We’ve discussed the many benefits of incorporating an ethics hotline into your safety compliance efforts before. But as safety on the job definitions continue to shift, as a result of the pandemic, chasing guidelines can become tedious for company managers and leaders.

Ensuring safety compliance with OSHA regulations is a top priority in any scenario. But now, with concerns of social distancing, masking, and properly sanitizing workspaces, an ethics hotline can be even more of an aid than ever before.

Encouraging Safety as a Priority

How you define safety today for your work environment might look a lot different than definitions from a few years ago. OSHA safety compliance is rooted in these new normal definitions of healthy. For example, you might be required to take extra steps in sanitizing workstations or providing additional PPE in the form of qualified masks and hand sanitizers. Because of these added measures that will likely continue to change in the months and years to come, having an ethics hotline can be a tremendous asset for reporting violations.

OSHA Enforces Employee Rights

OSHA safety compliance is just as much an employee benefit as it is a company one. Deputize your teams to learn about spotting potential safety risks before they happen and encourage the usage of an ethics hotline for reporting. Remind them that in accordance with protecting their rights set forth and enforced by OSHA, any violations to the following directly affect the following basics:

· Receive workplace health and safety training

· Working equipment that provides safest best practices

· Providing required PPE and safety equipment for the job

· Protection from exposure to toxins

Having an ethics hotline will ensure you’re providing an added layer of health and safety reporting protection for your valued staff as well as your bottom line.

Recordable Illness Reporting

Employers are required to maintain an annual roster of any and all work-related injuries and illnesses that result in any of the following scenarios:

· Days away from the job

· Restricted job work or transfer to another job

· Medical treatment required beyond first aid basics

· A loss of consciousness

· A fatality

· A physician diagnosed injury or illness

With the onset of last year’s global pandemic, the likelihood of encountering a “super spreader event” on the job is more prevalent now. Quarantines due to direct infection or exposure are necessary for protecting the safe work environment. These types of reporting can be tough to manage, especially if employees are reluctant to share about experiencing symptoms. An ethics hotline can provide aid in support of managing these illness reporting requirements ongoing.

Discouraging Unsafe Behaviors

Regardless of where your company and employees stand on the politics, a safe work environment needs to be a priority. Share with your teams the importance of reporting unsafe behavior, in general, and now with potential COVID-19 scenarios. Remind them that should everyone become infected, no one works. The incentive to keep the business from shuttering temporarily because of an outbreak should be enough to inspire compliance. But having an anonymous method of reporting violators with an ethics hotline will encourage the necessary reporting.

While OSHA safety compliance guidelines might continue to shift, it’s important to maintain the best methods of oversight and management. Incorporating an ethics hotline can greatly aid and support your efforts to create the healthiest and safest place to work.