Sharp-Eyed Contractors Seeing The Benefits Of Working With Cal/OSHA
SAN BERNARDINO – The carrot-and-stick approach to safety is working in the Inland Empire, an area east of Los Angeles that has seen a housing boom in recent years. Almost a quarter-million new homes were built in San Bernardino and Riverside counties between 2001 and 2006, with a peak of 53,000 in 2004. That has meant an upswing in injuries in the hazardous construction industry and visits by Cal/OSHA inspectors. But what goes up also can come down, thanks to enforcement efforts coupled with help for employers from the Cal/OSHA Consultation Service. As a result, while almost as many new homes were built in the Inland Empire in 2005 versus the previous year, at sites where Consultation worked with employers, serious injuries were down one-third. The trend continued last year, when an estimated 46,000 new homes were built in the region. Reportable injuries (including fatalities and serious incidents) were down 21 percent from 2005 at sites where Consultation assisted with safety. Conversely, residential sites without a Consultation presence saw no fewer than 68 serious incidents between 2003 and 2005, the peak boom years, with 71 in 2003.

Cooperative  efforts create a "vortex" to enhance safety efforts, according to Mike Alvarez, manager of Consultation's Onsite Assistance program. At a recent meeting of participants in Consultation's Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP), it wasn't just Cal/OSHA talking up the cooperative approach. Residential builders said becoming part of SHARP has had a positive effect on their bottom lines and shown the way for subcontractors. The contractors at the meeting control more than 300 jobsites in Southern California alone.

Edward Calderon, safety manager for Shea Homes, based in Livermore, tells Cal-OSHA Reporter that injury severity has decreased 85 percent since the company qualified for the SHARP construction pilot program. SHARP firms receive recognition and possible exemption from programmed (surprise) inspections for up to two years.Calderon says the results were a pleasant surprise to Shea. "Sometimes, when you're in a race, you don't realize that you've lapped the competition," he observes.

A residential construction CEO wrote to the Consultation Service: "Cal/OSHA is the only regulatory agency in the U.S. or Canada that has used what I think is the correct tactic to create real change in the industry. I look forward to the day when the rest of the states realize that there must be both enforcement and consultation to make the regulations worthwhile in furthering the goal of protecting the workers."

Rich Ratliffe, safety director for Centex Homes/Inland Empire Division, says every Centex division in the state is working toward SHARP participation. Alvarez, who was at first skeptical about offering SHARP to residential construction, says the industry has surpassed commercial construction in many aspects. Among SHARP participants, subcontracting jobs are no longer going to the lowest bidder – safety is now the priority. Developers are the "gatekeepers," he explains, driving subs' behavior. He adds that Consultation intends to expand the program into small commercial construction next year.

Alvarez quotes a framing contractor, who says safety needs a "catalyst." Enforcement creates "a little bit of fear," spurring safety awareness, and Consultation helps employers take the next steps. "What we've done here is taken the positive end of it and moved it forward," Alvarez says. Cost savings are direct and indirect. Direct savings are fewer injuries and their accompanying costs. Indirect savings include less turnover and added business. "If everybody's on board with SHARP, that means Cal/OSHA is onsite and that means everyone's paying attention," says Mark Labriola, national director of safety for Centex.

Joe Bunker, owner of B&B Framing, of Moreno Valley, says his firm has gotten new business by paying attention to safety. After a major homebuilder drove by one of the sites B&B was working on and observed its safety procedures, it contacted him for a bid. That's half the battle for a sub, he says. Ray Acree, Inland Empire area manager for the Consultation Service, agrees. Companies put themselves in a good position to get more work by paying attention to safety. "It does take time and effort just to be in minimal compliance," he observes. Bunker has produced a cost-benefit analysis of injury incidents.

Direct costs include workers' compensation premiums and medical bills. Indirect costs, including downtime, damaged equipment, cleanup and investigation time, increased insurance, lawsuits and damage to the company's reputation, are four times direct costs. If a company's total costs are $35 million, Bunker estimates, building an effective safety and health program in cooperation with Consultation can reduce that total by $20 million. The savings are achieved by avoiding Cal/OSHA penalties, the value of Consultation assistance, versus third-party services, and revenue enhancement from increased business.

B&B's safety record demonstrates that Bunker believes what he's saying: Both the company's total recordable case and days away/restriction/transfer rates have been well under the California average for framers of 14.7 for the former and 10.7 for the latter, the past three years. The firm's experience modification rate (X-Mod) has been about .75 during that time.

Such success stories underscore what can happen when the Cal/OSHA stick comes with a Consultation carrot. Not long ago, Southern California's residential construction industry felt besieged by Cal/OSHA targeted sweeps, especially among framers, because of fall protection concerns. But those enforcement actions led to regulatory reforms, safety innovations and increased safety awareness among construction companies. Although it's still a hazardous industry, residential construction is taking a leadership role. "What you folks in this room have done the last three years can be duplicated in other industries," Acree told the gathering.

SHARP Facts

To qualify for SHARP, a company:

·         Cannot have had willful or repeat violations for the previous 24 months, and no violations related to a serious injury or exposure for the previous 12 months (from the time of the opening conference).

·         Must have established and maintained a "highly effective" injury and illness prevention program.

·         Demonstrate a lower-than-average number of injuries and illnesses over the previous four full calendar years.

·         Must have met or exceeded at least two of the following:

·         X-Mod at or below 90 percent of the industry

·         Average lost-workday injury or illness rating at or below 90 percent of the most recent California average

·         Total injury and illness rate at or below 90 percent of the most recent California average

·         Average Days Away, Restricted, Transferred (DART) rate at or below 90 percent of the most recent California average

·         Total recordable case rate at or below 90 percent of the California average