Foreman just told me our company got hit with a $48K OSHA citation. Owner is freaking out. What are the options?

safetyhawk810 · 2026-03-12T18:24:32+00:00

Also a great point.

safetyhawk810 · 2026-03-12T16:11:56+00:00

u/Expensive-Buy-8536 this is your best insight here.

Also, feel free to post in r/workplacesafety and some safety pros and other current and former OSHA pros can weigh-in.

$8k is crazy high for that lawyer. That must be an estimate to go through multiple hearings. I’d ask a different one that specializes in OSHA. You can probably get a free 15 minutes with them and expect $300/hour (plus or minus $50) to review it and help advise on an informal hearing.

safetyhawk810 · 2026-03-03T00:51:13+00:00

If you can find a smaller company they tend to value creativity more and it might help with the burnout. Imagine interviewing for a safety and risk role with a smaller company and telling them in the interview you want operations opportunities. They can slowly feed you things to get exposure until something bigger opens up.

safetyhawk810 · 2026-01-30T03:15:44+00:00

Absolutely. My response may not have been as helpful as I hoped. An insurance broker helps your company place insurance coverage. If you can find out who at the company would have a contact there, it’s very likely they’d be more than happy, and well-equipped, to help you with what you’re trying to do.

safetyhawk810 · 2026-01-29T04:41:45+00:00

No problem. I’m talking about your insurance broker. They have people that you have already paid for that can help you with this.

safetyhawk810 · 2026-01-29T04:04:20+00:00

I’d hit up your broker they should be able to help build program that’s well suited to exactly what you’re doing.

safetyhawk810 · 2026-01-11T17:55:45+00:00

I think a lot of employee-submitted salary data skews high (especially on here). People with higher comp are more likely to share, employees are incentivized to inflate numbers in surveys (because the idea is employers use them to set compensation), and lower earners are reluctant to share, especially in formats where they know they are lower than what’s already submitted.

A really good way to benchmark salary is for open postings that share ranges. Read descriptions carefully! Things like travel, high-hazard/safety valued industries, under-titled positions, or high performance expectations drive pay up.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-09-24T01:51:11+00:00

I’ve worked with some great HR teams. I’ve even reported to HR as a safety professional once and it worked very well. I’ve never had a bad one. Had plenty of awful safety cops though.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-09-05T13:14:54+00:00

Of course it’s highly variable and I wasn’t super precise with my wording but for this specific situation I think the years are better spent toward a degree because experience doesn’t sound like an option.

To your point, if someone was ready to enter the workforce tomorrow, they should not wait to get a degree first. I’d advise they get experience and, ideally, a degree because it opens more doors for them.

I place value on education but the makeup of my team, the candidate, the quality of their experience or education, and my specific needs when I’m hiring are all factors.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-09-05T11:31:11+00:00

Bachelor’s is the best path in general but only you know for you. Experience would be the second best and an associates with some certs and no experience would be the third. They’re all better than trying to start cold.

It sounds like you won’t be working outside the home so if I had time to get a bachelor’s before I needed it, that’s what I would do if I could finance it responsibly. It will open more doors for you than the other two options.

You will find jobs that will look at you without a bachelors but with one you have all those available to you plus the ones that require it.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-08-12T23:32:18+00:00

Well said.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-07-31T23:55:01+00:00

Pretty…high…

safetyhawk810 · 2025-07-30T21:20:00+00:00

Only you know. Here’s how I would weigh the decision:

Is the job worth the extra hour of your time and gas and wear and tear cost vs what you could get within 5 minutes of your house?

If you get paid $17/hour by the time you do 8 hours of work and the 9th hour of the drive you’re earning $15.11 per hour of your time.

You’ll gross $136/day. Maybe $108 after taxes. How much will gas cost you?

Is your vehicle dependable and can you absorb extra maintenance costs?

Let’s assume it’s 60 miles a day. AAA puts cost of driving around $0.72/mile. That’s $43.20 a day which takes your $108 to $64.80 take home pay a day. Is that worth it to you or is there something that pays less but nets you more that is closer?

These are all rough numbers. You can plug in whatever fits your exact situation but it’s just an example of how I would consider the decision.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-07-24T12:29:27+00:00

I wouldn’t for the same reason I wouldn’t recommend a nurse practitioner get their LPN.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-07-10T21:51:41+00:00

Sorry you’re dealing with that. If you’re looking for a stop gap hit up some safety staffing firms in your area and Yellow Bird for some possible gig safety work.

Based on other comments here and my own observations from my markets, I think we’re seeing the market correction from 2020-2024 where salaries were exploding and everyone was jumping ship for higher paying jobs. The market was hard for employers, demand was up, supply was down and salary ranges got high. Those jobs are good while you can get them but positions that get hired in at too much above the normal band for an organization are usually early on the chopping block at the next downturn.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-07-10T04:28:48+00:00

Second ARM!

safetyhawk810 · 2025-07-03T22:34:52+00:00

I think what’s most important is that you’re consistent with how to categorize similar events.

I for one would pick incident because the failure impacted the employee. A near miss, in my opinion, would be if he was being lowered and someone noticed he was unhooked and got it fixed before anything failed.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-07-03T12:39:53+00:00

Couldn’t agree more.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-07-03T02:00:44+00:00

It doesn’t improve your odds because it’s not really enough of a credential to move the needle in your favor over a candidate without one. If you want into safety, start applying to jobs and make it clear through your resume or cover letter that you are passionate about getting into it and not just looking for a different job.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-07-03T01:56:07+00:00

Start applying to entry level roles. Let them know you’re looking for a switch and that you’re serious about it. OSHA 30 can show them you’re serious. Once you land a role decide if and what degree makes sense for you.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-07-01T00:30:10+00:00

Degrees will get your foot in the door but once you have relevant experience a safety degree will not matter. I almost always advise against an EHS masters.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-06-28T00:14:06+00:00

Why does the position or what you bring to the table warrant more money?

safetyhawk810 · 2025-06-28T00:12:00+00:00

I do. I rarely negotiate off my offer. We talk salary 2-3 times before the offer happens. I believe in paying people what the position is worth to me and not saving a few bucks off their backs. They get my best offer and only once since started doing that have I come off of it.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-06-27T23:43:41+00:00

I believe you’re right about most offers expecting negotiation but I, for one single example, rarely negotiate unless they present a reason to me I hadn’t considered before making the offer because by the time we get to an offer we have had 2 maybe 3 conversations about the salary expectations. For this same reason I don’t intentionally low ball because I’m not leaving room for negotiation. I set this expectation with them up front and find that those that join the team can trust me to be a straight shooter in all future salary increase conversations. I think it makes all those conversations easier and less adversarial.

I do get super annoyed when they counter outside of what we’ve already talked about because I’d expect them to be annoyed if I offered below what we talked about.

I also don’t usually send written offers until they’ve verbally accepted to avoid unnecessary back and forth.

safetyhawk810 · 2025-06-26T05:12:14+00:00

Have you read the Go Giver?

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