The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has recently launched a National Emphasis Program (NEP) aimed at reducing workplace hazards in high-risk environments. These high-risk environments primarily include warehouses, distribution centers and high injury rate retail establishments.
In the past decade, there has been an enormous increase in the number of warehouses and distribution centers popping up across the country. In 2011, about 670,000 individuals were employed in the warehouse or distributions center industry. Now, those industries employ more than 1.9 million.
Along with the rise in these environments, naturally comes the increase in nonfatal injury and illness rates. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows a significantly higher rate of injuries for these establishments than for others. Due to the high rate and seriousness of these workplace hazards, OSHA initiated an organized effort into preventing them.
This New Emphasis Program was announced on July 13, 2023 and will continue for the next three years. State programs are also mandated to adopt this federal initiative. Each Regional and Area Office must implement a 90-day outreach program that supports the purpose of NEP.
All inspections under NEP will be comprehensive safety inspections that focus on workplace hazards commonly found in these industries. This would include:
- Powered industrial vehicle operations
- Material handling/storage,
- Walking-working surfaces,
- Means of egress, and
- Fire protection.
(Plus, all heat and ergonomic hazards must be inspected if OSHA learns that there is a presence of these hazards.)
Workplace safety is crucial to MaintenanceBest’s candidate training. A workplace accident or injury can easily cost a company thousands of dollars. If that employee happens to belong to a staffing company, OSHA will hold both the Host company and the Staffing company responsible.
This is why all of the candidates we place have completed our online proprietary OSHA safety training. Furthermore, all our candidates have successfully passed our safety training tests. We strongly believe that these steps are why MaintenanceBest has had the best safety record in the business for the past three years.
For more information about OSHA’s National Emphasis Program, you can find the announcement here.
