WEEKLY EDITION OCT 11, 2017
Question of the Week: Does the PSAI have any sample safety manuals
or a sample program my company can use? We want something
where we can just fill in the blanks and get this done...continued
By PSAI Executive Director Karleen Kos
To be fair, there are some commercial companies and
consultants who offer safety programs that are generic and
comparatively easy to develop. You will have to judge for
yourself whether they are worth the money or the liability risk. In
our experience, the best safety programs you can buy from
others are expensive because a responsible expert comes on
site, learns about your business, and helps you tailor a plan that
actually matches your company's needs and capabilities. The
questionable vendors of safety products just take your money
and give you stuff that is basically recycled from OSHA's
publications – possibly with the language changed a little and
the layout made to look "pretty" or "impressive." To offer a fill-
in-the-blanks program that does more than that would be very
risky for them.
So with that said, there is good news too.
OSHA publishes some decent resources to help you put a safety program together. These provide a lot of direction on
how you can build a safety program that is specific to your company's needs and risks.
• Office of Small Business Assistance. OSHA wants to provide quality service to small businesses. In October 2002,
OSHA created the Office of Small Business Assistance to provide small business direction,
to facilitate information
sharing and to help in finding and achieving regulatory compliance. The office also works to educate small
businesses on using up-to-date tools and materials, and facilitates opportunities to comment on OSHA's regulatory
agenda. The Office of Small Business Assistance maintains OSHA's specialized small business web pages found at
http://www.osha.gov/dcsp/smallbusiness/index.html. Check out their small business handbook here and their
sample programs here. The Office of Small Business Assistance can be contacted by telephone at (202) 693-2220 or
by writing to: Director, Office of Small Business Assistance, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room N-3700,
Washington, DC 20210.
• Cooperative Programs. Years of experience show that voluntary collaborative relationships between OSHA, the
private sector and other government entities lead to improved safety and health. As a result, OSHA continues to
expand its cooperative programs which currently include the free and confidential Consultation Program, the
Voluntary Protection Programs, the Strategic Partnership Program and OSHA's newest addition, Alliances. Small
businesses are encouraged to investigate the full array of cooperative programs offered by OSHA. Participation
can be on an individual company basis or through an industry association. Detailed information on each program is
also available on OSHA's website at http://www.osha.gov, by contacting any OSHA office, or by calling
(800) 321-OSHA.
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