At a glance
Do you own or manage a business? This guide provides plans, tools, tips, and information from across the web on how to keep your workers safe and well while managing time and cost investments.
Compliance and Insurance
Business owners or employees can request free Health Hazard Evaluations. NIOSH can investigate hazards and provide recommendations when:
- Employees have an illness from an unknown cause.
- Employees are exposed to an agent or working condition that is not regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
- Employees become ill even though the permissible exposure limit of an agent is not being exceeded.
- The incidence of a particular disease or injury is higher than expected in a group of employees.
- The exposure is to a new or previously unrecognized hazard.
- The hazard seems to result from the combined effects of several agents.
OSHA's On-Site Consultation Program - No-cost and confidential occupational safety and health services to small and medium sized businesses in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories. On-site consultations are separate from enforcement and do not result in penalties or citations.
OSHA Small Business Handbook - This handbook helps employers meet the legal requirements imposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and achieve an in-compliance status before an OSHA inspection.
Overview of SHOP: Health Insurance for Small Businesses - The Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) is for small employers who want to provide health and/or dental insurance to their employees.
HealthCare.gov - Insurance for your Small Business - How to enroll and check eligibility.
Small Business Health Care Tax Credit and SHOP Marketplace (en Espanol) - If you are a small employer, there is a tax credit that can out money in your pocket.
Emergency Preparedness
Prepare your Workplaces & Organizations - Commit to Preparedness: Join the Red Cross Ready Rating Program - This free membership program is designed to help businesses become better prepared for emergencies.
Small Business Administration: Prepare for Emergencies - Content includes emergency preparedness, financial assistance after a disaster, and disaster cleanup.
Preparedness Planning for Your Business - Variety of toolkits, including for: ready business, business emergency preparedness social media, earthquakes, hurricanes, inland flooding, power outages, and severe wind/tornados.
Programs and Training Resources
How to Create a Safety Program (OSHA) - The basic structure includes:
- Development and implementation of a company safety policy.
- Writing and/or compiling work rules and practices.
- Training of workers in those work rules and practices.
- Delineation of safety responsibilities of roofing workers and management.
- Discipline and incentive procedures for penalizing infractions and rewarding compliance with program rules.
- Regular review and amendment process for program provisions, including a safety committee that has staff members representative of all levels of the organization.
NIOSH Total Worker Health® - Total Worker Health® is defined as policies, programs, and practices that integrate protection from work-related safety and health hazards with promotion of injury and illness prevention efforts to advance worker well-being.
Total Worker Health® Essentials Video Series - The series features tips and best practices from small business leaders and occupational safety and health researchers on the development, implementation, and evaluation of workplace programs, as well as employer concerns such as ergonomics, stress, and safety.
LOHP Small Businesse IIPP and Training Resources - Create your own safety program template with guides, factsheets, and tip sheets.
UCLA Labor Occupational Safety and Health Small Business Support - These training resources help owners with general health and safety materials. Though prepared for California, most items are broadly applicable, including resources for:
- Janitorial Safety Program
- Restaurant Supervisor Training
- Injury & Illness Prevention Program
- Training of Trainers
Focus on Fleet Safety - A workforce development program for small- to mid-sized fleets, utilizing industry-leading best practices in fleet safety. FOCUS helps companies build cultures of safety and achieve safe and efficient operations through a combination of training, leadership development and technology.
Safety & Work - Health and Safety: The Keys to Success in Small Enterprises - Conduct a self-check and find out how fit your business is, learn its strengths, and how it can improve.
Specific Industries and Jobs
Small Business Janitorial Health and Safety Materials - This program includes training on these aspects of janitorial safety: chemical hazards, electrical hazards, ergonomic hazards, injuries on the job, planning for emergencies, robberies and assaults, and slips and falls. Available in English and Spanish.
Nail Gun Safety - Practical educational videos available for construction workers.
CPWR Construction Solutions - Search this free database of strategies for construction work safety. Solutions are categorized by line of work, task, and hazard.
OSHA Agricultural Operations - Farmworkers are exposed to numerous safety, health, environmental, biological, and respiratory hazards. These include vehicle rollovers, heat exposure, falls, musculoskeletal injuries, hazardous equipment, grain bins, unsanitary conditions, pesticides, and many others.
Articles and Organizations
The Business Benefits of a Healthy Workforce Companies with strong health and wellness programs outperform others on the stock market, and some experts suggest the investment community could benefit from scrutinizing health and wellness metrics when they value companies.
Safety Ethics - Black and White? or Shades of Gray? - Topics include doing the right thing, ethical climates, change agents, and ‘it’s not an easy road’.
9 Avoidable Workplace Safety and Health Hazards - Discusses hazards and simple, cost-effective tips for these workplace topics:
- Maintaining staff continuity during illness outbreaks.
- Job hazard analysis.
- Common workplace injuries and fatalities.
- Employee awareness and training.