Most smaller contractors have
never seen an OSHA inspector.
Under the agency's new
Focused Inspection Program,
however, compliance officers
may start paying more attention
to small-contractor job
sites. But the inspectors will
focus on just a few critical safety
issues instead of conducting
broad inspections and searching
for a multitude of minor
rule violations.
The new program is propelled
by the Clinton administration's
National Performance
Review (NPR), launched in
1993. According to Bart
Chadwick, regional administrator
for federal OSHA's Region
VIII, the NPR has forced
OSHA to stop evaluating its
work in terms of statistics.
"Now we're compelled to
justify our existence by whether
we're actually doing any good,"
says Chadwick, whose bailiwick
covers six western states.
"In our case, the only good is
saving people's lives, their eyes,
and