“My philosophy has always been that if I'm deficient somewhere, I need your help,” said Mr. Ewing, who is also executive director, risk management, for Park Place Entertainment in Las Vegas, Nev. At the same time, he added, “I don't want you coming in as Hector the Inspector and dropping a fine on my desk and saying, 'Fix it yourself.'”

Mr. Ewing said his experiences with OSHA in Nevada over the last five years have been positive. “They will point out deficiencies, but they also will offer and help us come up with solutions.”

Like any governmental entity, he said, the experience depends on the official the company is dealing with.

Mr. Ewing said organizations that don't want to involve OSHA directly have other alternatives, such as hiring a consultant. A small business can also get help from area colleges or universities that offer safety and loss prevention programs as majors, he said.

For example, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, which offers a consultation program, will do a safety-driven assessment free of charge, he said.

Mr. Ewing advised that when OSHA shows up on a companys doorstep uninvited, the business can deny entry unless there is a warrant, but this action merely irritates the agent. “If you do that consistently,” he advised, “what occurs is the agent then is aware of your tactic, pulls the warrant out of [his or her] back pocket and says, 'We're here. Here's the warrant.'”

Organizations that think they're inviting OSHA in to get “down their backs” looking for problems “haven't cultivated that relationship in a positive way,” he added.

OSHA spokesperson Frank Meilinger in Washington, D.C. said that OSHA agents make 27,000 workplace visits per year. He said many employers “want to reach out to OSHA, and they do, but they want to do that without fear of being penalized or being cited.”

Those who want to be recognized get involved with the agency's Voluntary Protection Program, which recognizes organizations with exemplary safety records, he said.

Organizations that “want to be anonymous from an enforcement angle” more often take part in the consultation program, he said.

He added that risk managers can–and should–contact OSHA for help without fear. A benefit of working with OSHA, he said, is a cost reduction on penalties, which are determined by the employer's size.

“We're there to help them,” Mr. Meilinger said. However, in the rare situations where someone points out conditions that are life threatening or incredibly serious to OSHA, “then that might lead to something,” he said, referring to possible penalties.

Robert Cartwright Jr., regional safety-health manager with Bridgestone Firestone in Exton, Pa., and a member of the RIMS External Affairs Committee, estimated that as many as 40 percent of the risk managers he has spoken to are hesitant to invite OSHA onto their premises, even if it means not taking advantage of some of the programs offered.

He added, however, that these risk managers may be missing out on opportunities to better their organizations.

“Risk managers who don't know what OSHA is about are fighting that monster under the bedand it's not a monster under the bed,” he said. “But if you take the time to look under the bed, you're not afraid of something that can help you.”

His company has used OSHA guidelines for compliance so that when OSHA does conduct an inspection, he said, “we have been able to minimize our fines or minimize citations or the alleged violations brought up by disgruntled employees because of the fact that we've got the safety program in place.”

He said understanding OSHA can bring many advantages, including a reduction of insurance rates.

If you do not bring OSHA in, he added, “OSHA will say you cannot claim ignorance because these statutes are out there.” The best way to get involved with OSHA, he said, is through conventions and seminars.

Wayne Salen, chairman of RIMS' External Affairs Committee and director of risk management at Home Quality Management, an eldercare facility operator in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., said he tries to stay “hands-on” with that aspect of his company's business.

“I know what [OSHA] can do and what they cant do, but probably a lot of my peers don't,” he said. Mr. Salen added that risk managers with a background in underwriting, accounting or finance may not have a “hands-on, operational involvement with an inspector showing up, either with a subpoena or a complaint.”

He added that OSHA inspectors “have to have a reason for being there” and are generally “there to be helpful.” State and federal OSHA offices have a consultative arm available in every office, though not as many organizations take advantage of the opportunities as should, he said.

“The shying away is an individual thing, as much as a cultural result, too, of the company,” he said. Some companies don't want a close or formalized relationship with OSHA, while others are “very open and hands-on with it, recognizing the limitations OSHA has, so why operate out of fear?”

He said he subscribes to the latter approach and that a recommendation from OSHA can sometimes help risk managers with budget constraints get the funding they need for a program or project.

Mr. Salen said his company is not involved in OSHA's VPP program because the program is more suited to “heavy industry,” such as chemical, manufacturing and construction.

He said the skilled nursing industry is already heavily regulated. “We get more inspections–local, state and federal– than even a nuclear reactor does,” he said. “We're even more regulated than hospitals.”

Ellen Vinck, vice president, risk management with United States Marine Repair Inc. in San Diego, the largest non-nuclear shipyard in the United States, said her company has gone “from a very cantankerous to a very engaging relationship with OSHA.”

Ms. Vinck said the company has three offices in California as well as offices in Hawaii, Texas, Florida and Virginia.

About 10-15 years ago, she explained, “we would be very anxious and concerned when a visit from OSHA was either planned or unexpected.”

OSHA was looked at as an enforcer and “too willing to write citations even when employees had willfully violated safety regulations,” she said.

She explained that about 10 years ago the company began an aggressive safety program and voluntarily approached OSHA as a resource.

“They believed our intent was true in nature and worked diligently to be less enforcement regimented and more in the line of offering advice, interpretation of regulations, and supportive in our efforts,” she said.

The tandem approach has proved “beneficial for both of us,” she noted. Recordable injuries and lost-time accidents have dropped “dramatically.”

As well as encouraging visits from OSHA, she said, “we have, in fact, opened our shipyards to them for use as training facilities for new OSHA inspectors.”

This year, she continued, the Port of San Diego Ship Repair Association entered into a partnership agreement with OSHA (Federal) that includes “executive commitment on our part.”

The agreement includes employee involvement, periodic safety and health inspections and audits, training and education, employment of a safety and health official within the company, and record- keeping analysis.

It also calls for confined space entry programs, respiratory protection programs, rescue programs, safety and health program analysis, and cooperation with OSHA.

In consideration for this, she noted, OSHA agreed to conduct focused verification inspections in lieu of programmed inspections. They train their inspectors in the intent of the partnership agreement and endeavor to support the company in reasonable requested training, she said.

“Risk managers who don't find a way to engage OSHA are just making their jobs harder,” Ms. Vinck observed. “OSHA can be a resource agency if the relationship is built that way, or they can certainly revert to an enforcer if need be.”

RIMS Mr. Ewing advised that an effective way for organizations to achieve excellence is through OSHA's VPP program. “You're considered the gold medal winners in safety if you reach the VPP program. If you're striving for excellence within your program, you have to make OSHA a partner. There is no way around it,” he said.

Speaking in his capacity as an executive of RIMS, he said the association has been cultivating a relationship with OSHA for about eight years.

He said RIMS testified in Washington, D.C. in several areas in regards to OSHA standards on behalf of risk managers. “It has been positive to show that the risk managers have a voice in Washington relative to OSHA,” he said.

OSHA said its consultation services are designed for small and medium-size businesses of 250 employees at a single site or 500 corporate-wide.

Key OSHA services are designed to help organizations recognize hazards in the workplace, find options for solving a safety or health problem, develop or maintain an effective safety and health program, offer training for employees at their work site, and receive recognition from OSHA.

More information about OSHA's programs can be found on the Web site at www.osha.gov.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, August 18, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.