America's Safest Companies Conference 2013: Fisher Phillips' Foulke Offers Perspective

Author: Ashley Shaw, XpertHR Legal Editor

November 12, 2013

The second annual EHS Today's America's Safest Companies Conference, which was co-sponsored by Fisher Phillips, brought together several hundred stakeholders to discuss workplace safety issues affecting employers and to drive world-class safety. The three-day conference was held in Atlanta beginning on October 28. Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., a partner in Fisher Phillips' Atlanta office, co-chair of the firm's Workplace Safety and Catastrophe Management Practice Group and former OSHA administrator, offered his perspective on the conference's strengths.

In an interview with XpertHR, Foulke stated that the conference's goals were twofold: (i) to keep workers safe; and (ii) to keep jobs in the US. The conference achieves these goals by assisting employers in developing a strong safety program. According to Foulke, industry-best safety programs reduce injuries and illnesses and decrease workers' compensation costs. Reducing time away from work due to injury or illness and increasing employee morale boosts productivity, efficiency and quality. Ultimately, an organization with a strong safety program will become more profitable and competitive in the global marketplace, allowing more jobs to stay in the country.

To Foulke, being one of "America's Safest Companies" requires all of the following elements:

  • A comprehensive safety and health program;
  • High employee engagement , which signals an employer's trustworthiness;
  • Management commitment; and
  • A systematic approach to identifying, correcting and controlling workplace hazards.

Safety should be "a core value and commitment" to employers, Foulke states, addressed in corporate "missions and values."

On other workplace safety and OSHA issues, Foulke stated that the industry has, in the past, been focused on lagging indicators of safety such as injury/illness rates and DART rates (Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred) to determine if a safety program is good. However, "all those numbers really tell you is that you injured somebody."

In the last five or six years, Foulke has seen a growing movement toward looking at leading indicators of which he believes that near misses are the biggest and the best. To him, this is much more indicative of if a safety program is actually good.

Foulke stresses the importance of greater employee engagement and empowerment in addressing workplace safety issues. "You cannot force people to be safe," Foulke states, whether through strict OSHA enforcement or using "mean press releases." Instead, Foulke advocates showing employees the importance of safety and empowering them by providing them the necessary tools to be in charge of their own safety.

Foulke believes that, over the next five years, OSHA will continue to focus on enforcement activities, while increasing their attention on whistleblowers. If the Democrats keep the presidency, then OSHA's activities will likely remain the same, with an increased emphasis on direct rulemaking. Should the Republicans take the White House, Foulke forecasts that OSHA will swing back more towards the center.