Your legal obligations to provide a safe work environment for your employees arise primarily from a federal law known as the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). All businesses have a duty to comply with some general safety and health rules. OSHA is administered by the Department of Labor.

State safety regulation. Although your safety obligations originate at the federal level, states have the right to develop their own federally approved state workplace safety plans. Standards under a state plan may differ from federal OSHA regulations, but must be at least as effective as the federal standards. If your business is in a state that has a state plan, you must comply with it. If your state doesn't have a state plan, you must comply with federal OSHA laws.

States with approved plans are:

Alaska	Arizona	California	Connecticut
Hawaii	Indiana	Iowa	Kentucky
Maryland	Michigan	Minnesota	Nevada
New Jersey	New Mexico	New York	North Carolina
Oregon	Puerto Rico	South Carolina	Tennessee
Utah	Vermont	Virgin Islands	Virginia
Washington	Wyoming

Note: The Connecticut, New Jersey and New York plans cover state and local government employment only.

Who and what OSHA regulates. If you have control over the actions of your employees, and you have the right to fire them, OSHA makes you responsible for providing a safe workplace. Your obligation to ensure workplace safety may also extend to non-employee workers such as temporary employees or independent contractors. If you have control over workplace hazards, you're going to be the one held responsible if something unfortunate occurs.

Small business reporting exemptions. Businesses with no more than 10 employees that provide personal or business services, many types of retailers, and eating and drinking establishments are exempt from OSHA-mandated injury and illness reporting. Small businesses in specified low-hazard industries are exempt from programmed inspections. But all businesses, regardless of size or classification, must comply with OSHA’s accident reporting rules.

OSHA general requirements. OSHA contains a "general duty clause" that requires every employer to provide every employee with a place of employment that is free from recognized hazards that cause or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm. This obligation is open-ended and, therefore, your potential liability under the Act is also open-ended.

OSHA also addresses specific hazardous activities and conditions in four employment settings: general industry, construction, maritime, and agriculture. In these settings, OSHA’s published standards address general issues such as personal protective equipment, means of egress, fire protection, and first aid. These standards also address highly specific activities, such as welding, electrical wiring, and concrete and masonry. Complying with these specific requirements, which address known hazards, is far easier than anticipating and correcting hazards that have yet to be officially identified.

Two safety issues for all employers. All businesses should be concerned with OSHA standards in two areas:

• Personal protective equipment - These standards, included separately in the standards for each industry segment (except agriculture) require you to provide employees, at no cost to them, with personal protective equipment designed to protect them against certain hazards. This can range from protective helmets in construction and cargo handling work to prevent head injuries, to eye protection, hearing protection, hard-toed shoes, special goggles (for welders, for example), and gauntlets for iron workers.
• Hazard communication - If you are a manufacturer or importer of hazardous materials, you must conduct a hazard evaluation of the products you manufacture or import. If the product is found to be hazardous under the terms of the standard, containers of the material must be appropriately labeled and the first shipment of the material to a new customer must be accompanied by a material safety data sheet (MSDS). Employers who receive hazardous materials must train their employees, using the MSDSs they receive, to recognize and avoid the hazards the materials present.

Recent workplace safety issues. As we learn more about workplace hazards, new safety issues and concerns emerge. In some cases, OSHA is taking action, or is considering taking action, to address some of these newer workplace hazards.

Some of the more recent OSHA guidelines in the arena of workplace safety are:

• office automation hazards, including ergonomics issues and repetitive motion injuries
• AIDS
• bioterrorism/anthrax
• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

Compliance. You can be called on to engage in a wide variety of activities to ensure your business is safe and legal:

• Facilities:
  • installing physical safeguards or engineering controls (e.g., guardrails or fire extinguishers);
  • monitoring for air contaminants;
  • testing and inspecting equipment;
  • using safety devices and equipment;
  • determining when hazard warnings are required
• Employees:
  • meeting work practice requirements through employee training, company work rules, and supervision on the job;
  • providing employees with personal protective equipment; deciding what training, protection, and medical examinations are necessary
  • recordkeeping

Enforcement. You can be found to be in violation of the general duty clause if it’s shown that workers were exposed to a foreseeable hazard likely to cause death or serious harm, and you had knowledge of the hazard, or should have had knowledge because the hazard had been recognized by you, your industry, or common sense.

To ensure that your workplace conforms to the general safety standards imposed by OSHA, take the following steps.

• Get a copy of the OSHA standards and identify which of the standards apply to your workplace. Contact the nearest OSHA area office if you need a copy of the OSHA standards or if you have any problems determining whether a standard applies to your workplace. You can also check with a safety consultant. Unfortunately, there is no shortcut in locating which and how many of the general industry standards might apply.
• After you have a copy of the current standards, review the introduction, often called scope and application, for every standard that is potentially applicable to the workplace.
• After you determine which standards apply to your workplace and become familiar with them, implement the requirements of all standards that apply to the particular workplace and the particular work task or operation.
  Compliance may involve meeting equipment design specifications, training employees, and establishing prohibited and required practices. And, there may be specific recordkeeping requirements.
• Make sure that any occupational hazard not covered by an industry-specific standard isn't covered by a general industry standard or by the general duty clause.

If you need financial help in complying with federal or state standards, loans are available (either directly or in cooperation with banks or other lending institution) to assist any small business in "effecting additions to or alteration in the equipment, facilities, or methods of operation of such business."

Hazardous material requirements. Hazardous materials are given special treatment by OSHA regulations because of their great potential to cause serious harm. If your business involves the use or storage of hazardous materials, you're required to take appropriate safety precautions. You're also subject to rules that require recordkeeping and communicating to employees and the public about potential hazards. Your obligations include creating a written program for communicating with employees and the community, ensuring appropriate labeling of containers, and posting material safety data sheets in the workplace.

Almost any chemical qualifies as a hazardous material. Common sense exceptions are provided for food, tobacco, drugs, cosmetics, and consumer products. But anything else, even as simple as photo processing chemicals, is treated as a hazardous material. You should contact OSHA directly, or a safety consultant (which your local OSHA office can help you find), if your business involves hazardous materials.

State law. When states regulate the handling of hazardous materials, they generally focus on ensuring that local safety officials and health care providers are aware which businesses use or store hazardous materials. They also strive to ensure that these safety workers have access to the information maintained by the business regarding the hazardous materials in the workplace.

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