Safety Awakening – “Compliance Isn’t Good Enough”
September 12, 2014 No Comments“Compliance Isn’t Good Enough”
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Compliance with governmental safety standards should be considered the minimum baseline requirement. Progressive companies that truly care about the safety and health of their employees will go beyond the governmental requirements and provide even greater protection to their employees.
How does one go about finding more protective standards? Check with your counterparts at similar industries to see what they are doing. Also, check to see if any other countries have developed standards on your subject of interest that might be more protective than those in the USA. I have found that many Canadian, U.K., and Australian safety and health standards are more up to date and protective then their USA OSHA counterparts.
Here are just a few examples I’ve seen of USA employers going beyond the required OSHA standards to provide even better protection for their employees:
- Adopt the more protective Canadian noise standards
- Adopt the more protective U.K. ergonomic standards
- Removable handrails (patented) on a flatbed trailer to prevent trailer falls (see photo below)
- Handrails that are higher and more protective than those specified by OSHA (see photo below)