|
I got a call from "Safety Services" earlier this week, and before I said I wasn't interested, their crack sales guy got me completely paranoid about how we handle safety.
We are a small company, having between 2 to 6 employees during the season. I do most training myself, usually 1 on 1. Safety meetings we have weekly in the spring, but after a couple of months they fall by the wayside.
We don't have a formal safety program and we have never consulted with a lawyer or our insurer about the implications of that.
Because one of the owners is almost always on the jobsite, safety infractions are dealt with quickly, like not wearing glasses or ear-protection, fueling running equipment, or something as simple as leaning an all-steel shovel up against a tree, instead on laying it out of the way on the ground.
Maybe I am naive but we have had hardly any accidents, and none that would qualify as serious or life threatening.
Am I really required to have a safety meeting when I'm down to 1 guy who has worked for me for 7 years?
Do insurance companies routinely deny claims because a weekly safety program wasn't in place?
Do employees have legal recourse when injured on a job-site through there own negligence?
I don't know the answers to these kind of questions, and they sure can make you lose sleep...
|