Now is the time of year when employers should be submitting their OSHA 300A forms electronically to OSHA, which makes for a perfect opportunity for a quick audit of 2018 OSHA logs.

Offering to help audit their OSHA logs is an excellent way to get a prospect’s attention—and challenge their current agent to expose shortcomings. This blog offers some tips for auditing employer OSHA logs and winning over prospective clients.

Note: The first question you should be asking clients this time of year is whether they submitted their 2018 OSHA 300A forms electronically to OSHA by the March 2 deadline. If they haven’t, that should be their priority (and is a huge failure on the part of their current agent).

Review common mistakes

The best way to audit an employer’s OSHA logs is to go over common OSHA recordkeeping mistakes and ensure the employer has it right. Some top areas to look at include:

• Overreporting: Some employers record all incidents to avoid missing any required by OSHA. However, this can backfire if it makes their incident rate look higher than it truly is, which could trigger an OSHA inspection.

• Days away from work: Another common mistake is miscounting days away from work after a workplace incident. OSHA requires employers to count every calendar day, but many employers mistakenly only count scheduled work days, which could land them in hot water in the event of an OSHA audit. Beyond calculating this correctly, talk about strategies to reduce days away from work (and ask how their agent has helped in this essential area).

• DART rate: Go beyond auditing the log data and talk to employers about safety and risk management in general, such as their DART rate. Do they know what it is? Has their agent brought it up in the past? Do they know the significance?

Grab this checklist of 10 common OSHA recordkeeping mistakes to use for your OSHA audits!

Focus on providing value

Even though your eventual goal is to win an employer’s business, this exercise shouldn’t be sales-focused. Instead, offer your expertise for free and focus on the task at hand: OSHA recordkeeping. By doing so, the employer will naturally see the value you provide as an agent and experience the benefits of working with you, which sets you up for the sale later.

However, that’s not to say you shouldn’t be strategic with this conversation. Without being too aggressive, look for opportunities to uncover areas their current agent is falling short. Ask targeted questions, such as:

• How often does your agent talk to you about OSHA recordkeeping?

• How does your agent help you stay compliant with OSHA requirements?

• Has your agent explained this to you? [when pointing out a recordkeeping mistake]

Don’t be overwhelming with discussion of their agent, but choose a few times to plant that seed of doubt in the prospect’s mind. As they are seeing the immense value you can provide, they’ll be wondering why their current agent hasn’t provided the same level of service.

It’s easy to get started! Download this checklist of 10 top OSHA recordkeeping mistakes. You can use it to guide your audits, and even provide it as a takeaway resource to the prospect.