Disgruntled fired employee put in a complaint with osha, any advice?
This is my first time dealing with osha so I just want to make sure we do everything right. The employee worked for us for about a week, got fired, then called osha to complain that leaky pipes are causing a struck by hazard. Luckily we have been working on fixing all the pipes for months. We have invoices and documentation that backs that up. But we do have to write a letter back. Is there a template anywhere we can use for the response? Anything specific we should include or not include? And I think the letter from osha has to be posted right?
Comments (10)
Sounds like you are doing the right thing and getting prepared! Oldest trick in the book to be ready is minimize exposure. You already think you know why they are coming so plan the visit. First pick out the closest plant exit you can find to the area the CSHO will want to see (maybe where the disgruntled employee worked or saw the pipes). You want to minimize your exposure. So bring the CSHO through that exit and do NOT just walk them through the entire plant! That is no big deal to them, they in fact expect it. Shows them they are dealing with a "Pro, which is a very good thing (more on that later)!" It would be a good idea to alert your management to be "particularly" aware of employees wearing their PPE as they should. Take a look around at grinding wheels, ends of air lines, and exits, fire extinguishers, and safety showers and eye wash stations are clear. Especially check the Maintenance Shop and Die Rooms (CSHOs consider these areas GOLD MINES!).
One of my favorite tricks is the have a Maintenance Person close by on tour. Any little things the CSHO sees, fix them NOW, preferably before the end of the Closing Meeting, shows you care about worker safety and shows good faith (more about that too later).
Finally practice with your Management Team. Practice the opening meeting and the tour, who asks questions and speaks for the Company (Who Speaks and when?) Everyone stay calm and PROFESSIONAL! People should mostly LISTEN and only answer the questions asked.
Worse thing you can have is some Plant Manager that thinks he/she knows it all and wants to debate everything! You want them in and out ASAP!
There is more but sometimes you got to learn by experience but the first Fitz's First Couple Rules On Dealing with OSHA in Your Plant are:
Been through that before. Just provide all your documentation. Use your company letterhead and have your legal team read it over just to make sure.
To the point on complaints, if you've received a letter and a CSHO hasn't showed up already at your door, there's a good chance they won't show up and will do everything by email or certified mail (so, to your point, yes, it needs to be certified mail if you send them anything back). When they send a certified mail letter or an email, I've seen more times than not that they will not ever show up. As Fitz said, they get complaints all the time, but they're low on their priority list of reasons to do an on-site visit.
Just give them specifically what they ask for - nothing more, nothing less. Don't speculate and make any assumptions when responding. If you don't know something, find out before responding. I'm my experience, if you can prove it's already identified and being worked on (like you said), then they are usually satisfied. Keep in mind that the disgruntled former employee has the right to see your responses to OSHA, so just expect that to happen, too. If it gets into a back and forth convo, just confirm what they want before providing it to them. If they ask for one month of maintenance inspections, just provide them one month. You don’t want to open yourself up to more vulnerabilities.