OSHA has issued Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs in Construction to help industry employers develop proactive programs to keep their workplaces safe. The recommendations may be particularly helpful to small and medium-sized contractors that lack safety and health specialists on staff.
Safety and health programs encourage finding and fixing workplace hazards before they cause injuries, illnesses or deaths. Implementing these programs also helps reduce the financial difficulties these events can cause for workers, their families and their employers.
Contractors can create a safety and health program using a number of simple steps, which include training workers on how to identify and control hazards, inspecting the job site with workers to identify problems with equipment and materials, and developing responses to possible emergency scenarios in advance.
