(a) General Requirements. - (i) Inspection and investigation priorities shall be established to effectively and efficiently utilize enforcement personnel. Unprogrammed activities such as fatalities, catastrophes, imminent danger complaints, and safety and health complaints shall have priority over programmed activities like targeted inspections and other industrial, governmental, and agricultural inspections.
- (ii) Follow-up inspections will be considered within the basic priority activity which generated the requirement. For example, a follow-up inspection determined necessary as the result of a fatality investigation would be considered before those generated by complaint investigations. However, the seriousness and imminence of the hazard or condition requiring action must be considered.
- (iii) All willful, repeat, and serious violations shall require follow-up inspections, unless positive proof of correction has been received. Positive proof consists of photos, videos, evidence of purchase or repair of equipment, invoices, receipts, records of training, etc.
(b) Inspection priorities. Priority of accomplishment and assignment of inspections shall be as follows: - (i) First - Cases of imminent danger, mishaps that result in the death of one or more employees or hospitalization of three or more employees.
- (ii) Second - Formal complaints alleging unhealthy or unsafe working places or conditions.
- (iii) Third - Targeted Industries as selected annually within the State.
- (iv) Fourth - Other industrial, governmental and agricultural groups and places of employment.
(c) Inspection Category Instructions. - (i) Imminent danger, fatality and multiple hospitalization investigations. The specific incident, situation or area directly involved in the accident shall be investigated in detail. If time and resources permit, a complete inspection of the establishment is made in addition to the investigation. Other areas or operations in the establishment may have similar circumstances to those that caused the accident and should be brought under control immediately.
- (ii) Complaints must be acted upon as soon as possible and inspections shall be conducted according to the following priority:
- (A) Imminent Danger. Any complaint which alleges an imminent danger shall be investigated the same day received if possible, but no later than 24 hours after receipt of the complaint. If that is impossible, the employer shall be notified of the complaint allegations and instructed to correct them before the Department representative arrives.
- (B) All other complaints will be investigated as quickly as possible.
- (C) If a complaint is made to a Department representative during the course of an inspection, he shall act on it as part of that inspection.
- (D) When acting on complaints the Department representative shall inspect the entire facility or workplace if time and resources permit, unless there has been an inspection of the entire facility within the previous two years.
- (iii) Targeted Fixed Industry.
- (A) In employment areas with injury rates of high frequency and severity, efforts shall be directed towards companies with the highest workers' compensation experience modification ratings, claims to employee ratio, claims costs to premium ratio, and average claims costs. The companies shall be selected annually based on statistics compiled within the state and shall be the first priority within the fixed industry group.
- (B) The second priority in the fixed industry group is activities on the federal OSHA national emphasis list. Examples are: amputations, lead, silica, etc. Where possible, companies engaged in these activities will be identified through workers' compensation data.
- (iv) Targeted Mobile Industry.
- (A) The first priority is companies in the five highest mobile industry class codes or in the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) selected annually with positive experience modification ratings or high injury and illness rates.
- (B) The second priority is those activities on the federal OSHA national emphasis list where hazards are observed.
- (C) The third priority is construction sites identified by the federal OSHA construction identification system.
- (D) The fourth priority is the remaining mobile sites where hazards are observed.
- (v) Other industrial, governmental, and agricultural employers.
- (A) The first priority is companies with positive experience modification ratings (EMR) in the highest fixed industry class codes or NAICS. Lists will be prepared using workers' compensation data showing companies with positive EMRs for inspection purposes.
- (B) Beyond the inspection of fatalities, hospitalization cases, complaints, and the target industries, it is desired to establish the Department's presence as widely as possible within the framework of available resources.
Amended, Eff. 12/12/2017.