Budgeting for safety and health

Safety and health must have a separate and distinct budget with dollars allocated for the various responsibilities, mandates, and requirements placed upon the occupational safety and health initiative in order to be considered an important managemait function. 

One section in a book cannot provide comprehensive coverage of this topic. This is especially true because a budget must be specific for the function of the company and the resources available. Budgets are usually considered a roadmap or planning document for the completion of the assigned tasks and responsibilities based on the resources allocated by the company and is never all that it should be or a safety ad professional would want it to be. 

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EVERYTHING COSTS DOLLARS BUDGETING FOR SAFETY AND HEALTH... 

Cl. How does the site integrate planning for safety and health with its overaii management planning process (e.g., budget deveiopment, resource aiiocation, or training) ... 

Development of a written safety and health program tailored to your husiness, which includes a statement of management commitment This commitment is demonstrated hy an allocation of funding (budget) as well as an assignment of accountability and responsibility for safety and health. 

Clearly define a process for delaying maintenance and capital work in the event of budget constraints. Critical repair work should not be delayed. Environmental, Safety, and Health reviews should be conducted on delay of scheduled mechanical integrity program inspections. (Before startup)... 

In our judgment OSHA has been a public policy failure from an economic efficiency or cost effectiveness viewpoint. We recommend that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration no longer issue mandatory workplace standards, inspect firms for compliance with OSHA standards, or fine firms for noncompliance with safety standards. OSHA s budget should be folded into the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). We believe that resources now used to regulate the workplace should be redirected to researching what workers and firms can do to reduce injuries and diseases at work and to providing the results of NIOSH research to firms and workers. 

There are a whole host of budget items that may need to be budgeted for regarding occupational safety and health. Table 2.2 is not comprehensive but is a representation of potential budget items. 

While it would be great to be able to predict the future and plan for events and items as though they would certainly happen, it is unlikely that the use of the budget as a precise document to follow will occnr. There are many factors that are not under the control of the person responsible for occupational safety and health. 

Thus, developers of an occupational safety and health budget must hitch their proverbial wagon to as many real to life safety and health issues as possible. This means that the best approach is to tie as much of the expenditures to compliance with regulatory requirements as humanly possible. Another approach is to show how the use of dollars for intervention and prevention of potential cost (a cost-avoidance strategy) can demonstrate savings. 

Developing a budget that identifies specific items to be completed for a specific cost with proper justification provides the resources to complete the agreed-upon safety and health task. A budget should be broken down into several identifiable... 

The safety and health professional who develops a responsible budget that looks for ways to control cost and maintain or improve the company s bottom line will be view as a part of the team and not just a necessary evil. 

All tools necessary to implement a good safety and health program are more than adeqnate and effectively used. The management safety and health representative has expertise appropriate to facility size and process, and has access to professional advice when needed. Safety and health budgets and funding procedures are reviewed periodically for adequacy. 

Planning for typical as well as unusual/emergency safety and health expenditures in the budget, including funding for prompt correction of uncontrolled hazards. 

The phrase it s running over budget is often heard, and there can be a number of reasons for this when looking at a work area, work process or equipment. Safety and health are essential aspects which must be taken into account when assessing costs in a workplace. If there is too great a difference between the costs perceived to apply to a piece of equipment or a process, either before it is installed or started up, or in annual estimates as compared to the acmal costs of operation, there can be heavy pressures to achieve production at the expense of health and safety. 

Many programs are running lean. More safety and health budgets will be cut in 2012 (20%) than increased (17%), according to ISHN s White Paper research. The same goes for staffing 12% of programs will cut heads 11% will add to headcount. 

Whether the contractor will be responsible for pa)dng civil penalties assessed for any citations or orders issued by MSHA to the contractor or to the owner for violations alleged by MSHA for conditions at the contractor s worksite or for conditions caused by the contractor s employees or equipment (civQ penalties of up to 55,000 per violation are mandatory rmder the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act. See 30 USC 820(a)(1994)(the maximum penalty was increased to 55,000 by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1997). For civil penalty assessment procedures, see 30 CFR Part 100 (1999)... 

First-line supervisors are the key to the success or failure of a safety and health program. All your planning, budgeting, and goal setting are for nanght if supervisors are not acconntable and committed to safety and health. 

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