Getting Started

Here are a few suggestions for beginning a safety program.

• Write a safety plan and use it. You should do a hazard analysis of each job in your company.

• Post signs where danger is present. Don’t forget the required OSHA poster you must post.

• Ask your workers’ compensation insurance company for help in developing a safety plan.

• Hire a consultant to help you do an audit and determine what is needed.

• Use common sense. If it looks dangerous to you, it probably is. Design a training program to help employees work safely around the hazard.

• Buy an OSHA manual and read it. Remember, you may not find your exact problem or something specific to a process you use, but if it is dangerous, OSHA can enforce the general duty clause.