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Small Business Handbook

Small Business Safety and Health Management Series OSHA 2209-02R 2005

Employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure the safety and health of America’s workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education; establishing partnerships; and encouragingcontinual improvement in workplace safety and health.

About this Handbook
This handbook is provided to owners, proprietors and managers of small businesses by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor. For additional copies of this publication, write to the U.S. Government Printing Office, (GPO), Superintendent of Documents, Mail StopSDE, 732 N. Capitol Street, NW, Washington, DC 20401, or call the OSHA Publications Office at (202) 693-1888, or fax (202) 693-2498 for ordering information. Please note that the entire text of the Small Business Handbook is available on OSHA’s website at http://www.osha.gov/Publications/ osha2209.pdf. The handbook should help small business employers meet the legal requirements imposed by theOccupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (the Act), and achieve an in-compliance status before an OSHA inspection. An excellent resource to accompany this information is OSHA’s Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines, (54 Federal Register 3904-3916, January 26, 1989), also available on OSHA’s website. This handbook is not a legal interpretation of the provisions of the Act and does notplace any additional requirements on employers or employees. Employers cannot be cited under the General Duty

Clause in Section 5(a)(1) of the Act for failure to follow recommendations in this handbook. The materials in this handbook are based upon Federal OSHA standards and other requirements in effect at the time of publication and upon generally accepted principles and activities within the jobsafety and health field. They should be useful to small business owners or managers and can be adapted easily to individual establishments. It is important to point out that 24 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands operate their own OSHA-approved safety and health programs under Section 18 of the Act. While the programs in these State Plan States may differ in some respects from Federal OSHA,this handbook can be used by employers in any state because the standards imposed by State Plan States must be at least as effective as Federal OSHA standards. A list of states that operate their own safety and health programs can be found on OSHA’s website at www.osha.gov. Material in this publication is in the public domain and may be reproduced, fully or partially, without permission. Sourcecredit is requested but not required. This information will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request by voice phone (202) 693-1999 or teletypewriter (TTY) (877) 889-5627 . Please Note: The small business employer seeking information on procurement or contracting with the Department of Labor or OSHA should contact the Department of Labor’s Office of Small Business Programs, 200Constitution Avenue, NW, Room C2318, Washington, DC 20210.

Small Business Handbook
Occupational Safety and Health Administration U.S. Department of Labor OSHA 2209-02R 2005

U.S. Department of Labor
www.osha.gov

Contents
PREFACE Office of Small Business Assistance Cooperative Programs State Plans Office of Training and Education OSHA’s Website Safety and Health Add ValueINTRODUCTION: The Value of a Safety and Health Management System A Profit and Loss Statement Developing a Profitable Strategy for Handling Occupational Safety and Health A FOUR-POINT WORKPLACE PROGRAM: The Basis of a Plan Using the Four-Point Program MANAGEMENT COMMITMENT AND EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT WORKSITE ANALYSIS HAZARD PREVENTION AND CONTROL TRAINING FOR EMPLOYEES, SUPERVISORS AND MANAGERS Documenting...