Case Scenario:
Dynamic Duo, Inc., opened its manufacturing plant several months ago. The company is owned and operated by two enterprising business students, Jack Richter and Drew Saline, from Poedunk University in Poedunk, U.S.A. The company has 75 employees, most of whom work on the floor of the plant and handle the heavy equipment needed to manufacture widgets. One supervisor is in charge. Dynamic Duo, Inc., is concerned about safety, but the owners know almost nothing about OSHA. Before you have had a chance to advise Dynamic Duo, the plant is visited by a compliance officer who simply enters the plant and conducts a tour, unaccompanied by either management or employees. At the end of the tour, the compliance officer presents Dynamic Duo with two citations. The Dynamic Duo owners call you in as a consultant and ask you what they should do next. The citations concern scaffolding and ergonomics problems.
Unfortunately for Dynamic Duo, soon after the compliance officer's visit, five employees are injured or become ill, all on the same day. One is seriously injured, having caught his hand in a conveyor. Another person fell off some scaffolding. Another has become mysteriously ill, and three others have suffered minor cuts. The owners call you in again and ask you whether they need to inform anybody of the accidents and the illness or to record them somehow.
Q1. What questions would you ask Dynamic Duo's owners?
Q2. What legal steps would you recommend that Dynamic Duo take?
Q3. What advice would you give the owners concerning the company's obligations under OSHA to record accidents?