OSHA Violations
OSHA holds business owners and shops accountable for their own safety. OSHA also known as Occupational Safety and Health Administration sets the standard for the safety and procedures in the workplace. Safety is very important in any industry but especially in the automotive industry. Osha often will look for compliance with the American National Standard Institute/Automotive Lift Institute (ANSI/ALI) OSHA carries A lot of power that can make or break a company as well as they keep everyone in the workplace safe!
Most manufactures require periodic inspections as well as daily inspections of the lift to make sure the lift is safe to work on. There are also safety requirements for safety locks and the proper use of the lift For example making sure it is balanced and properly lifting as to keep the working environment safe. OSHA refers to the manufacturer standards when examining a citation with automotive lifts.
An example of this is OSHA citation 314885203/01001. The citation was written because the employer failed to furnish place of employment free from recognized hazards that are causing or could cause death or serious injury. Failures of the employee and employer were, the online learning system for auto lifts was not equative to the ALI standards published in “Lifting It Right”. Another was the employer failed to document the operator training. The employer also failed to have inspections made that met all the inspection points required by ANSI/ALI-2008 as well as the manufacturer’s installation operation and maintenance manuals were not available. Because of this the employer’s maintenance program did not include all the manufacturer’s requirements. Some of the lifts didn’t have the rated capacity listed on them and didn’t have the required safety decals posted. The employer also failed to have the ALI Publications of “Quick Reference Guide”, “Lifting It Right”, and “Safety Tips” available to the employees (OSHA United States Department of Labor, 2010).
All of these failures of the employer to maintain the standards and regulations set by ANSI/ALI made employees exposed to possible serious injury for operating automotive lifts that are not properly inspected, maintained, and employees that are not properly trained to operate the lifts in accordance with industry standards (OSHA United States Department of Labor, 2010).
This is just one of many violations that can occur because of lack of training, knowledge, and concern on the employer’s part. Keeping everyone accountable and informed will help to keep all employers and employees safer and without citation.
Lift Locker believes in Making Lifting a Safety Experience. Lift Locker is a safety tool to keep in your tool box at the shop. Lift Locker has daily tech checks as well as periodic inspections for professional service providers to use these are both in compliance with ANSI/ALI. Lift Locker also has a vast library of ANSI/ALI publications as well as many owner and manufacturer’s manuals that can be accessed anytime, anywhere in seconds.
Lift Locker tracks, stores, and creates documentation of daily inspections, periodic inspections, reported and repaired issues of the lift. It’s a paperless history of the maintenance of your lift accessible anytime, anywhere. That will help to keep you and other employees Compliant and safe!
Occupation Safety and Health Administration. United States Department of Labor. (2010). Citation 314885203/01001. Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/generalsearch.citation_detail?id=314885203&cit_id=01001