UNIT III STUDY GUIDE The Safety Professional – Duties and Ethics in a Diverse World Course Learning Outcomes for Unit III Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to: 1. Discuss hazards unique to contract work. 1.1 Compare and contrast contract workers, temporary workers, and full-time workers. 1.2 Discuss challenges unique to contract and temporary workers. 1.3 Illustrate the diversity among contract workers. 4. Summarize methods for ensuring contractor accountability. 4.1 Describe the role safety professionals play in managing contractors. 4.2 Discuss ethical challenges in managing contractors. Course/Unit Learning Outcomes 1.1 1.2 1.3 4.1 4.2 Learning Activity Unit Lesson Article: Protecting Temporary Workers Article: American Labor in the 20th Century Unit III Scholarly Activity Unit Lesson Article: American Labor in the 20th Century Unit III Scholarly Activity Unit Lesson Article: "Safety Across Cultures" Article: American Labor in the 20th Century Unit III Scholarly Activity Unit Lesson Chapter 2 Article: Safety and Health Program Implementation Checklist for General Industry Unit Lesson Chapter 4 Required Unit Resources Chapter 2: Roles of Construction Personnel in Safety and Health Chapter 4: Ethics and Safety In order to access the following resources, click the links below. Flynn, M. (2018, March 13). Safety across cultures. NIOSH Science Blog. https://blogs-origin.cdc.gov/nioshscience-blog/2018/03/13/safety-across-cultures/ Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (n.d.). Protecting temporary workers. United States Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/temporaryworkers OSH 2304, Introduction to Contractor Safety 1 Read section 7 of the following document: UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2017, December). Safety and Health Program Implementation Checklist for general indistry. https://www.osha.gov/shpguidelines/docs/SHP_Implementation_Checklist.pdf Fisk, D. M. (2003, January 30). American labor in the 20th century. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/cwc/american-labor-in-the-20th-century.pdf Unit Lesson Who Are Our Workers? Today’s workforce is a very diverse group of folks. There were several events that changed the face of the worker in America. In the early part of the 20th century, it was not uncommon for most of the labor force to be in agriculture and family based. As the needs of the country changed and technology advanced, workers began moving from farms into industry (Fisk, 2003). As the country continued to grow, so did its needs. Industry demanded human workers to run the machinery that would mass-produce the goods for the growing population and to develop new technology. Workers left the farms and small towns and began to move to areas where industry was based and wages were decent. All of this movement into the industrial world meant an untrained workforce taking on high-risk occupations. Deaths were high and injuries even higher, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s study. As we learned in Unit I, during the first two decades of the 20th century, America at war demanded that the traditional workforce, mostly men, be supplemented with workers who had not before been a part of the mainstream industrial occupations. Workers were needed in manufacturing, mining, railroading, and other industries. The service industry also demanded more workers, as the move into more populated areas created the need for hotels, restaurants, and other entertainment venues. As the men went off to war, women and other non-traditional workers began an influx into the labor force. After World War I, the men returned home and returned to work; however, the increase in work availability still provided opportunities for many non-traditional workers. Then, in the years between World War I and World War II, America suffered what has become known as the Great Depression. Those workers who had entered the main-stream workforce during the war years were left seeking alternative sources of income. By the height of the depression, unemployment had reached record numbers for all sectors of the workforce (Fisk, 2003). Then, along came another Great War, World War II. Again, the traditional worker went off to fight in the war, and the workforce was supplemented by others. The defense industry was booming. By the end of World War II, the depression was over; industry had recovered and was retooling for private industry. Workers were in great demand. During the remainder of the 20th century, many industries continued to grow, and more and more cities grew suburban areas to support the folks who worked in these industries. Generations of families were now working in the auto plants, steel mills, refineries and many other industries. Yet there was still a shortage of available labor. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 made it possible to supply the needed workforce for many of these jobs (Smithsonian National Museum of American History, n.d.). The 1970s brought a bit of a slowdown. Some plants began to close or cut shifts and those “legacy” jobs that your parents or grandparents could get you into disappeared. Industries began to outsource work to other countries. We were now entering a new phase of technological advances, and different skillsets were needed. A demand for technology skills, such as data processing and computer programming evolved. Higher education to learn these skills became the norm for many in place of entering a trade. OSH 2304, Introduction to Contractor Safety 2 Let’s fast forward now to the dawn of the 21st century. Industry began to pick UNIT up again, and once more x STUDY GUIDE tradespeople became necessary. Workers to implement the ideas and plans that those in technological fields Title designed and developed were in high demand. Infrastructure was needed to support these designs, and that meant people were needed to build it. Plants, roads, bridges, distribution centers, and homes for the workers and their families. Again, there was a rise in tradespeople needed. People came from all over the world to join industries such as construction, oil and gas, power distribution, and manufacturing. And then, by the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the United States entered the Great Recession, and these jobs began to disappear again (Rich, 2013). Companies struggled to remain solvent, and many sought alternatives to the high costs of retaining employees. As we learned in Unit I, there are costs attached to every worker, both direct (wages) and indirect (benefits, training, retention). One way for companies to remain solvent and continue operating was to reduce the number of employees. Enter the contractor or subcontractor. Just as some industries outsourced products, companies began outsourcing labor. In today’s market, it is not uncommon for a project to be managed by a contract manager, or construction manager, and have all the actual work contracted or subcontracted out to others to perform. In turn, the companies performing the work may then enlist the services of a second-tier subcontractor, or utilize staffing agencies. Many of the workers that are employed by these companies might be independent contractors or temporary labor. The labor force is very diverse, and it includes workers from many different countries and backgrounds. There can be multiple cultures and languages on a single jobsite. This can often present a challenge when managing safety in the workplace, as there may sometimes be language or cultural barriers that present roadblocks in ensuring everyone is on the same page. There are also the challenges of one trade not knowing or understanding what the other trade is doing, yet all have to share the same workspace. When using the services of a contractor to provide a short-term service, such as painting, building scaffold, performing turnaround services or other work that is not a permanent occupation in a facility or on a jobsite, how do we manage safety for all? How Can the Safety Professional Help the Workers? There is good news and bad news. First, the bad news. If you work for a company that is a contract manager, general contractor or construction manager, it is ultimately your company’s responsibility to ensure the safety of everyone on site. Under the multi-employer directive, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) can issue citations to the controlling contractor, who is in charge of the overall site. This means that even if your company is working safely and following all the rules and regulations, if one of your contractors or subcontractors is in violation and you do not do anything to correct them, your company can also be cited (OSHA, 1999). This is becoming more and more common these days, as OSHA realizes that many companies are contracting and subcontracting work out instead of self-performing. From personal experience, it can and does happen, so it is in the best interest of the controlling contractor to keep a tight rein on the overall safety of everyone on the site. While it may not seem fair that your company gets penalized for the actions of your contractors, let’s think about this for a minute. If you do not ensure that they are working safely, will it be a successful project? One of the best ways to think of this is the example of a three-legged stool with each leg representing production, quality, or safety. Take one of those legs away, and the other two cannot stand on their own. So now, for the good news! There are many ways to ensure contractor compliance, and more importantly, buy-in. One great way is to get everyone on board and build a safety team. Use workers from every trade and every company to perform walk-throughs and audits. Train them to look for hazards. Empower them to be the eyes and ears on the ground. The safety professional cannot do it alone; there must be cooperation. And with this cooperation from everyone onsite, they also have a vested interest in keeping everyone safe. Another method some use is an observation program. The safety team can set goals for how many observations are made looking for positive and at-risk behaviors. Then, track the observations and note the improvements. Celebrate the improvements! Look for ways to bring out the positives, and keep the momentum going. When everyone onsite feels that they are a part of a team, compliance becomes easier. Production improves, quality is consistent, and then you have the support for that “three legged stool.” OSH 2304, Introduction to Contractor Safety 3 Ethical Challenges in Managing Contractor Safety UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title Once we have established the presence of contractors and subcontractors, what might be some of the challenges faced? The textbook describes ethics as “the study of morality within a context established by cultural and professional values, social norms, and accepted standards of behavior” (Goetsch, 2018, p. 44). What does this really mean when trying to manage contractors? Let’s look at this. Think about how you want the safety program to work. How are you going to ensure its success? What measures are you going to put in place? With today’s diverse and multi-cultural workforce, how do you get everyone on the same page? There are several challenges that involve ethics in managing contractor safety. Some of those challenges may be with your own company’s management staff. If they are not “walking the walk,” such as not wearing their PPE while onsite, it demonstrates a lack of commitment to safety. Will you be comfortable correcting a contractor for not wearing their PPE if your own management team is disregarding the rules? In another scenario, imagine that your company brought in a contractor who was the low bidder but had no safety plan or much experience in working in your particular environment. Their workers are largely made up of temporary workers from a staffing agency. By contract, it is the contractor’s responsibility to provide, and enforce a safety program with their workers. Yet the workers themselves show up without proper PPE, have no understanding of safety rules, and the contractor is indifferent to your recommendations and/or reports of deficiencies. Imagine their workers are working at heights and are not tied off during a critical operation that affects the project schedule. What would your actions be? Within the context, would you bring this up to your management team, stop work, and demand that the contractor take steps to provide training in a fall protection safety program? Or, would you “go with the flow” along with your management team to not slow down production? Again, let’s look back at the three-legged stool concept. Convincing your management team prior to the beginning of work that safety is as important as production and quality is key to a successful project. Turning a blind eye to situations that could injure or kill a worker for reasons of productivity does not translate well in OSHA citations or legal proceedings. At the end of the day, the safety professional must abide by a code of ethics. The Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) has a stringent set of ethics that are demanded of every credentialed safety professional. The entire code of ethics can be found on the BCSP website. References Fisk, D. M. (2003, January 30). American labor in the 20th century. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/cwc/american-labor-in-the-20th-century.pdf Goetsch, D. L. (2018). Construction safety and the OSHA standards (2nd ed.). Pearson. National Museum of American History. (n.d.). Immigrant labor. Smithsonian. https://americanhistory.si.edu/american-enterprise/immigrant-labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (1999, December 10). Multi-employer citation policy. United States Department of Labor. https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_id=2024&p_table=DIRECTIVES Rich, R. (2013, November 22). The Great Recession: December 2007–June 2009. Federal Reserve History. https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/great_recession_of_200709 OSH 2304, Introduction to Contractor Safety 4 Suggested Unit Resources UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title In order to access the following resources, click the links below. The below articles will provide further information about the history of employment, contractor management, and multi-cultural labor in the United States. Rich, R. (2013, November 22). The Great Recession: December 2007–June 2009. Federal Reserve History. https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/great_recession_of_200709 The National Safety Council focuses on eliminating preventable deaths at work, on the road, and in homes and communities. Campbell Institute. (2015). Best practices in contractor management. National Safety Council. https://www.nsc.org/Portals/0/Documents/CambpellInstituteandAwardDocuments/WP-BestPracticesContractorMgmt.pdf The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. (2014, August). Recommended practices, Protecting temporary workers (DHHS [NIOSH] Publication No. 2014-130). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2014-139/default.html OSH 2304, Introduction to Contractor Safety 5
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