| The Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducts inspections of construction projects to ensure compliance with its regulations for the benefit of the employees' health. Previously, these inspections were comprehensive in that they addressed every aspect of the workplace with no regard for the magnitude or impact of the violation on employee safety. Thereafter, a philosophical shift occurred driven by the policy for an overall improvement in construction site safety and health.
Given the shift in ideology, OSHA now conducts focused inspections in which the initial inspection centers on serious violations and hazards associated with the four leading causes of death in the construction industry, i.e., falls from elevations, being struck by an object, caught in or between objects, and electrocution. These focused inspections help to maximize employee safety overall while preserving OSHA resources making it possible to inspect more projects and, thereby, protect even more employees. Though OSHA now conducts focused inspections, it has not abandoned full and comprehensive inspections. For those projects where the commitment to safety is evidently lax, OSHA will perform a complete inspection for any and all hazards and violations.
A project will be eligible for a focused inspection as long as it has a safety program in place that meets OSHA's criteria and there is a specified individual in place who is responsible for the implementation of the program. Though the project's safety and health program may appear effective, should inspectors observe conditions that are incompatible with the program the focused inspection will be transformed to a comprehensive one. Copyright 2010 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. |