How to Determine Regulatory Requirements for Safety

Determining an organization's legal and regulatory safety requirements is a critical first step in any workplace safety assessment and in building a credible safety program. The basic compliance components to review are discussed below.

Step 1: Determine the Organization's Industry Code (NAICS)

Organizations will need to know their appropriate industry code, as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) uses the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for industry identification in its various data sets. NAICS is the standard used by federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy. Knowing the organization's industry code informs the company about the correct industry standards it will need to follow. For example, an employer in the printing industry must comply with all of the general industry standards (29 C.F.R. §1910). Additionally, NAICS is used with several regulatory filings, for example, when filing a worker's compensation claim through the organization's insurance carrier.

Step 2: Be Compliant with Industry Standards/General Duty Clause

All employers are required to provide their employees with a safe workplace. This is known as the General Duty Clause. Even in areas in which OSHA has not set forth a specific standard for addressing a particular hazard, employers are responsible for complying with OSHA's general duty clause. The clause states that each employer "shall furnish . . . a place of employment which is free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees."

Employers must also know the industry standards that govern their organizations and ensure that a safe and healthy workplace is maintained for all employees. The industry safety standards guide employers on how to examine their workplace conditions and provide employees with the tools and equipment they need to perform their jobs safely in the workplace. These standards are grouped into four major categories: general, construction, maritime and agriculture. Some standards are specific to just one industry, such as construction, but others apply across industries. Similar requirements cross all sectors of industry, such as standards that address access to medical and exposure records, personal protective equipment, and hazardous communication. Therefore, many employers will need to implement in their workplaces a combination of standards, such as Hazardous Communication, Process Safety, Lockout/Tagout, Walking-Working Surfaces or Powered Industrial Trucks. The OSHA standards normally include training and safety inspections requirements to ensure compliance with OSHA regulations. Organizations can take advantage of OSHA's outreach and Compliance Assistance Specialist resources as well.

Step 3: Adhere to Federal and State Poster Requirements

All workplaces are required to maintain federal workplace health and safety posters displayed at their worksites. Organizations must also look at state programs. State plans may have additional workplace health and safety posting requirements that will also need to be maintained at the employer's worksites. Employers may also want to consider posting the required posters in other languages if their organizations have a significant number of employees whose primary language is other than English. Organizations may receive copies of the required posters through the U.S. Department of Labor, and some are available in other languages.

Step 4: Determine Injury Recording/Posting Requirements

All employers with 10 or more employees must maintain three types of OSHA required forms that will be used to record job-related injuries and illnesses unless an exemption applies. 

The OSHA Form 300 is an injury/illness log with separate line entries for each recordable injury or illness. All injuries and illnesses that require medical treatment beyond first aid, including loss of consciousness, restricted work activity, transfer to another job or location and work-related deaths must be recorded on the OSHA Form 300. 

Every year, the employer must post the OSHA Form 300A in a conspicuous place in the workplace by February 1 and keep it in place until April 30. This form will contain a summary of the previous year's work-related injuries and illnesses. For additional information on the OSHA Forms 300 and 300A, See How To Complete the OSHA Form 300. 

OSHA Form 301 is an incident report that must be filled out each time an injury or illness occurs in the workplace. Equivalent forms such as some state workers compensation reports may be acceptable substitutes, as long as they provide the same information as the OSHA 301.

Note: Organizations with 10 or fewer employees are partially exempt from the reporting and posting requirements; however, regardless of size, any workplace injury that results in a fatality must be reported to OSHA within eight hours and work-related inpatient hospitalizations of one or more employees, work-related amputations, or work-related losses of an eye must be reported to OSHA within 24 hours. Employers can make these reports by calling 1-800-321-OSHA (1-800-321-6742), calling the nearest OSHA office or reporting the incident online.

Step 5: Comply with Electronic Reporting Requirements 

Employers with 250 or more employees that are currently required to keep OSHA injury and illness records, and employers with 20-249 employees that are classified in certain industries must electronically submit their Form 300A Summary data to OSHA.

Employers with fewer than 20 employees at all times during the year do not have to submit information electronically to OSHA.

Effective Jan. 1, 2024, employers with 100 or more employees at any time during the previous calendar year will need to electronically submit data from Forms 300 and 301 each year if the establishment is classified in an industry identified by OSHA as having elevated injury and illness rates. A list of these covered industries can be found at the end of the final rule in appendix B. The data required to be submitted from Forms 300 and 301 include the date, physical location, and severity of the injury or illness; details about the worker who was injured; and details about how the injury or illness occurred. Covered employers must submit this data no later than March 2 each year. The submission of data from forms 300 and 301 is in addition to the requirement to electronically submit the form 300A summary.

For more information, see OSHA Injury and Illness Recordkeeping and Reporting Requirements.

Step 6: Determine OSHA Training Requirements

Some industries are not subject to OSHA training requirements; however, other industries and occupations have voluntary or mandatory safety training requirements. OSHA also publishes an informational booklet that is cross-referenced with the §1910 standards.

Organizations should consider (after consultation with company legal counsel) implementing a safety committee to conduct safety inspections at least once a month to ensure that if safety violations or hazards are located in the workplace, these issues are corrected immediately.

After determining the correct industry code, employers should set up an action plan to address industry standards training needs for employees. OSHA standards may require annual training, onboarding (new-hire) training, testing requirements, observations and refresher courses. OSHA also offers free safety training aids to assist employers in conducting health and safety training for workplace safety.