Could Your Company Survive an Employee Fatality or Injury?
In 2019, 5,333 workers died on the job, while 888,220 workers suffered nonfatal injuries and illnesses that caused them to miss at least one day of work. This staggering number of events also carries an extreme price tag. The lost time associated with the interruption and addressing the incident, not to mention the costs of emergency medical treatment, overtime labor, increased Worker Compensation, lawsuits, and property damage can start to seem insurmountable.
A high accident rate can also have lasting damage. It can prevent a company from bidding on certain jobs. OSHA or other regulatory agencies involved in investigating the injury or fatality can have severe penalties. And management must drop everything to respond to these situations. We’ve also seen scenarios where managers and company owners have been sent to prison for fatalities that could have been prevented.
A lot of these concerns can be prevented through training and having a well-developed billboard safety program. Formetco Safety Classes can help with both.
What Is a Billboard Safety Program?
A billboard safety program is critical to keep your workforce safe. Formetco offers unique safety program training classes and specialty billboard safety equipment for professionals in the billboard and out-of-home industries. Find out more about our upcoming training here.
How Billboard Operators Can Benefit
If something goes wrong on site, your business may be liable. Lawsuits, OSHA penalties, worker’s compensation, and other consequences can have a significant impact on your business. In wrongful death cases, it’s even possible for responsible parties to face time in jail.
As of January 2021, here are the maximum OSHA penalty amounts, with an annual adjustment for inflation.
|
Type of Violation |
Penalty |
| Serious | $13,653 per violation |
| Failure to Abate | $13,653 per day beyond the abatement date |
| Willful or Repeated | $136,532 per violation |
As you can see, safety is no joke – your workers’ safety is business-critical. A safety program can help ensure that your workforce has the skills, tools, and resources needed to remain safe and compliant with safety protocols.
It Helps Ensure OSHA Compliance
OSHA has very specific safety requirements for remote workers in the field. Did you know that remote workers are required to be trained in First Aid? Without the proper training, your workforce may be vulnerable to hazards and your business may be vulnerable to penalties and red tape.
Workers Compensation insurance was created to ensure employees were compensated for injuries and time off work. The insurance company promotes employer safety programs to reduce the amount of money they have to payout. It is at their discretion where they reduce premiums or not.
A Safety Program Is a Scalable Business Model
A safety program helps provide the ingredients of a successful business: skilled labor, responsible management, and legal compliance. The cost-benefit of safety program training becomes a no-brainer when you consider all the benefits it can provide.
Join Our Upcoming Safety Program Training
Formetco is the only billboard supplier that offers comprehensive safety training for billboard climbers, operators, owners, and contractors. The climber safety training course is purposely designed to protect your people and your business. That is why we’ve made it hands-on, and dare we say, fun.
During the Formetco Safety Training week, attendees learn what happens when OSHA visits a job site, industry-specific safety topic training, CPR/First aid as required for remote workers, dealing with contractors, and hands-on Climber Level I and II classes created and introduced by Formetco to protect the billboard worker.
Specific safety program outlines will guide the manager and owner in how to prepare a safety program that fits the needs of their organizations. Add to all of this networking with other companies and the ability to learn from one of the industry’s-best known safety experts and you have a week packed full of training and methods to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses.
Our course covers:
- All the subjects required in an OSHA 10 hour Outreach Class, but tailored to the billboard industry
- A CPR/First Aid class that meets OSHA requirements
- How to create, document, execute and maintain a safety program
- How to deal with OSHA in the event of a citation
- Entry-level and advanced climber training
If you have any other questions about billboard safety, don’t hesitate to contact us.
