When OSHA Pulls Up, Nobody Guesses

The problem in one breath

A truck you don't know parks at the curb and a man with a badge walks toward your ladder. You're across town, and your foreman has thirty seconds to decide what he says for you. You own whatever he says.

Why it happens

The visit is rare enough that nobody gets ready for it, and it lands on the man up to his elbows in a tear-off. So he improvises — talks too much, or waves the guy off. One bad hour turns into a bad year.

The play

A citation is a bill. The fall behind one is a bigger bill that follows the number pricing every job you quote (Module 11, Play 3). What your foreman does in the first ten minutes decides a lot of it. Print one card; every foreman carries it.

1. One man talks, and his first move is phoning you. The foreman, nobody else — the crew keeps working. He calls before the conversation goes anywhere, so you're on the phone while it's still starting.

2. Credentials, then scope. He has to show credentials, say why he's there, and tell you generally how wide the visit goes and which records he wants. Your foreman writes the name down and reads the scope back to you on the phone.

3. Walk along, and treat the closing talk as your turn. You get to send a man with him on the walk-through — unless that man interferes with the inspection. At the end he tells you informally what looks like a violation, and you get to put your side of the job on the table. Have your written training records and your before-you-climb check (Play 1) ready.

4. Two clocks after a serious injury, and they're different. A death gets reported to OSHA within 8 hours of the death. An in-patient hospitalization, an amputation, or a lost eye gets reported within 24 hours of that event. Each has a catch on whether it counts at all, and only three ways of reporting count — not voicemail, fax, or email. Your carrier's window is separate, so ask your agent.

5. If a citation comes, post it and start counting. Post it unedited at or near where the violation is alleged to have happened — or, where crews are spread across job sites and that isn't practical, somewhere prominent every affected employee will see. Leave it up until the violation is fixed or 3 working days, whichever is later. To contest, your notice goes out in writing within 15 working days of the penalty notice — an informal conference doesn't pause that, and where the state runs the program its own route and deadline govern. Penalty maximums move every year; pull today's at osha.gov/penalties.

6. Use the free help before anybody makes you. OSHA's On-Site Consultation Program is no-cost and confidential, aimed primarily at smaller businesses, and state or university consultants run it separately from enforcement: no citations or penalties come out of the visit. The trade: you fix the serious hazards on the schedule you agree with him, right away for an imminent danger, or he notifies enforcement.

Two standing duties sit behind the card: your OSHA poster hangs where the men report each day, not just at the shop, and you can skip OSHA's injury logs only if you had 10 or fewer employees at all times last calendar year — peak headcount, whole company — with no letter from OSHA or the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Look your code up on osha.gov before counting on an industry pass; headcount never excuses step 4.

In the 22 State Plan jurisdictions covering private employers, the state agency does all of it — inspects, cites, takes the reports, sets the poster — under rules at least as effective as the federal ones, sometimes stricter.

Do this this week

Fill the card's blanks in pen — your cell, your state's reporting line, your carrier's claims number, where the poster hangs — and put a copy in every truck.

The tool

The OSHA card — one page, taped inside the cab door, so the man on the job reads instead of guesses:

The OSHA Card — what we do when a compliance officer shows up

WHO TALKS: the foreman, and nobody else. Crew keeps working.
FIRST MOVE: phone the owner. _____________________________
SUB CREW ON THE JOB: his owner speaks for his own men.
  His number: ____________________________________________

1. Ask for credentials. Write the name and agency down.
2. Ask the purpose, the scope, and what records he wants.
3. One of us walks along the whole way, seeing what he sees.
4. Answer what is asked. Never guess. "I will find out."
5. Closing talk: take notes, and say what he did not see.

REPORT TO OSHA - the federal clock
  Death ....................... within 8 hours of the death
    (reportable if the death is within 30 days of the incident)
  In-patient hospital admission, amputation,
  or loss of an eye ......... within 24 hours of that event
    (reportable if that happens within 24 hours of the incident)
    In-patient means admitted for care, not for observation.
  Three ways that count: by phone or in person to the OSHA
  Area Office nearest the job, 1-800-321-6742, or the report
  form on osha.gov. Voicemail, fax, and email do NOT count.
  State-plan state? Usually you report to the state: ______
  Our carrier's claims line: ______________________________

IF A CITATION ARRIVES
  Post it unedited at or near where the violation is alleged.
  Crews spread out? Somewhere every affected man will see it.
  Leave it up until the violation is fixed or 3 working days,
  whichever is later.
  15 working days from getting the penalty notice to contest,
  in writing. An informal conference does not pause the clock.
  The deadline printed on your paperwork is the one that governs.

OUR OSHA POSTER HANGS: __________________________________
FREE, CONFIDENTIAL, NO CITATIONS IF WE FIX WHAT HE FINDS:
  osha.gov/consultation

A Spanish version of this card lives on the Spanish cards page — same card, plain jobsite Spanish.

If your crew is 1099

The card still rides in the truck. What changes is who answers for the crew: you can't direct a sub's men, so your foreman phones you and the sub's owner, who speaks for his own people. OSHA's line is that self-employed workers with no employees aren't covered by the OSH Act — no free pass for you, because the construction rules still reach any employer whose men are exposed to a hazard that work created. Whether a crew is truly a sub crew is settled by your state and your paperwork, not by the badge at the curb.

One more thing: this play is how we run a shop — it's not legal advice. Rules change by state and by contract, so before you act on the legal-sounding parts, run them past your own attorney or accountant. It's your business, and what you do with any of this is your call and your responsibility.