8/15/2007

The Denver Zoo recently received an OSHA citation for an incident in February in which a 27-year-old zookeeper was mauled to death by a jaguar. According to the zoo, the zookeeper involved in the incident had received extensive training on handling carnivores and had attended regular safety meetings. The zoo and the Denver police concluded that the primary cause of the incident was human error. According to the OSHA spokesman, the citation didn't contradict the zoo's conclusions about human error. “Human error plays a role in most accidents that we investigate,” said the spokesman. “It doesn't mean there aren't other factors.”

As an employer, how do you know if you've done all that you can to prevent the “other factors” that cause safety incidents? Clues to the answer are found in what many call the “affirmative defense.” In California, an employer must prove that all five of the following conditions exist in the workplace:

1. The employee was experienced in the job.
2. The employer has a well-devised safety program which includes training employees in matters of safety respective to their particular job assignments.
3. The employer effectively enforces the safety program.
4. The employer has a policy of sanctioning employees who violate the safety program.
5. The employee caused a safety infraction which he or she knew was not in accordance with the employer's safety requirement.

Obviously, this goes beyond merely having written programs on the shelf and holding weekly safety briefings. It means implementing effective training programs for new employees, and observing employees to ensure they know and are using established safe work procedures, and correcting their behavior if they aren't. It also means having a live, active safety program in which all employees, including supervisors and managers, participate.

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