Representing funeral homes, I have participated in Informal Conference Reviews in a number of states. The one I’m currently participating in with Maryland OSHA is in some ways the most unfair. As with most firms I represent, this firm was not a customer at the time they were inspected. The customer operated multiple businesses and OSHA chose to issue multiple and duplicate citations for each.
    Other states have allowed me to argue the merits of a citation and the actual fine for the citation at the same sitting. Often, what OSHA allows on one citation will lead to the customer being more flexible on the other. In other words, lowering the penalty allows the customer more money to abate a safety issue. Conversely, making the safety fix less expensive allows the employer to pay a larger fine.
    This is a common ham and egg process in OSHA inspections. In Maryland, they mandated that all of the citations be abated before any discussion of penalties. This takes away the predicate that the more you give on one, the more I can give back on the other. I think that is unfair. In this case, it did not stop us from reaching a satisfactory solution.
    We were fortunate to have an exceptional case worker. Compliance Plus had just abandoned the Exposure Control Plan (ECP) that had been in place for over 20 years. This one was three weeks old and this was our first inspection with the new plan. The case worker ripped it. What’s more, she was right. We went back to the old plan and hit a home run. It was one hundred percent accepted. She even went a step further and gave me the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
    Of course, she was right again. I had changed the ECP because OSHA made changes to another written program, Hazard Communication due to the new Global Harmonized System (GHS). After doing a complete rewrite for Hazard Communications, it just seemed like a good idea to do a new ECP. It was not.
    Safety professionals tend to train in the same standards year after year. Not only that, but we tend to train the same people year after year. It is a recipe that will cure even the worst case of insomnia. Against that background, there is a desire to make something fresh. While there are ways we can do that, written programs are not one of them.
    We are allowed and even encouraged to change our training presentation. We can and should focus on different areas from one year to the next. While that may seem like a plan, there are only so many ways you can present formaldehyde, bloodborne pathogen, or needlestick safety training to a mortuary staff or group of embalmers. There comes a time when they gather before you. And you cannot help but wonder, “Are they here for annual training or annual punishment?”
    That my friends is why we try to fix things that are not broken. I do it for you, or I try. I do it for me, or I try. OSHA has the last word though, and the last word is, “if it ain’t broke, …”