An Unknown Future: How to Prep for OSHA Changes

With every new presidential administration comes potential changes to federal departments, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

This means your safety management practices may need to adapt to remain compliant, even though the exact nature of future OSHA rules might be unknown.

We know how important maintaining safety compliance is.

OSHA has strict penalties for failure to follow their regulations, with fines up to $16,550 for serious safety violations and potentially $165,514 if they are repeated or willful.

Avoiding these penalties can be confusing when the rules of compliance change.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t equip yourself to be prepared.

This article is here to update you on recent OSHA changes and give you the tools you need to prepare for any future changes.

What to Expect While Navigating OSHA Changes

It’s always tough to predict what effect a new presidential administration will have on OSHA. No matter how you run your safety compliance, things can always change.

The key is to stay prepared for anything.

Staying Up to Date

Thankfully, regulatory updates usually get announced long before they are published and enforced. So, as long as you are staying informed, nothing should take you by surprise.

You can do this by:

• Checking the OSHA webpage regularly
• Set up notifications/alerts for when changes do happen
• Subscribe to industry newsletters
• Stay up-to-date on OSHA training
• Stay connected with other industry associations and businesses on safety protocols

Implementing Changes

The real challenge of navigating shifts in OSHA might be implementing whatever regulations are proposed, removed or altered for worker safety.

As mentioned earlier, OSHA reporting can be high stakes, requiring highly detailed information.

This applies to both annual and incident-based reporting like 300, 300A and 301 forms.

OSHA also conducts regularly scheduled inspections to make sure workplaces are following proper safety policies and standards.

The qualifications for reports and inspections are not set in stone. And they can be changed if the presidential administration sees the need.  

Your existing workplace safety program for tracking, documentation, and inspection prepping might need to shift.

Here are a few practical ways you can stay prepared for and effectively implement new OSHA changes:

• Keep yourself and your workforce informed, via newsletters, OSHA website updates and industry experts.
• Implement continuous safety training programs for your workforce
• Send specific personnel to get new specialized employee training
• Sign up for new safety certifications if/when available
• Maintain accurate safety and health records
• Run safety audits and look over safety procedures
• Foster a culture of safety among your workforce, so that if changes do come, they won’t be met with hostility.

At the end of the day, though, it always helps to have an ace up your sleeve, like a safety management app.

Stay Prepared Using a Construction Safety App

With a construction safety management app, you can stay compliant with OSHA no matter what changes.

Here’s how:

Streamlined Electronic Documentation

Even if the details change for specific reporting, the forms and checklist templates are updated immediately to reflect the current workplace safety requirements.

A safety management system built for the construction industry gives you access to safety data sheet libraries so you can stay up to date on the newest construction material information.

Regularly Updated Access to Safety Standards, Including OSHA

With construction health and safety management software, the most up-to-date information is monitored and applied, so you never have to worry about missing any new requirements or changes.

Immediate Inspection Adjustments  

When OSHA inspections do come, you may find that you need to quickly adjust your workplace to meet OSHA standards.

The results from the inspection will update in the safety management app immediately, with datasheets and reports adjusting to stay accurate and compliant.

Since all workers can have access to the mobile app, their personal safety training can be updated in real-time.

Training Materials Like Toolbox Talks

Safety training is simple and effective with a cloud-based construction safety software.

With mobile safety record uploads and date tracking, you can guarantee construction workers are up to date on their safety certifications.  

With this kind of advanced technology on your belt, it can be easy to keep up with whatever OSHA compliance changes might occur.

But more importantly, they can help you keep your workers safe, improving your ability to monitor, train and protect them.

Gear Up for OSHA Compliance and Protect Your Crews With SafetyHQ®

Every new presidential administration brings potential changes. What these changes are and how and when they are implemented can be unpredictable.

If you can’t be certain about changes to OSHA’s regulatory details, you can at least be ready for them by prepping your crews and staying informed on all new information.

However, if any OSHA regulations changes do happen, safety professionals can easily manage them with the help of a construction safety management app.

A construction safety software, like SafetyHQ, offers several tools to stay updated in real time on the status of any OSHA regulations that impact your work.

The SafetyHQ mobile app is built especially for this task, assisting in all things safety compliance, with invaluable features like:

• Access to regularly updated safety standards for OSHA
• Electronic safety forms and datasheets for streamlined reporting
• Safety monitoring with real-time data capture
• Resources to enhance health safety training management, like toolbox talks

Reach out to one of our specialists today to see how SafetyHQ helps you get ready for OSHA changes!