Welcome to FP Snapshot on Manufacturing Industry, where we take a quick snapshot look at the most significant workplace law developments over the past month with an emphasis on how they impact manufacturers. This snapshot is devoted to ensuring manufacturers are aware that Fisher Phillips has created the nation’s first OSHA Inspections Tracker map, allowing employers to examine the up-to-the-minute state of workplace safety inspections in a detailed manner. By clicking here and maneuvering around the map and accompanying data lists, you can determine the likelihood of your business being visited by OSHA inspectors based on location, industry, and company size. What are the biggest takeaways for manufacturers upon examining the FP OSHA Inspections Tracker and what can they do to prepare?

Manufacturing Near the Top of the Pack with 21% of Inspections

It’s probably no surprise that the two industries at the top of the list are construction and manufacturing, with manufacturing coming in at 21% of the OSHA inspections in 2022 year-to-date. We encourage you to take a deeper dive, however, and check out the data as it relates to your local areas and your company size to get a better sense for the danger you face.

What Should Manufacturers Do to Prepare for an OSHA Inspection?

Reviewing this map should serve as a critical reminder that you need to have a plan in place to prepare for a possible OSHA inspection. Here are three critical steps you can take to put your organization in the best possible position:

1. Prepare for Planned OSHA inspections

   OSHA has had a National Emphasis Program (NEP) to identify and reduce or eliminate amputation hazards in the manufacturing industry since 2019, so employers in this space should continue to focus on ensuring that machine guarding is addressed at each of their facilities. In addition, during such planned inspections — which accounted for 43.3% of OSHA’s total inspections in 2021, OSHA often cites manufacturers for failure to fully implement a lockout/tagout program, including failures to utilize or have machine-specific procedures for lockout/tagout and conduct periodic inspections of all machine-specific procedures as required under 29 CFR 1910.147. Therefore, manufacturers should remain vigilant to ensure full implementation of their lockout/tagout program ahead of OSHA inspections.

2. Audit for OSHA’s most-cited standards:

   Also, even with COVID-19 high on OSHA’s priority during inspections for 2021, the following were the top 10 violations cited by OSHA in the past year:

   1. Fall Protection, duty to have;
   2. Respiratory Protection;
   3. Ladders;
   4. Scaffolding;
   5. Hazard Communication;
   6. Lockout/Tagout;
   7. Fall Protection, training requirements;
   8. Eye and Face Protection;
   9. Powered Industrial Trucks; and
   10. Machine Guarding.

   Employers should review their compliance with the standards above, because OSHA inspectors often cite these items if a related hazard is in plain view during an inspection. Being proactive now can save manufacturers time and money—up to $14,502 per serious citation and $145,027 per repeat or willful citation.

3. Review Recordkeeping

   Finally, employers should currently have their completed and certified Form 300A posted at each establishment in a conspicuous place from February 1 to April 30. Compliance now can avoid a recordkeeping violation, and employers should remember to maintain a digital or physical copy of the signed Form 300A that was posted for a period of five years to ensure they can prove compliance with the annual certification and posting requirements.