SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/120370
cited and fined for the violation. After the accident is reported, OSHA, at their discretion, will investigate the accident and determine how the accident happened and what can be done to prevent the accident in the future. If you take a passive stance, meaning do very little in the way of safety in your workplace, OSHA could levy a fine against you and if the accident is serious enough your company could be fined in the 6 or 7 digit range. On the other hand if you take a pro-active approach to safety (having an aggressive training program, keeping record of employees' training, and having regular hazard assessment programs in place) you might not receive a fine or the fine will be minimal. Also, if you are cited and you can show evidence you are implementing the suggestions OSHA has set forth, part or the whole fine can be refunded to you. By law OSHA can come into to your workplace and inspect your safety records, make recommendations and if found inadequate levy a fine against your company. They can come onto your worksite and observe your operation; if your worksite is deemed unsafe OSHA can shut down your worksite until you have made the safety changes they have told you to make, this can also include levying a fine against your company. You might ask," How do I do all this?" The answer is simple: go to http://www.osha.org and discover how to make sure your workplace is safe, secure, and OSHA-compliant. What can OSHA provide for you? OHSA offers online training; go to www.oshacampusonline.com/ for more information. OSHA will also come to your workplace and hold special classes for your employees on request. OSHA provides hundreds of publications available online at http://www.osha.gov/pls/publications/pub lication.html. They also provide On-Site Consultation (free of charge) to find out more go to http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/ smallbusiness/ consult.html. OSHA Offers a Compliance Assistance/Outreach Program, see http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/com pliance_ assistance/index.html. They also provide a section on recordkeeping, http://www.osha. gov/recordkeeping/ index.html. These are just a few of many resources that OSHA provides. Because OSHA oversees safety imple- mentation for virtually everyone you may have to dig a little to find resources that relate to your situation and if all else fails you can contact OSHA directly. Go to the Contact Us section at http://www.osha.gov/ html/Feed_Back.html. If you do not have a sound safety program in place or you need to improve your existing program an OSHA representative will be happy to come to your workplace and help you set up or improve your safety program for of charge. Help is just a phone call away. n David Schlotthauer started working for the BYU Grounds Dept. in March of 1979. He has worked pruning trees and shrubs for 21 years and has spent the last 7 years as BYU' Sports Turf Manager. David's responsibilities include the football field at Cougar Stadium, both the natural and synthetic turf at the football team's practice facilities, and over 40 acres of other fields. David also serves as the chapter president for the Intermountain Chapter of the Sports Turf Managers Association. SO WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO? First, set up and implement a good, sound Safety Program. Second, keep detailed records of the Safety Training each employee receives and keep records of the all accidents that take place on the job no matter how small. Include on your accident form a "What do we do to prevent this accident in the future?" section on the form and implement those suggestions. Third, implement a Hazard Assessment Program. Hazard Assessment is inspecting the work area for any potential hazards and fixing the hazards before someone actually gets injured. This is an ongoing process. Fourth, re-evaluate your Safety Program, Hazard Assessment Program and make needed changes to your programs and then start over again. This is an ongoing process. www.stma.org SportsTurf 21