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 encouraging continual 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 Stop SDE, 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.

The handbook should help small business employers meet the legal requirements imposed by the Occupational 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 not place 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 job safety 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. Source credit 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

Download Small Business Handbook, OSHA

PDF format, 260KB, 56Pages.

PREFACE:

American employers and workers want safe and healthful places in which to work. They want everyone on the job to go home whole and healthy each day. Determined to make that dream possible, OSHA is committed to assuring – so far as possible – that every working man and woman in the nation has safe and healthful working conditions.

OSHA believes that providing workers with a safe workplace is central to their ability to enjoy health, security and the opportunity to achieve the American dream.

OSHA seeks to cut unnecessary rules, regulations and red tape. It is eliminating thousands of pages of outdated regulations and continues to rewrite standards in plain English. OSHA is paring down its regulatory agenda so that it more accurately reflects realistic goals that best serve the needs of American employers and employees.

Confronted by the realities and demands to keep pace with the workforce and problems of the future, OSHA is developing new strategies to reduce occupational fatalities, injuries and illnesses.

Coupled with strong, effective and fair enforcement, OSHA strives to provide improved outreach, education and compliance assistance to America’s employers and employees. ...

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