Well this has been a very interesting discussion for me to read. You see I am the safety guy at work. It sounds like I should consider myself lucky. I show the company the regulation and then we follow the regulation. I have never had someone refuse to do a job because of safety reasons. Usually it is the other way, when I walk around I will tell people to stop doing the job the way they are doing it and tell them the correct way to do it.
I am in California and fall under Cal/OSHA. However I get a lot of my information from the OSHA website. The OSHA regulation are written in a manner that is easier to understand. Also the website has letters of interpretation. Some people have written into OSHA asking a clarification of a standard the OSHA will respond with the interpretation. However this is a double edged sword. While the information is useful sometimes the letter of interpretation is stricter than the standard. Therefore you are creating a regulation without going through the approval process.
I personally feel that the OSHAs should focus more on training and informing work places on regulations than on enforcement. In the past we have brought in Cal/OSHA consulation. They do an inspection and give us a time table to fix any problems. No fines. I think if this were emphasized that more companies would use this service. However the corporate culture is to be scared of OSHA and view it as the enemy.
I of course have more to say but I know that you are falling asleep.
Trumpy, kudos to you and the apprentice. Buy him a beer for doing the right thing.
Scott
