[dreamnala]

I am the osha compliance coordinator at my organization, and my administrator disagrees with my assessment of something and wants other opinions. We have an emergency weather policy that requires workers to take action under certain weather conditions i.e. close blinds under severe thunderstorm watch. She wants to know if anyone/anyplace allows employees to not follow the policy if he/she has signed a waiver stating the organization is not responsible.

Dreamnala

[dkara]

No waivers signed here but everyone is quite compliant. It really depends on the situation. Human curiosity typically takes over in "severe" weather situations and other various incidents but overall they do follow policy and procedure.

[purplemania]

are they allowed to sign waivers for other safety issues, like goggles or shoes or how they respond to hazards, etc? I would think a waiver sets the company up for liability, because if I do something unsafe I am also risking the safety of others, in most cases. How can you enforce policies that have loopholes?

[dkara]

The PPE here is steel toe boots, Nomax coveralls, safety goggles/glasses, hard hat, and hearing protection. There is also additional PPE depending on what unit the worker is on. They may not work without their PPE and because of the type of work they do, they really would not want to!! Hearing protection is probably the toughest to enforce but we continuously look for their hearing protection and if we do not see it, we tell them to put it in/on. For the most part everyone works together and makes sure their fellow workers are safe.

[sierranurse]

Originally Posted by dreamnala

I am the osha compliance coordinator at my organization, and my administrator disagrees with my assessment of something and wants other opinions. We have an emergency weather policy that requires workers to take action under certain weather conditions i.e. close blinds under severe thunderstorm watch. She wants to know if anyone/anyplace allows employees to not follow the policy if he/she has signed a waiver stating the organization is not responsible.

Dreamnala

****
Signing a waiver would mean nothing when it is related to a workplace injury. Particularly, in a court of law when it comes to OSHA mandates. I believe you would be prudent to require the mandate be followed & persue it as a personnel issue if the employ refused. Rather than end up in court.

[chrisrob]

Originally Posted by dreamnala

I am the osha compliance coordinator at my organization, and my administrator disagrees with my assessment of something and wants other opinions. We have an emergency weather policy that requires workers to take action under certain weather conditions i.e. close blinds under severe thunderstorm watch. She wants to know if anyone/anyplace allows employees to not follow the policy if he/she has signed a waiver stating the organization is not responsible.

Dreamnala

hi, I'm an occ health nurse in Scotland and we dont have the litigation issue you have in the U.S recently we had an issue regarding tools that our guys use, and the fact some of the guys are not to use tools due to vibration white finger, because there not on tools there overtime is restricted so there losing money, they offered to sign wavers saying they were aware of the damage they could be doing to themselves and that they would not hold the firm responsible, disscussions took place between myself, company doc and health and safety officer we dicided that we would still be liable even if they signed wavers as we knew we would be putting the workers in situations that would be detrimental to there health and in a court of law we would be seen as the responsible person. So think I would be careful about what i would let people opt out of.

[ICUnowOHN]

I'm with Purple and Sierra. OSHA will still act on the policy and a waiver wouldn't amount to anything. I work in an automotive component mfr. If there was an incident that could have caused an injury, we still act on it as if it was an injury. If you can't get through to them that they should follow policy/procedures go to your Safety or Managment an get them to work on it.

[KATHY WELSH]

I work as occupational health and safety, we acctually had an employee file an osha complaint because they had heard that there was a severe weather warning and we did not evaucate, we had to contact national weather service to prove there was not a warning, you should have a written evacuation policy with disipline for those who don't follow it,

Originally Posted by dreamnala

I am the osha compliance coordinator at my organization, and my administrator disagrees with my assessment of something and wants other opinions. We have an emergency weather policy that requires workers to take action under certain weather conditions i.e. close blinds under severe thunderstorm watch. She wants to know if anyone/anyplace allows employees to not follow the policy if he/she has signed a waiver stating the organization is not responsible.

Dreamnala