Hi folks,

As a company we are expanding into the USA soon, as i am the QHSE bod for the business i have a feeling i may be asked to have a jaunt to the states to sort out their H&S paperwork and procedures for the start-up.

However as all of my experience and training is in the UK i was wondering how different the 2 countries are in terms of regulation.

Here we have the basics like sorting out quality, health and safety, fire etc, have procedures to follow and be inline with ISO\OHSAS etc.

However in the USA the views on H&S pre-emptive stuff if quite diff, and i wouldn't want to basically have no idea what i was doing.

Although i imagine the plan may be to hire a US based person, but i am just be pro active.

thanks folks.

Hi - I worked with a global company in the past and had to get involved with the USA H&S when we were pitching for new business with a large organisition. They do see things differently , their legal details are quite different. They are not quite as strict as the UK. The link posted above will no doubt give you more detail but be prepared for it not to be straight forward like for like. I did however go with achieving the same level where possible to the UK but legally they are different.

I thought the Americans worked on the 'Mexicans are cheap' philosophy!! ;-)

Our current government appear to want a similar system except it will be "Plebs are cheap".

I've worked out there - its a wonderful place if you have a job (and thus healthcare etc). Otherwise I find it rather uncivilised.

The OSHA are virtually toothless much as HSE is becoming.

Richard

Assuming you are in granite city there may well be some "locals" who might give you some personal insight.

I have some limited experience of life stateside, having spent 3 years in Nevada while in the RAF, working with the USAF. From our point of view, we worked to UK rules since 99% of the time they seemed safer. I'll give you some general examples; there are of course always exceptions:

Federal OSHA sets standards, not laws, the laws are down to the states, a similar situation exists with Fire Safety and the NFPA. They have codes and standards, but States must implement.
Most states have their own OSHA, some are good, some are useless. While I was in NEvada, Federal OSHA did an investigation of Nevada OSHA http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/final-nevada-report.html Just read the summary of findings, it's completely Gob-smacking!
I remember a TV report about a death at the construction site for the City Center complex in Las Vegas. It was near the end of the project and it was the 7th death on the site. The News Anchor covered it in about 30 seconds and concluded with words to the effect that 'it was the 7th death but this near the end of the project, it was still well short of the 11 expected by the insurance company covering the site' !!

For a snapshot of labour relations and H&S, see this website by the Carpenter's Union about a major AZ/NV Builder.

OSHA codes and standards are very proscriptive. For example, in working at height they will actually specify the length of the lanyard to be worn.
There is also a 'do it if it's in the book' mentality. I encountered it all the time with the USAF personnel, if the Technical Order has a safety requirement, it was followed religiously but if it was down to thinking for yourself, they couldn't. That may have been a military thing, but I got the impression it was far wider.

If you imagine the worst possible place the UK could go with some of the current government's aims for H&S, then you'll probably find the USA already there waiting to greet us.

Good times!

Its in Texas and relating to rotating turbines.

Like the 50p piece, there are more than 2 sides to this coin.....

As a member of the ASSE reading The Safety Professional regularly, I've been impressed with the relatively high standard of scientific application common amongst many safety practitioners and attributed to the OSHA there.

The practice of applied ergonomics and psychology in safety management is arguably compares to the best in the world.

While laws, and associated standards of practices, do vary between states across the federation, this variability has to be understood in the light of the OHSA's Voluntary Protection Programs which can be adopted by ccompanies in any state.

I agree wholeheartidly with route 66, there is a confusing mishmash structure between national laws, regional and town laws. Then you add the specialists in Fire, Environmental on top. But like everything, best practice and good sense should get you 80% the way, you could always hire a consultant to guide you

Although apparently. OSHA rarely visit.....

And unfortunately we wonder if this goverment wantthe H&SE to also turn out that way. Having the best safety record and one of the lowest fatality records is obviously not exciting enough.