STEVEN CHARLES HUNT President, ShipMate, Inc. from here to there: topics in transportation I recently read that the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) was filing suit against a major telecom company for disciplining several employees after they submitted complaints about hazardous working conditions or filed claims for injuries sustained on the job. As I read the article, I wondered aloud how the culture within this company had become so strained that: (1) the company took these types of actions against its own employees; (2) the employees reported these issues to OSHA, rather than reporting them to the company first; and (3) if the employees did report these safety issues to the company first, the company didn’t take swift and decisive action before the situation deteriorated to the present point. This assumes, of course, that there are no underlying issues, such as wage disputes, that are being masked under the guise of safety. Legitimate or not, any complaints regarding safety and compliance should be taken seriously. Companies should strive to develop a culture of mutual respect and understanding and set aside their differences when it comes to safety and regulatory compliance. Companies are encouraged to develop eyes and ears at all levels to help promote the well-being and safety of all persons in the workplace. Shared Responsibility Safety and compliance is a shared responsibility. Although OSHA mandates in the General Duty Clause that employers must “...furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees,” employees have a responsibility to make management aware of hazardous conditions or noncompliance issues that may have arisen and gone unnoticed. Employees need to help management provide a safe working environment by actively participating in safety and compliance program development, collectively developing and attending Developing Eyes and Ears the required training, participating in audits and reviews and, in short, becoming the company’s eyes and ears. It is foolish on the part of corporate management to assume that input from the rank and file is not needed or should not be given equal consideration. Likewise, it is foolish on the part of employees to assume that they are not, in large measure, responsible for their own safety or regulatory compliance. With respect to the transport of dangerous goods, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT) prescribes penalties under 49 CFR §171.1(g) for ...each person who knowingly violates a requirement of the Federal hazardous material transportation law, an order issued under Federal hazardous material transportation law, subchapter A of this chapter, or a special permit or approval issued under subchapter A or C of this chapter and is liable for a civil penalty of not more than $75,000 for each violation, except the maximum civil penalty is $175,000 if the violation results in death, serious illness or severe injury to any person or substantial destruction of property. A “person” is defined in 49 CFR §171.8 as ...an individual, corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, society, joint stock company; or a government, Indian Tribe, or authority of a government or Tribe, that offers a hazardous material for transportation in commerce, transports a hazardous material to support a commercial enterprise, or designs, manufactures, fabricates, inspects, marks, maintains, reconditions, repairs, or tests a package, container, or packaging component that is represented, marked, certified, or sold as qualified for use in transporting hazardous material in commerce. However, it is important to note that civil penalties are very rarely assessed against an individual who is acting in good faith on behalf of a company or corporation. In most cases, 32 SPRAY June 2014
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