Site-Specific Targeting 2009 – Important Information for Risk Managers

We covered this previously, but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released the details of their Site-Specific Targeting 2009 program this month.  SST-09 expands the organization’s standard number of workplace safety inspections to specifically target an additional 4,000 worksites that have been deemed “high-hazard.”  These particularly dangerous workplaces have been divided across three specific segments: manufacturing, non-manufacturing and nursing homes.  Each of the companies on the list will be subject to intense scrutiny regarding their entire operational purview, as well as the actual effectiveness and implementation of their work safety efforts, a distinction which goes beyond merely validating their existence.

How can a risk manager assure that his or her organization does not end up joining this list of 4,000 OSHA targets?  The agency decides which companies end up on SST list by examining reported safety data from the previous year, in this case gathered through the 2008 Data Initiative Survey which targeted 80,000 different employers.  The employers are selected from industries which have a long history of elevated occupational injury and illness statistics.  OSHA uses the gathered data to calculate the average Days Away, Restricted or Transferred rate, otherwise known as DART, as well as the days away from work injury and illness rate, dubbed DAFWII. Each company’s rate is then compared against the background rate for their specific industry.

Businesses in the nursing home sector with a DART rate greater than or equal to 17, or DAFWII of 14 or more were added to this year’s list.  For non-manufacturing companies, those displaying a DART rate of 15 or more, or a DAFWII greater than or equal to 13 were also added.  The manufacturing industry was held to a much tighter standard:  a DART rate of 6 or more, or a DAF2II of 4 or better landed a company on the primary 2009 list.  A secondary list targeted also those companies with a more specifically restricted DART and DAFWII rates.

Simply not responding to the OSHA survey is no protection from the SST:  many non-respondents from 2008 have found themselves on the SST-09 list by default.  The key for risk managers eager to avoid SST is to ensure that their workplace does not show a safety record riddled with DART and DAFWII scores that will attract the attention of OSHA.  Not only does that help organizations avoid potentially costly interruption by inspectors, but it also makes for a workplace that does an excellent job of protecting the safety of employees.

Some low-rate sites situated in industries which historically have high incident rates will also be included in the SST program at random as a form of spot-checking to ensure that DART and DAFWII scores are being accurately reported.  The level of inspection that OSHA associates with their SST-09 is quite thorough, and is completely described in OSHA Directive 09-05 (CPL 02), available on their website.  The release also fully describes the criteria and methodology of the SST program, and should be considered essential reading by risk managers in high-risk employment sectors.