Bureau of Consultative Services
4 W. Edenton St.
Raleigh, NC 27601- 1020
( 919) 807- 2899
FAX: ( 919) 807- 2902
1- 800- NC- LABOR • www. nclabor. com
John R. Bogner Jr., Bureau Chief
Safety and Health Consultation Program
North Carolina workplaces have a wide variety of potential
problems related to employee safety and health. Occu-pational
injuries and illnesses are one of the state’s most
serious concerns.
The N. C. Department of Labor has a program to assist
employers, especially those in smaller businesses, to reach
their goal of achieving a safe and healthful workplace for
their employees. Experienced professional safety, industrial
hygiene and ergonomics consultants will identify safety
and health hazards in your business or industry, supply
recommendations to reduce or eliminate these hazards,
and assess your safety and health management program.
Our goal is to help your business meet current OSHNC
job safety and health regulations and develop an ongoing,
effective safety and health management program. We will
provide you with confidential, comprehensive written
reports containing our findings and recommendations.
How It Works
A Free Service to North Carolina Employers
The Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Bureau of
Consultative Services, is available to provide assistance to
both private and public sector employers. In the private
sector, consultation is limited to employers that
control 500 or fewer employees nationwide. The
primary focus of consultation is to provide assistance to
the small business employer. In the public sector, priority is
given to smaller municipal, county and state agencies.
Further priority is given to small employers with hazardous
operations or in high hazard industries.
Services provided are free of charge to businesses. Although
the Bureau of Consultative Services is part of the Division of
Occupational Safety and Health, consultation records are
separate and confidential from compliance.
Some of the Services We Provide:
✯ Full- service on- site safety and health surveys, or specific
surveys tailored to your request
✯ Technical assistance
✯ Safety and health program assessment and assistance
✯ Ergonomics evaluation and assistance
✯ Air sampling and analysis
✯ Noise measurements
✯ Recognition/ exemption programs
Employer Obligation
The employer’s obligation in accepting these services is to
correct all hazards identified by the consultant within a
reasonable period. This commitment is made in advance.
The employer must also agree to post the list of hazards
that accompanies the consultant’s report. If an employer
refuses to correct or verify correction of a serious hazard,
the bureau chief may refer the matter to compliance, a
rare occurrence in this program.
How Do We Start?
The Consultation Process
Step 1: Request
You start the process. Contact us in person or by faxing
or mailing in the request form in this brochure. If you
have any questions, please feel free to telephone us to
discuss what service would be most useful to your business.
An employer may request a facility- wide ( full- service)
safety and health survey or a specific safety and/ or health
survey limited to only one or more issues.
Step 2: On- Site Visit
The consultant will call to arrange a convenient
date and time to conduct the on- site assessment. The visit
includes an opening conference with top management, fol-lowed
by a walk- through assessment of the facility to identify
safety and/ or health hazards and evaluate work practices.
The consultant will need to confer with a reasonable number
of employees and, in unionized workplaces, an employee
representative must be afforded an opportunity to participate
in the walkaround, plus the opening and closing confer-
Consultative Services
for North Carolina Employers
Cherie K. Berry
Commissioner
ences. Employee and employer training can be conducted
or arranged for later if necessary. Written programs are
reviewed, and a safety and health assessment is conducted.
The consultant may provide some sample programs that
can be useful. The visit concludes with a closing conference
to discuss findings and recommendations. If hazards are
identified, the employer and the consultant set and agree
on a date for correction.
Step 3: Evaluation and Report
Following the visit, all collected information is evaluated
and research is conducted. This may include laboratory
analysis if air samples were taken. A report detailing findings,
recommendations, agreements and ways to improve your
safety and health management program is prepared and
forwarded to you. The consultant is available at any time
to assist you further if necessary.
Step 4: Correction of Hazards
The report will itemize and discuss any hazards found
during the visit. Our program requires the employer to
correct all hazards identified and provide the consultant
with written confirmation of hazard correction on or
before the agreed upon correction due date. If an
employer is unable to correct a hazard by the date spec-ified,
an extension may be requested.
Step 5: Follow- Up
In some instances, a return visit may be necessary. For
example, the consultant may need to remonitor air quality
or verify that hazards have been properly corrected.
Note:
Health surveys concentrate on issues such as exposure
to air contaminants, ventilation, noise measurements and
controls, hazardous chemicals, ergonomics, respirators,
bloodborne pathogens, and hazard communication.
Safety surveys address such issues as walking/ working
surfaces, machine guarding, electrical hazards, fire protec-tion,
means of egress, mechanical equipment, protective
equipment, power tools, housekeeping, and sanitation. All
surveys will include assistance and information to develop
a successful safety and health management system.
Recognition Programs
Safety and Health Achievement
and Recognition Programs ( SHARP)
Employers that successfully complete all the requirements of
a full- service safety and health consultation may be eligible
for deferral from corresponding routine compliance
inspections. Employers in general industry may apply for
recognition in ( Safety and Health Achievement Recognition
Program SHARP). Employers receive a certificate of recog-nition
and an exemption from programmed compliance
inspections, which can be renewed for consecutive years.
For more information on SHARP, talk to your consultant or
call our office today.
Safety Awards Program
The Safety Awards Program provides recognition for
employers who have achieved and maintained
a good safety record. Gold and silver awards are earned
by employers whose incidence rate for lost workday
cases is at least 50 percent below that for firms in the
same industry group statewide, with no fatalities.
Gold Award Criteria— This award level is based on
the lost workday case rate. Lost workday cases are cases
of work- related injury or illness that involve days away
from work and/ or restricted workdays.
Silver Award Criteria— This award level is based on
the cases with days away from work rate. These are
recorded when a worker missed at least one full day of
work, not including the day of injury.
Million- Hour Safety Awards— Million- hour safety awards
are given to firms that accumulate 1 million employee
hours with no case of injury or illness involving days away
from work. Subsequent awards are given for each additional
1 million safe employee hours. Million- hour awards are
presented during local, annual award banquet cere-
For faster service, call
( 919) 807- 2899 or fax us
at ( 919) 807- 2902.
monies throughout the state. Special arrangements can
be made to present million- hour awards to the firm at its
place of business at any time during the year. Send for a
brochure and application.
Carolina Star Programs
Fly the flag that symbolizes that your company has one
of the best safety and health programs in the country. For
the best of the best, North Carolina offers three Carolina
Star Programs:
Carolina Star— Recognizes worksites that are self- suf-ficient
in their ability to control hazards at the worksite.
Rising Star— Recognizes worksites that have good safety
and health programs but must take additional steps to
reach Carolina Star quality.
Building Star— Recognizes construction worksites that
have Carolina Star quality safety and health programs but
require demonstration of approaches that differ from
current Carolina Star requirements.
For more information regarding Star programs or to
obtain an application package, visit our Web site at
www. nclabor. com/ osha/ star/ star. htm or call our offices
today.
The Bottom Line
✯ Safe and healthful working conditions
✯ Reduced absenteeism and turnover
✯ Reduced employee complaints to OSHNC Compliance
✯ Avoidance of costly OSHNC fines for conditions
identified by consultation
✯ More efficient operations
✯ Increased productivity
✯ Improved employee morale
✯ Lower Insurance Rates
✯ Recognition/ exemption
Summary
The Consultation Program will:
✯ Provide free on- site consultation services at your
request and consent.
✯ Help you recognize safety and health hazards.
✯ Assist you with your safety and health management
program.
✯ Provide technical assistance.
✯ Answer your general questions about OSHNC
Compliance.
✯ Provide employee/ employer training.
✯ Assist you in qualifying for recognition/ exemption
programs.
The Consultation Program will not:
✯ Issue citations or propose penalties for violations of
OSHNC standards.
✯ Guarantee that any workplace will be free from all
OSHNC violations.
( In FY2002, the onsite consultation program is authorized
$ 1,088,000 in federal funding, which represents a 75 percent
share of the costs.)
Printed 5/ 03, 5M
5,000 copies of this public document were printed at a cost of $ 688.22, or
$. 14 per copy.
Request for Free Safety and Health Consultation
Complete this form in full and mail to:
Consultative Services Bureau, NCDOL, 4 W. Edenton St., Raleigh, NC 27601- 1020, or fax to ( 919) 807- 2902
Name of company/ employer:_
( PLEASE USE THE LEGAL NAME)
Site address:_
( STREET ADDRESS, CITY, STATE, ZIP)
Mailing address:_
( STREET ADDRESS, CITY, STATE, ZIP)
Person to contact:_ Job title:_
Telephone number:_ Ext.:_ Fax number:_
E- mail address:_
Type of business and description of process:_
_
Standard Industrial Classification ( SIC#) NAICS:_
Number of employees:
_ At your establishment/ worksite Unemployment Insurance #_
( Required)
_ Controlled by your company nationwide
_ In area you want surveyed, if a limited scope survey request
Type of Request ( please read carefully):
Full Service
❏ Both Safety and Health On- Site Surveys: ON- SITE SURVEYS BY BOTH SAFETY AND HEALTH CONSULTANTS.
Limited Service
❏ Safety Visit Only/ Please specify SAFETY issue ❏ Health Visit Only/ Please specify HEALTH issue
( Machine Guarding, PPE, Electrical Hazards, etc.) ( Noise, Air Contaminants, Ventilation, Respirators, Ergonomics, etc.)
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _
Briefly Describe Purpose of Visit/ Area you want surveyed Briefly Describe Purpose of Visit/ Area you want surveyed
Recognition Programs ( Participants may receive a deferral/ exemption from general scheduled compliance inspections.)
❏ Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program ( SHARP) Information
❏ Safety Awards Program Information ( No Deferral/ exemption)
❏ Carolina Star/ Rising Star Program Information
❏ Building Star Program Information ( Construction)
How did you hear about us: ❏ Consultant Promotion ( Consultant’s name:_)
❏ Mailing ❏ Business Associate ❏ Other:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________
I am authorized to request that the N. C. Department of Labor, Bureau of Consultative Services, conduct a consultative survey of my company. I understand that
this service is free of charge and it does not increase the probability that my company will receive an inspection from the Bureau of Compliance. Following each
survey, a written report of the consultant’s findings will be provided. I understand that the company is obligated to correct any hazards observed by the consultant
within the agreed upon time, to post the list of hazards found, and to allow the consultant to confer with employees.
_
SIGNATURE OF AUTHORIZED COMPANY OFFICIAL DATE
_
( PRINT or TYPE NAME) JOB TITLE
Revised 5/ 03
