safety Week” series is intended to identify and fix safety hazards, thereby reducing exposure to the four leading causes of employee fatalities in the Southeast: falls, “struck-by” objects and vehicles, crushing, and electrocutions. Compliance officers will conduct immediate inspections when they observe unsafe scaffolds, fall risks, trenches, and other construction hazards.
OSHA compliance officers also will stop by construction sites when they happen to see conditions that are “in compliance” in an effort to recognize and further encourage the safe behaviors of those employers.
OSHA’s first “Swept Up in Safety Week,” conducted in December 2006, was very successful in eliminating hazardous conditions and raising the awareness of employers, notes OSHA.
OSHA has several special emphasis programs that allow immediate inspections when safety and health hazards are observed at a worksite. The programs also include separate outreach, education, and training components that encourage employers and employees to visit the agency’s Web site or to call an OSHA office for information about providing safe and healthy worksites.
