Risk Based v Compliance Based - Are They Mutually Exclusive

Risk based versus compliance based are they mutually exclusive?

Let me preface my question with this; I have always held to the belief that if an organization wants to have a world class safety culture it starts with abandoning the stance that compliance with OSHA is the main goal. That said how do we, as safety professionals, communicate to our leadership the difference between risk based and risk taking? This becomes more difficult when we are addressing low probability high consequence events.

Those that are familiar with the risk process know that there are basically four risk treatment strategies: avoid the risk, reduce the risk, transfer the risk, and accept the risk. The key to successfully applying one of these strategies starts with identifying what risks are present. This is also where, in my opinion, many organizations struggle. Risk perception goes hand in hand with our experiences and changing those perceptions can be challenging. The best examples regarding risk perception that I can point to is elevated work. We work at heights both on and off the job countless times without incident therefore to many this can be perceived as a low risk activity and the strategy chosen is accepting the risk. Unfortunately, this perception is untrue and has led to too many serious injuries or deaths. So then why does fall protection consistently year after year land in OSHA's Top 10 listed? In the December 2016 issue of Safety + Health, published by the National Safety Council they list OSHA's Top 10most cited violations for fiscal year (FY) 2016 out of the top 10 cited, elevated work was captured 3 times (#1- Fall Protection General Requirements, #3- Scaffolding, and #7 - Ladders). What is alarming is that when the top 10 "serious" and "willful" violations for FY16 were parsed, again elevated work was prominent holding 4 of the top 10 spots in the "serious" category (#1- Fall Protection, #3- Scaffolding, #6- Ladders, and #10 - Fall Protection Training) and 2 positions in "willful" (#1- Fall Protection and #6- Scaffolding).

Although I can recite chapter and verse of many OSHA standards, I have always reverted back to the preamble of the standard to understand the intent of why a particular rule was promulgated. One thing that I am convinced is that there are no proactive OSHA standards and that rules have been promulgated as a result of pain, suffering, and hardship to many not just a few. Understanding the intent of the standard helps me gain clarity on the real risk involved and this clarity along with my experiences then forms the basis of my risk assessment. From an informed position I can suggest risk treatment strategies. Using elevated work again as an example the intent of the standard is to ensure that employees are not seriously injured or killed as a fall when working at heights. The standard allows the employer to apply fall protection or fall prevention techniques to reduce this risk. Working within the content of the various OSHA standards covering aspects of elevated work there are many viable options that can be employed that can address the risk.

So back to the question risk based versus compliance based are they mutually exclusive? What are your thoughts?