Tag: Edwin G. Foulke

2011 ISN Annual Users Conference: Speaker Edwin G. Foulke, Jr.

Welcome to ISN’s 2011 Annual Users Conference.  One of our speakers, Ed Foulke, highlights many important safety topics in his presentation, entitled“13 Ways to Improve Your Safety Program While Increasing Your Productivity and Profitability”. 

Mr. Foulke discusses the importance of prioritizing safety and health in your company.  He says that it is not only the right thing to do, but allows employees to go home each night safely, is legally required, and essential for a company to be profitable and competitive in today’s marketplace.  He goes on to share the penalties paid by companies who violate acceptable health and safety protocols. 

Mr. Foulke shares 13 ways that companies can improve their safety programs while still increasing productivity and profitability:

  1.  Determine Your Vulnerability Under OSHA’s New Priorities
  2. Audit Your Company’s OSHA Recordkeeping
  3. Audit Your Workplace for Routine Violations
  4. Review Abatement of All Past OSHA Citations
  5. Prepare for OSHA’s Revised Approach to Ergonomics Enforcement
  6. Use Job Safety Analysis to Focus Workplace Safety and Health Strategy
  7. Make Safety the #1 Goal from the Floor to the “C” Suite
  8. Utilize Safety as a Profit Center
  9. Develop Emergency Action Plans to Deal with the Inevitable
  10. Protect Company’s Wellness Plan from Potential Liability
  11. Understand Implications of OSHA’s Multi-Employer Citation Policy
  12. Avoid Membership in OSHA’s Severe Violators Enforcement Program
  13. Solve Other Problems by Solving Safety Problems

By keeping employee safety and health as your company’s priority, you ensure your safety programs are continuously improving, resulting in more time to focus on productivity and the growth of your company.

Thirteen Strategies Every Employer Should Implement

Improving safety should be a top priority for employers.  The beginning of the new year is a prime time to reflect on the previous year’s safety record and make changes for improvement.

As the former Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, and a partner at Fisher & Phillips LLP, I have listed below 13 strategies every employer should implement to improve safety, reduce OSHA penalty exposure, and improve profits while protecting your company’s brand.

Thirteen Strategies Every Employer Should Implement

  1. Determine Your Vulnerability Under OSHA’s New Priorities
  2. Audit Your Company’s OSHA Recordkeeping, Especially Form 300 Injury & Illness Logs
  3. Audit Your Workplace for Routine Violations
  4. Review Abatement of All Past OSHA Citations
  5. Prepare for OSHA’s Revised Approach to Ergonomics Enforcement
  6. Use Job Safety Analysis (JSA) and Related Efforts to Focus Your Overall Workplace Safety and Health Strategy
  7. Turning Good Intentions Into a Workable Plan to Make Safety the #1 Goal from the Work Floor to the “C” Suite
  8. In Lean Times Utilize Safety as a Profit Center for Your Company
  9. Develop Your Company’s Emergency Action and Related Plans to Deal with the Inevitable
  10. Improve Your Company’s Wellness Plan and Protect it from Potential Liability
  11. Understand the Implications of OSHA’s Multi-Employer Citation Policy
  12. Avoid Membership in OSHA’s Severe Violators Enforcement Program (SVEP) and Similar Efforts
  13. Solve Other Problems by Solving Safety Problems

 

To read more about these approaches for improving safety click here.

About Edwin G. Foulke, Jr.

 Edwin G. Foulke, Jr. is a partner in the Atlanta and Washington, D.C. offices of Fisher & Phillips LLP. He co-chairs the firm’s Workplace Safety and Catastrophe Management Practice Group. As former Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, Edwin Foulke headed OSHA and its staff of more than 2,200 safety and health professionals and staff. Foulke served on the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission from 1990 to 1995, chairing the Commission for nearly four years and rendering decisions in job safety and health disputes that arise from OSHA inspections. He served on the Workplace Health and Safety Committee for the Society for Human Resources Management, also chairing that committee, and has authored articles on workplace safety and health for various entities, including the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, American Bar Association, the South Carolina Bar Association, and the North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry.