Safety manager liabilities: what you need to know
Worker safety is of utmost importance in the workplace; and that applies to any type of company in any industry. It is the company’s responsibility to provide safe working conditions, and the safety manager’s responsibility to be the main point of contact for employees, especially those who work in hazardous environments. Safety managers must comply with The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)‘s requirements and can face fines, penalties and even criminal charges if they fail to comply.
One notable case where OSHA took action for a violation occurred in August of 2015, when Bumble Bee Seafoods’ former Safety Manager Saul Florez and plant Operations Director Angel Rodriguez were both charged with three counts of willfully violating OSHA rules in the 2012 death of Jose Melena. Tragically, Melena died in a pressure cooker that he was repairing when a coworker loaded the oven with six tons of tuna and turned it on.
The company violated OSHA guidelines by not having lockout/tagout procedures that would have prevented the oven from being turned on with Melena inside. There also was no escape route for an employee to take in such a case, and there should have been a spotter—someone keeping watch when a worker was in a confined space. In addition, it was alleged the company failed to post danger signs or similar means to warn workers of the hazards of entering the ovens.
While this is a rare prosecution of a workplace fatality, it is an inevitable outcome for those who fail to put safety first. Below, we’ll explore three important things to know about safety manager liabilities and responsibilities.
1. They must provide ongoing training to all employees as policies and procedures are updated
This includes accident prevention and investigation training. These supervisors and managers must be able to provide safety training for their employees, and the safety manager is responsible for ensuring all staff and team members are properly trained. Melena should have received training so he would know that it was unsafe to enter the oven without a co-worker present or without locking the oven to prevent it from being turned on while he was performing maintenance. As a result, Florez was held accountable.
2. Compliance with OSHA is crucial
Safety managers are responsible for continuous monitoring of unsafe working conditions. If a safety or health hazard is detected, the safety manager must take corrective action immediately. The safety manager also must continuously assess equipment for potential hazards.
In the instance of Bumble Bee, the safety manager failed to check the ovens to ensure they had lockout/tagout capabilities. It is not clear whether the facility had this on their equipment or if Melena simply failed to use it, but lockout/tagout is an OSHA requirement – had proper lockout/tagout procedures and protocol been followed, the outcome of this incident may have been different.
3. They must always participate in the investigation of incidents
Safety managers must determine the cause of any incident and determine how to prevent it from happening again. They also must identify any other hazardous situations associated with the incident and prevent further unsafe actions.
While Florez and Rodriguez cooperated in the resulting investigation, their lack of safety prevention protocol cost them criminal charges and fines, and ultimately cost a human life. They were responsible for monitoring and investigating any close calls in the area and were to recommend improvements to procedures and policies to prevent similar instances.
Per the agreement reached, Bumble Bee plead guilty in 2017 to a misdemeanor of failing to provide adequate safety measures, including providing additional employee training based on this incident and updating the ovens with lockout tagout properties. The tuna company agreed to a settlement of $6 million, the highest payout in California history for workplace safety violations. However, this was a preventable tragedy. Safety is not something to take for granted; employees can be in dangerous situations on the job anytime, anywhere.
