This guidance is issued by the Health and Safety Executive. Following the guidance is not compulsory, unless specifically stated, and you are free to take other action. But if you do follow the guidance you will normally be doing enough to comply with the law. Health and safety inspectors seek to secure compliance with the law and may refer to this guidance.
Training Requirements for Workplace Safety
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace. No person should ever have to be injured, become ill, or die for a paycheck. OSHA’s mission is to ensure the protection of workers and prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths by setting and enforcing standards, and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. Many OSHA standards, which have prevented countless workplace tragedies, include explicit safety and health training requirements to ensure that workers have the required skills and knowledge to safely do their work. ese requirements re ect belief that training is an essential part of every employer’s safety and health program for protecting workers from injuries and illnesses. Researchers conclude that those who are new on the job have a higher rate of injuries and illnesses than more experienced workers.
To assist employers, safety and health professionals, training directors and others with a need to know, OSHA’s training-related requirements have been excerpted and collected in this updated booklet. Requirements for posting information, warning signs, labels, and the like are excluded, as are most references to the quali cations of people assigned to test workplace conditions or equipment. Training in the safe way for workers to do their jobs well is an investment that will pay back over and over again in fewer injuries and illnesses, better morale, lower insurance premiums and more. It is a good idea to keep a record of all safety and health training. Documentation can also supply an answer to one of the rst questions an incident investigator will ask: “Did the employee receive adequate training to do the job?”
Standards: Protection on the Job
In this booklet, the training requirements contained in OSHA’s standards are organized into ve categories of OSHA standards: General Industry, Maritime, Construction, Agriculture, and Federal Employee Programs. An example of a training requirement is found in the revised Hazard Communication standard (Title 29 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1910.1200, ective May 25, 2012), which improves the quality and consistency of hazard information in the workplace. is standard states:
Employers shall provide employees with e ective information and training on hazardous chemicals in their work area at the time of their initial assignment, and whenever a new chemical hazard the employees have not previously been trained about is introduced into their work area. Information and training may be designed to cover categories of hazards (e.g., ammability, carcinogenicity) or speci c chemicals. Chemical-speci c information must always be available through labels and safety data sheets. is booklet identi es the training requirements in speci c OSHA standards. For information on training techniques and resources for developing training programs, please see Resource for Development and Delivery of Training to Workers.
Injury and Illness Prevention Programs
Training and education are elements of a strong injury and illness prevention program that can help employers nd and x workplace hazards before workers get hurt. Injury and illness prevention programs are systems that can substantially reduce the number and severity of workplace injuries and illnesses while reducing costs to employers. ousands of employers across the United States already manage safety using injury and illness prevention programs, and OSHA believes that all employers can and should do the same. irty-four states have requirements or voluntary guidelines for workplace injury and illness prevention programs. Most successful injury and illness prevention programs are based on a common set
of key elements. ese include management leadership, worker participation, hazard identi cation, hazard prevention and control, education and training, and program evaluation and improvement. Visit OSHA’s Injury and Illness Prevention Programs.
