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Ensuring Your Facility Meets OSHA Safety Requirements
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is the main federal agency “charged with the enforcement of safety and health legislation.” They assure safe and healthful working conditions by “setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.” It’s a part of the United States Department of Labor, and employers need to be sure that both their practices and their facilities meet or exceed OSHA standards.
Author: Marcell Haywood
This post will look at OSHA safety requirements and how you can ensure your facility meets them.
OSHA Safety Requirements
OSHA lists a number of safety requirements on their website. Here are a few of the most important employer responsibilities:
- Ensure facility conditions conform to applicable OSHA standards.
- Ensure your facility is free of serious recognized hazards and complies with rules, regulations and standards issued under the OSH Act.
- Use labels, posters, signs and/or color codes to warn employees of potential hazards.
- Ensure employees have and use safe equipment and tools and properly maintain said equipment.
- Provide safety training in a language and vocabulary all workers can understand.
- If establishing and/or updating operating procedures, make sure you communicate them to team members so they can follow all health and safety requirements.
- Provide medical examinations and training when required.
- Keep records of work-related illnesses and injuries (it’s also encouraged that all organizations adopt an Injury and Illness Prevention Program).
- If there are hazardous chemicals at your facility, you must develop and implement a written hazard communication program and train team members on the hazards and proper precautions.
- Post the OSHA poster informing team members of their rights and responsibilities in a prominent location.
If You’re Cited
If it’s found that your facility doesn’t meet one or more of these requirements, OSHA will issue a citation. This citation must be posted at or near the work area involved “until the violation has been corrected, or for three working days, whichever is longer.” You must then correct all cited violations by the deadline set by OSHA. Once corrected, submit all required abatement verification documentation to OSHA and post the documents or tags at or near the work area involved.
Partnering with a Facility Maintenance Provider
As a facility manager you have a lot on your plate, and remembering to update worksites to comply with changing safety regulations can be tough. That’s where we come in. Providers like Encompass Onsite use OSHA regulations to provide our teams with training regarding safety and health, hazard prevention and control, and worksite analyses. We ensure our staff is knowledgeable when it comes to the “recognition, avoidance, and prevention of safety and health hazards in their workplaces.” We stay up to date with all standards and requirements and ensure that all of our services comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Are you curious to see what else our team can provide your organization (including how we help with JCAHO accreditation)? Click on the banner below to see how our Solutions as a Service can offer your facility holistic support in almost every service area.
Contact us to see how we can ensure your facility meets OSHA safety requirements.
