What to do After A Regulatory (OSHA) Inspection: A Step by Step Guide

In this episode, Joe and Jen try to give you a step by step guide on how to manage the chaos that can be left after regulators visit your facility.  What do you do next? Where do you start?  It can be so overwhelming, and this episode was designed to help you sort through it all.  

Initial Preparation and Documentation: Jen and Joe emphasize that businesses should have a pre-existing plan in place to handle regulatory inspections. A key point here is that the plan should clearly outline how to interact with regulatory bodies when they arrive on-site. This includes establishing protocols for security, communication, and credential verification when the agency shows up. The plan is typically a few pages long but should be detailed enough to provide clear guidance on procedures to follow.

The Importance of Rapid Action: Joe stresses the urgency of addressing the problem immediately, whether it’s a chemical leak or other significant issue. He explains that actions must be taken within minutes to mitigate risks, even if regulatory agencies take longer to conduct their investigations. The goal is to prevent further incidents by quickly implementing temporary solutions.

Evaluating Systems and Gaps: Joe points out that companies often face difficulties when an incident occurs because they may have been following the same systems for years without issue. When an event happens, it’s an indication that the system failed in some way, and now the company must figure out what went wrong and address the gaps. Jen adds that it's tough for people who have been working in the same environment for years to think creatively about how to solve these problems, which is why an external review is often necessary.

Long-term Solutions and Prioritization: The discussion moves toward implementing long-term solutions. Jen and Joe emphasize that the fixes need to be sustainable—not just temporary patches. Joe explains that companies should consider a timeline for implementing changes, from immediate actions to more permanent solutions that can last for months or years. They stress that companies should avoid trying to tackle everything at once, but instead prioritize issues based on risk and severity. Joe also advises companies to document their progress, showing regulatory agencies that they are making consistent efforts toward improvement.

Systematic Approach and Testing: The hosts advocate for regularly testing safety systems and processes, even when there hasn’t been an incident, to ensure they’re still effective. Joe explains that businesses should run their operations as if they expect failures to happen, and then prepare to address those failures. This approach helps uncover hidden gaps before they become serious issues.

Involving Contractors: Jen and Joe also discuss the importance of considering contractors in safety systems. If contractors are involved in high-risk activities like confined space work or hot work, companies need to have different safety protocols in place than for regular employees. These contractor-specific risks should also be addressed in post-incident evaluations and corrective actions.

Budgeting and Financial Considerations: Another major point is how to handle the financial side of implementing fixes. Joe notes that while fixing all issues may add up to a large sum, businesses need to prioritize spending based on risk and necessity. He spends a lot of time analyzing risk levels and timelines to figure out which part of the corrective actions should be tackled first.

Documentation and Follow-Up Visits: The episode closes with advice on documenting every step of the corrective action process. Jen stresses that companies should keep detailed records of what they’re doing to address issues, as regulatory agencies will often make follow-up visits to check on progress. Showing intent through documentation is key to demonstrating compliance and effort.<

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This week's episode is about.
You got an injury, had achemical leak, you had an event.
What do you do afterwards?
What's the steps?

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yeah, what happens next if you are expecting a
regulatory visit this week, likewe said in the opener we're
talking about, we had some kindof catastrophic event.
So whether it be an injury,chemical leak, chemical event,
it be an injury.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Chemical leak.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Chemical event, something like that, you know
significant property damage thatwould require an agency to come
in and do some kind of aninvestigation.
What does that process looklike?

Speaker 1 (00:35):
For those of you who don't know us and are new to our
channel, we spend about half ofour year doing this process,
yep.
So myself especially, that ismy main job the last few years
is dealing with these eventsafterwards in sequence.
So the first thing you need,you have to have some kind of
plan, and the plan should bedetermined before you ever had
the event.
You should say this is whatwe're going to do in case these

(00:57):
five things happen.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
So typically we see maybe a couple of page document
that just outlines.
Here's our process, from thetime that agency or that entity
shows up on property.
What are we doing with them?
What does it look like oncethey arrive through security?
How should we be talking tothem?
What credentials are we askingfor?
Those are some of the thingsthat we would want to see in

(01:19):
that specific document andeverybody should have some kind
of plan for that.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
This main episode now is what's next?
All right, so here we go.
So now we have agencies showedup.
We've had maybe some litigation, maybe we haven't, but we've
got to try to fix this.
Yeah, do we fix it in 15minutes from now or six months
from now?
Well, let's do it in 15 minutes, even though the agencies may
take some time, even though theymade an investigation.

(01:45):
You don't want to repeat rightoff the bat.
So you want to have some kindof system that says when we have
an event, what are we going todo?
You can have a chemical leakand we don't have eight hours to
wait.
We're doing something every 15minutes.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, and I think the interesting part to kind of
tack onto, that is, theregulatory agencies or the
entities that come in and do theinspection.
They are not really allowed togive you solutions or ideas.
So they come in, and here's yourlist of things that you need to
fix or work on or whatever thatlooks like that you have to
address in some capacity, andnow you've got a management team

(02:21):
that maybe didn't identify thatthose were even risks or
hazards, and now they're goingto have to come up with a
solution on how to deal with it,and so that can be really
challenging.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
It is, and it's not that we get a lot of calls
during the time we do, but it'sreally.
It's the part of we had a greatsafety record for years and we
had no or no leaks.
And so the same system, thesame processes you've used to
make sure you say, hey, we'redoing great.
Now I had a hiccup or a fail.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
And we never saw it coming.
Obviously, otherwise we wouldhave addressed it.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
You can't use the systems you had in place because
they don't work.
Now Something's off, so now youhave to evaluate what the off
is and what the anomaly is andtry to address, and that's hard
for a lot of people to do.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
It is hard, especially when you're working
in that same environment.
You're very programmed, almostthat well, this is how we do
things, and so it becomes hardto be creative outside of that.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
It's almost the same reason why when you write
anything, Like any of ourdocuments, all of our documents
are reviewed by someone else inour company, right.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
For the same reason, you have typically an editor
that would review and makesuggestions.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
It's a third party that kind of is a blank screen
viewing it, because it can be achallenge when you're in it
every day all day for hours, foryears maybe, to come up with a
creative solution outside of thebox and it's got to work next
month and in six months and in ayear.
It can't be something we justtemporarily put in place because
the gap or the problem issitting there waiting and you

(03:47):
want to get rid of that problemcompletely.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Right, so I think that that's the next piece that
we want to talk about, too is sothere's a sequence of events
when you come up with thesesolutions, so you're going to
have temporary fixes.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
What are we going to do the next eight hours to six
days?

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yep, and then what can we start putting into place
to start making that a morepermanent solution?
So you have the next 10 minutes.
How do we address it next week?
How do we address it in 30 days, six months?
And they cannot be the sameplan.
They got to be there.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
So, like when we get involved with some of these,
sometimes it's that day,sometimes it is two months later
, and that's what I talk about.
So let's put plans together.
So maybe you've got a lockoutissue or a forklift issue or
some kind of event that's partof this litigation or injury or
leak, whatever it is.
What you've got to look at isyou've got initial, did you do
it correctly?
Then you've got annual training, then you've got revalidation,

(04:35):
and if you don't watch it, yourlist gets so big that you don't
know really what to do.
So now your biggest gap is howdo I prioritize?
You've got to be able toprioritize not just timelines,
but which of this massive listthat everyone's saying I may
have to fix.
How am I going to prioritize?
Which one do I do?
And then, how much of numbereight do I do?
Do I do one through 40 or do anumber eight could actually take

(04:57):
months and I can only do bitsand pieces of it as I go through
.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
So let's talk about a real, real life scenario on
that.
So what I'm thinkingimmediately when I think of
multipliers, I'm thinking ofthings like lockout procedures,
confined space assessments andSOPs from the PSM side.
So you may take a citation orsomething along those lines and
you may get several and maybethey're all serious.

(05:20):
So, like you talked about, howdo you prioritize?

Speaker 1 (05:23):
out of all of them that are serious.
I could have 800 lockouts andI'm like, okay, tomorrow they're
all a problem maybe, but how doI be number one?
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (05:30):
So, first thing, maybe we had an injury.
Somebody comes in, we know wehave to address that, but we
also have to do training.
We also have to change ourlockout.
What else is affected?
Is there anything else in thissystem that could also be
sitting there as a risk?
That could be a problem.
That's correct.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
So what I tell people to do is and we're going to do
solutions to this episode, butone of the things I tell people
to do is, anytime you set upyour system.
The initial part of thispodcast is setting up a system.
I always set it up like you hada failure and then that's how I
test myself, yeah.
So I say, okay, we had aforklift event, or okay, we had
a chemical leak or we had aninjury.
Now what would be all thethings that would be supporting

(06:11):
documents going to that?

Speaker 2 (06:12):
supporting documents and supporting training.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
And then can I find them?
Can I find them in four hours?
Can I validate?
You know is Joe the one thatdid it.
Can I find him in four hours?
Can I validate?
You know is joe the one thatdid it but he quit eight months
ago and he's the one that didall the stuff.
But now the new people have noidea where it is, or even yeah,
the training.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
Or maybe he was the program keeper, maybe he was the
one that reviewed the, theannual assessment.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Absolutely, there's a list of stuff you gotta do
annually and they get lostsometimes with the turnover and
everything else on saturdays,once a we bring in a contractor
that does this service for usMaybe it's hot work, you know,
and they come in to do hot work.
Well, you've got to look atyour system differently for
contractors.
Then, if you're doing hot work,then there's your contractors
doing normal work.
So you got to look at yoursystem.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
And that's a really great thing too, because you may
have something it could affecta contractor.
So, now you're looking at yourcontractor programs and systems
and how you communicate thechanges, the updates that you're
making with that group.
That makes sense Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
So that's the biggest thing we're looking for.
We're looking for you have anevent, you have some kind of
agency or maybe regulatory orsomething.
Come in, now you've got somekind of plans, now you're going
to fix it.
You, now you've got some kindof plans, now you're going to
fix it.
You're going to get together atemporary fix a six-month, an
eight-month year and then you'vegot to look at any fix that you
put into place.
Don't fix anything you can'treally do.
You've got to run your business.

(07:31):
Every plant, every business hasits own uniqueness.
You still have to make itunique.
It's not fix the electric cord.
That's bad.
It's what.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Why is not fix the electric cord?
That's bad.
It's what electric cords?

Speaker 1 (07:43):
get tore apart.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, why is it getting ripped out to begin with
?
Let's address whatever thatlooks like.
So I think what you're reallytrying to say is, when we're
putting systems in permanentcorrective actions, let's make
that there.
Make sure there's somethingthat we can realistically do,
given our business and what weknow we do day in and day out
that it's not going to be aproblem for, you know, for us,
for us for food safety orsanitation or whatever that
looks like.
That it's something real.

(08:04):
It's not just an astronomicalnumber.
That is going to be a budgetaryissue over over time that we
can't, and you know, Iunderstand we're not supposed to
say, oh, we can't do that fixedbecause of cost.
We're not going to change thecompressor in a while, but you
know there is a myriad ofdifferent options, and so let's
pick one that makes sensefinancially, also if we have

(08:24):
choices, and that's kind ofgetting to the end here.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
That's the other part , dan.
Now you've got to budget outyour finances.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
You've got to say you know all these items cost $20.
But if I add them all up, theycould be a million.
So now I spend most my time onthe risk side.
So, yes, I look at timelines ona plan and what I can do
severity, and how many people?

Speaker 2 (08:44):
in fact, it is now, yes, now I'm back to that
severity and how.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
What is that risk level going to be, that matrix?
And then that's how I move myfunding to what part of the
eight months.
I start first yeah and you knowwhat.
You may have had an idea and itdidn't work right big deal.
Yep, come up with another one.
We put a new strategy in placeand try that out, but you've got
to test it for how you're goingto run your business when
you're doing this Well, and Ithink another key item too is
that you know you're going tohave potentially additional

(09:11):
visits from that regulatoryagency.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
So I think it's really critical that you
document that.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
All what you're doing , everything that you're doing
what works what maybe didn't,but you're still trying.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
You've got to show intent.
So let's get credit for theefforts that we are putting in,
because we know they're there.
And let's make sure that thatgets documented so that we can
show that.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
And I tell everybody always do percentage, don't say
I've got to fix 7,000.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
IDs or 7,000 SOPs.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
I did all of this room 100%.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
I got 20% of this room done.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
I got 30% in it.
Break it down that you'reshowing you're trying.
Whether the investigation isdone or not does not matter.
You want to show that you'retrying to do the right thing.

Speaker 2 (09:52):
I wouldn't wait until the end.
Result, I guess, is the biggestthing.
So, from the time that you getyour information or the
walkthrough, and you're kind ofaware of what's going on and
what some of the opportunitiesare, let's start working on that
.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
The next visit we can show that intent and that
improvement and, like you say,let's show it in percentages of
we are making an effort, so it'snot.
Well, it's not all done, soit's zero.
No part of it is done.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
20% you can't fix 500 or 5 000 without doing 10 and
20 and you get.
You want to take credit forthat so that that initial part
of getting the plan that's whatthis whole episode is about.
Think about all these pieces ofthe puzzle that move, yep and
and and.
You know we don't ever want tohave an event happen, but things
happen.
So let's plan and then you knowwhat happens when you look at

(10:38):
the puzzle.
That way you help find yourgaps Because, like Jen said, the
biggest problem you have is youdid great on your audit.
You had no injuries.
You're so great at everythingYou've got to go back and test
your systems.
You've got to see will it makeit through the shifts and the
contractors and those things.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
The turnover and everything else.
Well, and I think the lastthing that I would say is that
you can also, in some of yourprograms on how you're going to
manage this, look at your EAPand say, if we had this event
actually happen, who would wecall to help us from the safety
side, if we had a medical event,if we had?
A severe injury.
Who would we call to help uswork through this and navigate

(11:12):
it?
Typically, osha wants to see athird party if it's severe
enough.
And so we would want to startworking on identifying that.
So maybe you've got somevendors in place.
I would start asking somequestions.
If we have a bad chemical leak,can we call you?
You know?

Speaker 1 (11:24):
24-7 at night.
It can be your attorneys.
Yeah, because people havedifferent attorneys, Do you?

Speaker 2 (11:28):
have an attorney If we have a severe medical injury
or incident.
Is there someone that we knowthat we can call?
A lot of companies have anentity like that.
We are that entity for lots offacilities.
We know that there are somefolks out there that do that.
So you might even want to startidentifying what that looks
like and who that would be,either for your region, your

(11:49):
country, whatever that may beand just start identifying some
of those resources so you knowyou can pick up the phone and
have that.
It's not.
I start my research from now,when everything's chaotic and
going crazy.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
It's how you run your business.
You want to run your businessthinking that you never have to
use that system, but if ithappens, you still want to run
your business, right?
Right, keep your wrist down,run your business, take care of
your customers and make sureyour clients aren't unhappy
because supply chain issues.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
Well, there is that fact of it too.
It becomes difficult to fixthings.
If we lose customers, too, itbecomes difficult to fix things
if we lose customers too.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
So now we're in that weird catch 22.
Absolutely so that's wherewe're at today.
Remember, these are ouropinions.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
They're based on our opinions, based on our ideas,
our experiences.
So take it for what's worth.
Do your thorough riskassessment.
Every situation is slightlydifferent.
That's why we provide onsiteconsultation.
We don't do any of this type ofwork over the phone.
So I'd highly encourage youthat, if you need some advice,
to reach out to somebody us orsomebody and have them come in

(12:44):
and do a site visit and then, ifyou want to kind of have some
more information on how to dothat risk determination, we do
have some resources over atAllen safety coachingcom the
particular risk matrix and howto navigate through any audit
findings.
That's actually for free, soyou can reuse that resource over
there and get access to thatwithout having to pay for

(13:04):
anything.
We put that out there just kindof as an aid to help you.
If you need that, so go checkthat out allensafetycoachingcom.
Otherwise, if you do want someon-site resources,
allen-safetycom is where you canfind all of the services we
provide, including this one.
It's a little after includingthis one, so after catastrophic
events, and you can reach out tous from there.
Otherwise, contact us on any ofthe socials at Allen Safety LLC

(13:25):
is our handle.
You can reach out Joe Allen,jen Allen on LinkedIn and talk
to us there and direct messagesthere if you've got questions
and otherwise, leave a comment,leave a like.
We love hearing from you guys.
Let us know what you want tohear about, and I think that's
it.
Thank you, we what you want tohear about, and I think that's
it.
Thank you.
We'll see you next time, thankseverybody.
Thank you for listening to Safe, efficient, profitable a worker
safety podcast.

(13:45):
If you're looking for morein-depth discussions or
step-by-step solutions on all ofthe different safety and
regulatory topics, please visitus at wwwallensafetycoachingcom
for web-based virtual coachingand training, or at
wwwallen-safetycom to book ourteam for onsite services
training sessions, to ordermerchandise, to learn more about

(14:07):
our team and what services weprovide in the field, or just
simply to request a topic for usto cover on our next podcast.
If you found today's podcasthelpful and would like to
support our podcast further,please help us by subscribing,
liking and sharing this podcastwith anyone that could benefit
from the information we coverhere, as that helps us to
continue to put out this freecontent.
Thank you.