OSHA Targets High-Hazard Worksites for Inspections This Year

This year, as in years past, OSHA is directing enforcement resources to workplaces where the highest rates of injuries and illnesses occur. 

The site-specific targeting (SST) program is one of OSHA’s main programmed inspection plans for high-hazard, non-construction workplaces that have 20 or more workers. The SST plan is based on data collected from a survey of 80,000 establishments in high-hazard industries

"Through the SST program, we can prevent injuries and illnesses, and save lives by focusing our inspection resources on employers in high-hazard worksites where workers are at greater risk," says OSHA chief David Michaels.

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As part of the SST program, OSHA is conducting a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the program based on 1,260 randomly selected establishments.

OSHA’s Nursing and Personal Care Facilities National Emphasis Program will conduct programmed inspections of nursing and personal care establishments, unlike previous years when these inspections fell under the SST program.

In addition to the SST program, OSHA implements both national and local emphasis inspection programs, which include programmed inspections, to target high-risk hazards and industries. OSHA currently has 11 national emphasis programs that intensify inspections on hazards or industries such as lead, silica, shipbreaking, trenching/excavations and process safety management, and approximately 140 regional and local emphasis programs.

State Plan Selection Criteria

Selection of workplaces to be inspected under this year’s STT for participating state plan states will be based on 2010 establishment specific injury and illness rates.

The SST plan initially selects for inspecting all establishments with the following DART and DAFWII case rates:

• Manufacturing establishments with a DART rate at or above 7.0 or a DAFWII case rate at or above 5.0.
• Non-manufacturing establishments (except for nursing and personal care facilities) with a DART rate at or above 15.0 or a DAFWII rate at or above 14.0.

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