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OSHA Benefits for
Small Business
Penalty Reductions
OSHA considers the size of the employer,
among other factors when determining the penalty to be
proposed for any violation. The Agency's procedures for
penalty reduction based on size are currently embodied
in Chapter IV of the Field Inspection Reference Manual
(FIRM; OSHA Instruction CPL 2.103), which is conveyed
to and followed by all enforcement staff.
The FIRM provides that proposed penalties will be reduced
by the following percentages for smaller employers: a
penalty reduction of 60 percent may be applied if an
employer has 25 employees or fewer; 40 percent if the
employer has 26-100 employees; and 20 percent if the
employer has 101-250 employees.
Exemptions from
Recordkeeping
OSHA also has fewer recordkeeping
requirements for very small business. Employers with
10 or fewer employees are exempt from most OSHA recordkeeping
requirements for recording and reporting occupational
injuries and illnesses.
Consultation
Consultation offers free help in identifying
workplace hazards and establishing or improving safety
and health management systems corporate-wide. Employers
in high-hazard industries or involved in hazardous operations
receive priority. Largely funded by OSHA, consultation
programs are run by state agencies and offer an array
of services.
Key Services offered by Consultation:
- Help in recognizing hazards in the workplace.
- Suggested approaches or options for solving a
safety or health problem.
- Sources of help available to a company needing
further assistance.
- Written reports that summarize the findings of
on-site reviews of safety and health.
- Assistance in developing or maintaining an effective
safety and health management system.
- Training and education for a small business and
its employees at the workplace and, in some cases,
away from the worksite.
- Recognition by OSHA's Safety and Health Achievement
Recognition Program (SHARP).
Benefits from Consultation:
An effective workplace safety and
health management system at a small business worksite(s)
will enable the small employer to:
- Recognize and remove hazards from the worksite.
- Protect an employer's workers from injury and
illness.
- Prevent loss of life at an employer's worksite.
- Cultivate informed and alert employees who take
responsibility for their own and their coworkers'
safety and for worksite safety as a whole.
- Improve employee morale.
An increased understanding of workplace
hazards and remedies will put small business managers
in a better position to:
- Comply with federal and state
safety and health requirements.
- Become more effective at their
jobs. Management experts believe that the company
with a well-managed safety and health system enjoys
better overall management.
- Increase productivity rates
and assure product quality.
An exemplary workplace safety and
health management system is good business sense that
also makes financial sense because it will allow a small
business to:
- Learn first-hand that the cost
of accident prevention is far lower than the cost
of accidents.
- Improve the bottom line by:
- Lowering injury and illness
rates.
- Decreasing workers' compensation
costs.
- Reducing lost workdays.
- Limiting equipment damage
and product losses.
Safety
and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP)
Though SHARP, the Consultation
Program recognizes exemplary employers who take special
pride in providing a safe and healthful working environment
for their employees and who meet specific program criteria.
Employers who qualify receive a 1-year exemption from
OSHA's general schedule inspections. After 1 year of
certification, the small employer may request renewal
for 1 or 2 years, provided the site meets specific
program criteria.
Voluntary
Protection Programs (VPP)
The Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP)
promote effective worksite-based safety and health. In
the VPP, management, labor, and OSHA establish cooperative
relationships at workplaces that have implemented a comprehensive
safety and health management system. Approval into VPP
is OSHA's official recognition of the outstanding efforts
of employers and employees who have achieved exemplary
occupational safety and health.
In September 2001, Assistant Secretary Henshaw challenged
VPP and the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants'
Association (VPPPA) to double the number of small businesses
participating in VPP over the next three years.
Both VPP and VPPPA are working hard to help small businesses
enjoy the benefits of its program. VPP policy provides
small businesses with alternative documentation requirements
more appropriate to their size, and the VPPPA has formed
mentoring committees to increase assistance to small
businesses. VPPPA's annual conference includes workshops
specifically addressing VPP for small businesses. As
a result of these efforts, in Fiscal Year 2002 VPP experienced
a 14% increase in small business participation in the
program.
Compliance Assistance
The OSHA Compliance Assistance webpages
provide an easy-to-use listing of OSHA's compliance assistance
materials. A feature under development, called Industry
Sector Quick Start, will help small businesses with an
initial set of key OSHA compliance assistance material
and introduce small businesses to the tools on the OSHA
website.
- Compliance Assistance CD-ROM.
OSHA Regional Offices have distributed regional
versions of this CD-ROM, which is based on the
Compliance Assistance Internet web page. OSHA is
working to develop this into a national product,
which will include the Industry Sector Quick Start
feature.
- Ergonomics Web Page: The Ergonomics
Outreach and Assistance page on OSHA's website
provides assistance to businesses, particularly
small businesses, and helps them proactively address
ergonomic issues in the workplace.
Compliance
Assistance Specialists (CAS)
Each OSHA Area Office in states under federal
jurisdiction has a Compliance Assistance Specialist.
These staffers respond to requests for help from a variety
of groups, including small businesses. CAS's put on seminars
and workshops for small businesses and other groups.
They promote OSHA's cooperative programs, OSHA's training
resources, and the OSHA web site.
Alliance Program
OSHA Alliances are the agency's newest
form of cooperative programs. Alliances enable organizations
committed to reducing workplace injuries and illnesses
to collaborate with OSHA to reach out to, educate, and
lead the nation's employers and their employees in improving
and advancing workplace safety and health. Compliance
assistance resources produced by various Alliances benefit
small businesses. For example, OSHA's Alliance with the
Tree Care Industry Association will produce training
materials and promote OSHA's compliance assistance resources
for tree care companies, many of which are small businesses.
OSHA Small Business
Handbook
The OSHA Small Business Handbook
is being updated and revised and should be available
to the public later in 2003. One of OSHA's most requested
publications, this handbook assists small business employers
in meeting the legal requirements imposed by the OSH
Act of 1970 and in creating and maintaining effective
safety and health management systems. Revisions to the
handbook incorporated the comments and suggestions of
small business employers and small business trade organizations
from across the country. The updated handbook will be
available both on the OSHA webpage and in hard copy from
OSHA's Publications Office at 800-321-OSHA. (The current
handbook can be downloaded from the opening page of the
Small Business website).
OSHA/SBA
Memorandum of Understanding
A Memorandum
of Undersanding (MOU) was signed between OSHA and
the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy
and the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of
the Small Business and Agriculture Regulatory Enforcement
Ombudsman on November 21, 2002 to promote the dissemination
of ergonomics outreach materials.
Small Business
Development Centers
OSHA is working with the U.S. Small Business
Administration's (SBA) Small Business Development Centers
(SBDC) program to make information on OSHA and its
many programs available to small business owners. SBDCs
provide up-to-date counseling, training, and technical
assistance in all aspects of small business management.
In addition to making special efforts to reach socially
and economically disadvantaged groups, veterans, women,
and the disabled, other services include, but are not
limited to, assisting small businesses with financial,
marketing, production, organization, engineering and
technical problems, and feasibility studies. There
is at least one center in every state - over 1,000
nationwide - providing
services to small businesses. [For a list of centers,
visit SBA's website at http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owaredirect.html?p_url=http://www.sba.gov/.]
- OSHA was an exhibitor at the
Association of Small Business Development Centers'
(ASBDC) National Conference in Nashville in September
2002, and created for the event a CD-Rom covering
OSHA small business compliance assistance. At the
conference OSHA gave a workshop/seminar discussing
policies, procedures and cooperative programs of
the agency.
- The Association of Small Business
Development Centers, the U.S. Department of Labor's
Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) and OSHA
entered a strategic partnership in December 2001
to expand information, assistance and training
available for small business employers. The initial
focus of the partnership was recordkeeping requirements.
Eight seminars have been held across the country
providing information and training on OSHA's new
recordkeeping standard.
- SBA's Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Board Hearings - 23 of these meetings,
sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration's
Office of National Ombudsman, will be held across
the country this year. The Office of Small Business
Assistance represents OSHA at these meetings and
alerts Consultation Project Managers about meetings
in their areas.
Business Compliance
One-Stop
OSHA is working with the Small Business
Administration (SBA) on the Business Compliance One-Stop
project (BCOS). BCOS is one facet of the President's
Management Agenda, dealing with e-government strategy
and efforts to make the U.S. government more citizen-centered
and results-oriented.
OSHA, the Department of Labor and several federal and
state agencies are jointly developing a web portal that
will enable the small business owner to find, understand
and comply with regulations. The final product will be
an on-line gateway to enable businesses to: register
or file with a government entity, obtain necessary permits
or licenses, learn which laws and regulations are pertinent
and how to obtain compliance guidance for those regulations.
Training and Education
Third-Party Training and Education -- OSHA
gives training and education grants to various non-profit
groups to develop programs to help small businesses establish
safety and health programs and materials that they make
available to small businesses
OSHA's Training Institute (OTI) and OSHA's Training Education
Centers across the country provide basic and advanced
courses in safety and health. OSHA's area offices offer
information services, such as audiovisual aids, technical
advice, and speakers for special engagements. In addition,
the Training Centers have begun offering one-day or one-half-day
seminars to increase opportunities for small business
employers to attend safety/health training.
Susan Harwood Training Grants Program - Training and
educational programs for small businesses is a priority
for the grants program. The program has funded Small
Business Development Centers.
State Plans
Twenty-six states operate their own
federally approved occupational safety and health programs.
These entities enforce their own safety and health standards,
which are at least as effective as Federal OSHA's, but
may have different or additional requirements. Many states
offer additional programs of assistance to small businesses.
Electronic Information/Internet
OSHA standards, interpretations, directives,
interactive software, compliance assistance materials,
e-Tools, and additional information are available or
can be ordered online at http://www.osha.gov/.
OSHA's computer-based training software provides assistance
to small employers through its Expert Advisors and
eTool software on topics such as hazard communication,
asbestos, cadmium, confined spaces, fire safety, and
lead in construction. eTools are "stand-alone," interactive,
Web-based training tools on occupational safety and
health topics. They are highly illustrated and utilize
graphical menus. Some also use expert system modules,
which enable the user to answer questions, and receive
reliable advice on how OSHA regulations apply to their
work site.
Publications
OSHA has many published materials, including
specific topics for small businesses, that are available
or can be ordered online at http://www.osha.gov/pls/publications/pubindex.list.
Of particular interest may be publications in OSHA's
Small Business and Health Management Series, which along
with other materials, are available online. They include: OSHA's
Handbook for Small Businesses; Q&A's for Small
Business Employers; OSHA Help for New Businesses -
Fact Sheet; Assessing the Need for Personal Protective
Equipment: A Guide for Small Business Employers; Small
Entity Compliance Guide for Respiratory Protection
Standard 29 CFR 1910.134; and Small Entity Compliance
Guide for OSHA's Abatement Verification Regulation
29 CFR 1903.19.
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