Safety and Health Program - 10 Steps to Start Program

OSHA recognizes that creating such a comprehensive written plan for workplace safety can be daunting. To help employers get started, OSHA provides a document titled "10 Easy Things To Get Your Program Started." These simple steps create "a solid base from which to take on some of the more structured actions presented in the recommended practices." For the purpose of this course, these 10 steps are an indicator of the attitude and mentality a safe workplace should adopt and maintain.

1. Set safety and health as a top priority.
   • Always establish safety and health as the top priority. Tell your workers that making sure they finish the day and go home safely is the way you do business. Assure them that you will work with them to find and fix any hazards that could injure them or make them sick.
2. Lead by example.
   • Practice safe behaviors yourself and make safety part of your daily conversations with workers.
3. Implement a reporting system.
   • Develop and communicate a simple procedure for workers to report any injuries, illnesses, incidents (including near misses/close calls), hazards, or safety and health concerns without fear of retaliation. Include an option for reporting hazards or concerns anonymously.
4. Provide training.
   • Train workers how to identify and control hazards using, for example, OSHA's Hazard Identification Training Tool.
5. Conduct inspections.
   • Inspect the workplace with workers and ask them to identify any activity, piece of equipment, or material that concerns them. Use checklists, such as those included in OSHA's Small Business Handbook, to help identify problems.
6. Collect hazard control ideas.
   • Ask workers for ideas on improvements and follow up on their suggestions. Provide them time during work hours, if necessary, to research solutions.
7. Implement hazard controls.
   • Assign workers the task of choosing, implementing, and evaluating the solutions they come up with.
8. Address emergencies.
   • Identify foreseeable emergency scenarios and develop instructions on what to do in each case. Meet to discuss these procedures and post them in a visible location in the workplace.
9. Seek input on workplace changes.
   • Before making significant changes to the workplace, work organization, equipment, or materials, consult with workers to identify potential safety or health issues.
10. Make improvements.
    • Set aside a regular time to discuss safety and health issues, with the goal of identifying ways to improve the program.

To learn more about HAZWOPER visit our HAZWOPER 40 Hour Online Training web page.