{"id":1130547,"date":"2019-08-02T15:32:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T20:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=994281"},"modified":"2019-08-02T15:32:09","modified_gmt":"2019-08-02T20:32:09","slug":"have-you-reviewed-your-safety-incentive-and-bonus-programs-lately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1130547","title":{"rendered":"Have you reviewed your safety incentive and bonus programs lately?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the last couple of years, employee<br \/>\nincentive programs have been under attack from the Department of Labor.<br \/>\nHowever, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine<br \/>\nSafety and Health Administration (MSHA) have undertaken their efforts against<br \/>\nincentive programs in different ways. <\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the preamble to the 2016 proposed<br \/>\namendments to the employee involvement statute, OSHA discussed how it could<br \/>\nissue citations to employers based on workplace safety incentive programs<br \/>\nshould the program be found to discourage reporting of injuries. MSHA has been<br \/>\nbattling the issue through litigation with appeals still currently pending as<br \/>\nexplained more fully below.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Now, OSHA plans to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to memorialize OSHA\u2019s most recent position on these issues through changes to the employee involvement statute related to safety incentive programs. A proposed regulation is projected for September 2020.<\/p>\n<p>What both agencies are showing is an<br \/>\ninclination to weed out incentive programs based solely on injury or illness<br \/>\nrates. If your incentive program is tied to the number of reported injuries, it<br \/>\nshould be reviewed regardless of which agency regulates your workforce.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>OSHA\u2019S most recent position<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In October 2018, OSHA issued a memorandum<br \/>\nthat purported to clarify its position that the employee involvement statute<br \/>\ndoes not prohibit workplace safety incentive programs. <\/p>\n<p>OSHA stated that actions taken under a<br \/>\nsafety incentive program would only violate OSHA regulations if the employer<br \/>\ntook the action to penalize an employee for reporting a workplace injury or<br \/>\nillness rather than for the legit legitimate purpose of promoting workplace<br \/>\nsafety and health. <\/p>\n<p>OSHA further stated that rate-based incentive programs are permissible under the employee involvement statute as long as they are not implemented in a manner that discourages reporting. <\/p>\n<p>Employers were encouraged to implement<br \/>\n\u201cadequate precautions\u201d to ensure that employees feel free to report an injury<br \/>\nor illness despite possibly losing out on an incentive due to an injury. <\/p>\n<p>OSHA does not state what \u201cadequate<br \/>\nprecautions\u201d could be under the rule. However, simply stating that employees<br \/>\nare encouraged to report and will not face retaliation may not be enough to<br \/>\nensure employees feel free to report according to the memo. OSHA does provide<br \/>\nthat employers can avoid the inadvertent deterrent effect of a rate based<br \/>\nincentive program by taking positive steps to create a workplace culture that<br \/>\nemphasizes safety and not just injury and illness rates. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While OSHA appeared out in front of the<br \/>\nincentive program issue with their May 2016 amendments, MSHA has been<br \/>\nattempting to enforce a similar policy through litigation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>MSHA\u2019S most recent position<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Through litigation, MSHA is pushing the<br \/>\nagenda that bonus or incentive programs may violate a miner\u2019s rights under the<br \/>\nMine Act if found to discourage reporting or the exercise of walk-around<br \/>\nrights.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In&nbsp;<em>Secretary on behalf of<br \/>\nGreathouse v. Monongalia County Coal<\/em>,<em>&nbsp;et al, <\/em>the mine<br \/>\nimplemented safety and production bonus plans at six of its mines. The plans<br \/>\noffered miners monetary bonuses if their assigned section produced a certain<br \/>\namount of coal during their shift. <\/p>\n<p>The bonus amounts ranged from $50-$250<br \/>\nper shift depending on how much coal was produced. Certain circumstances<br \/>\ndisqualified minors from receiving a bonus not withstanding sufficient coal<br \/>\nproduction. These circumstances included not being physically present in the<br \/>\nsection the entire shift, if a lost time accident occurred to the crew, or if a<br \/>\ncertain type of citation was issued to that section.<\/p>\n<p>Miners testified that the bonus potential<br \/>\nmade it less likely that miners were willing to serve as walk-around<br \/>\nrepresentatives as they would not be eligible for the full bonus amount. Other<br \/>\nminers reported instances of individuals not reporting injuries as they did not<br \/>\nwant to disqualify themselves and their coworkers from receiving a bonus. As a<br \/>\nresult, this bonus plan scheme was found to be in violation of the Mine Act by<br \/>\ninterfering with the right to report injuries and participate with MSHA during<br \/>\nan inspection. The case is currently on appeal to the D.C. Circuit.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Take-away<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>For the past few years, both agencies have signaled an intent to move employee incentive programs away from reported injuries and illness and towards more leading indicators, such as near miss reporting and safety participation activities. OSHA\u2019s memorandums and notice of proposed rulemaking provides employers with more notice than MSHA\u2019s route of litigation, but both should warrant a review of employee incentive programs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/secure.infomine.com\/careers\/employers\/jobs\/quote\/?utm_source=MINING.COM&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_campaign=eTalent-Evergreen-2019&amp;utm_content=The%20Capital%20Project%20Comeback\"  rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><button class=\"btn btn-primary\"> Find Your Next Hire on Careermine <\/button><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OSHA plans to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to memorialize OSHA&rsquo;s most recent position on these issues through changes to the employee involvement statute related to safety incentive programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2648,624,369],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130547"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1130547"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1130548,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1130547\/revisions\/1130548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1130547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1130547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1130547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}