OSHA is a safety agency accredited by the US federal government under the Department of Labor to handle all issues that relate to workplace safety and health of workers. Part of the core mandates of the agency is to ensure enforcement of the regulations that pertain to workers safety in the modern-day workplaces. To achieve this, the agency works with businesses and workplace organizations to ensure that their workforce is competently aware of the OSHA standards of safety as well as ensuring that the workplace environment is conducive regarding the safety of the workers.
OSHA offers numerous courses, over 30 in number, all of which have been categorized to facilitate and suit different categories of workplaces and business. Choosing the right course for your business depends upon numerous factors.
To secure OSHA compliance for your business, there are numerous steps that you need to take as well as some factors that come into place.
Firstly, you need to talk to an immediate OSHA agency office and secure a worksite evaluation date upon which a safety officer would pay a visit. During such a visit, the primary objective is for the officer to make a comprehensive assessment of the workplace to determine the probable safety concerns that the workers need to know regarding their safety. Through the site visit, the officer also points out potential areas of safety concern that the workers may be exposed to. The officer will collect, organize and review information with workers and determine what types of hazards may be present in the workplace.
The second stage involves liaising with the OSHA offices to secure a particular OSHA training course or courses. These courses can be specially tailored for your organizational workplace. For instance, a hospital workplace environment would be best suited with courses which emphasize the handling of hazardous and contaminated materials. On the other hand, a construction worksite would require courses on occupational safety such as handling of heavy equipment as well as how to avoid and respond to injuries and the use of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).
After securing the course, training should then begin. In this stage, it is essential to ensure that all workers within the working environment attend the training. Depending on their roles within the workplace, different employees can be subjected to optional but crucial additional topics such as overseeing safety within the workplace, a responsibility that would mostly suit workplace supervisors. The objectives of the training should be well pointed out to ensure that they are all met. The primary objective of every workplace is to ensure that all workers in the company or organization are aware of the risks they are exposed to avert them.
Another important element of the OSHA training for your business or organization of workplace is to ensure that any potential workplace hazard is recorded and the workers made aware of. For example, in a construction site workplace, the workers should be specially emphasized on the need to wear a head-gear type of PPE to protect themselves from falling objects while in a hospital setting, the workers should wear rubber gloves to protect themselves from contaminated fluids. As another example, those in a workspace that handles hazardous chemicals will need to know what to do should a spill occur, and where to find something like one of the Spill Kits from STOREMASTA to contain the liquid before it has a chance to do any serious damage.
After the training, your workplace would be issued with an OSHA compliance certificate to show that both the worksite and the workers are safety-competent. It is then important to conduct regular evaluations to ensure that the safety requirements are maintained at all times.
What do you need to do to pass an OSHA inspection?
The only thing that matters for OSHA is that the workplace is safe for employees. You must do your best to comply with OSHA standards and train your employees to implement safety solutions for hazard reduction.
Ensure that your workplace has proper safety equipment such as safety signs, fall prevention systems and hard hats. You must do various training programs for the safety of your workers. Also, you can include your workers in creating safety policies and train them to entertain the safety measures and procedures. Supplementing this type of training with accident prevention can really help you to meet the standard of OSHA.
However, certain industries require special considerations so find out more about yours to comply with OSHA standards.
