3 Things Every Business Needs To Know About OSHA

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enforces workplaces to follow proper protocols, protect their workers’ rights, and minimize hazards. Their goal is to ensure health and safety in work environments through education, assistance, and outreach. The federal Department of Labor requires every business to comply with OSHA’s health and safety standards. Whether you plan to start a medical, dental or veterinary clinic, here are three things every business needs to know about OSHA.

Whistleblower Protection Program

One of the primary ways OSHA ensures your business complies with its protocols is word of mouth. By law, all companies must report any severe injuries in workplace facilities. However, this leaves out incidents ranging from environmental to ethical impacts. OSHA’s whistleblower protection program allows employees to file numerous complaints adhering to over 20 different federal laws. The program protects workers who contact the Department of Labor to address varying issues or violations of one or many federal laws. Whistleblowers gain protection from company retaliations like demotions, intimidation, job loss, denial of overtime or promotional requests, and reduced pay. OSHA’s protection program allows every employee to have a say, produces clarity on behind-the-scenes experiences, and ensures businesses operate more ethically.

Offered Services

Since OSHA’s philosophy focuses on providing safe and healthy workspaces through education, outreach, and assistance, they offer a couple of services to meet those goals. On top of administering employee training plans and hosting educational workshops, OSHA also provides no-cost consultation visits. The consultations allow businesses to gain insight into their personal onsite potential risks, separate from official evaluations and free from repercussions. They also offer one-year exemptions from routine annual evaluations. If workplaces complete the no-cost consultations with minimal potential hazards and quickly fix any noted risks, they qualify for inspection exemption.

Resources

The Occupational Safety and Health Act that OSHA governs includes an overwhelming amount of information and legal tidbits. Luckily, consulting services can provide practices with knowledge, a breakdown of specific laws, and training aid. Gamma Compliance offers OSHA and HIPAA compliance kits to help health care companies trying to comply with OSHA. We also offer manuals and training guides for the same purpose. OSHA further offers numerous contact points, ranging from regional offices to helplines. Almost all resources are accessible to everyone.

Starting a new business can be a tedious and lengthy process. Ensuring that you run your company in regulatory compliance and with knowledge of safety best practices puts you on the path to success. Uncovering these three things every business needs to know about OSHA provides a little more information, an in-depth dive into certain OSHA aspects, and preparation for compliance.