The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, covers over 7 million worksites and performed over 32,000 inspections during 2018. These types of inspections are to make sure contractors—including roofers—are following all guidelines set by OSHA. They review everything from equipment to procedures, ensuring it’s all up to industry standards.
Getting ready for these kinds of inspections can be nerve-racking, especially if you don’t know what to expect or this is your first time experiencing one. We’ve put together some basic tips to help you prepare for your meeting with an OSHA rep.
Assign Responsibilities
After you’re notified that OSHA will be conducting an inspection of your roofing business, you should start preparing yourself and your staff for the meeting right away.
Most OSHA inspections are handled by a company’s safety manager. If your company does not have a safety manager on payroll, the first thing to do is appoint someone in a senior management position as the designated main contact. This person will be in charge of knowing where all of the updated information is located and be able to greet the OSHA rep on inspection day. It’s also a good idea to assign a back-up point person in case the manager you have chosen might become too busy.
Perform Assessments and Trainings
The first thing your temporary safety manager should do is perform an assessment of the OSHA guidelines and required training that applies to the roofing trade and make sure you’re business is up to standards.
The biggest, and easiest, thing to make sure of is that the rules and regulations are properly posted. OSHA provides every corporation with posters on how to handle safety and potential injuries that are required to be visible in office. These required OSHA-related signs should be displayed in plain sight and high-traffic areas in the workplace (i.e. breakrooms, offices, etc.), so employees can view them everyday.
The person put in charge should also follow up with the rest of your employees to make sure they have all completed their required OSHA training. If they haven’t, getting them started and certified as soon as possible will help avoid any penalties on your end.
Provide Detailed Documents
Having a record of all your processes and other important forms will help move the inspection process along faster, as well as showing the inspector that you can be prepared.
Your point person should print off the OSHA 300 log, Form 301, and Form 300A to have on inspection day. These forms help your OSHA inspector have a summary of work-related injuries and illnesses. According to OSHA’s website, companies with more than 10 employees are required to maintain these records for at least five years, so make sure you have everything from that span of time.
The next detailed document you should be able to provide are safety plans. Having your procedures written out and printed make it easy to share with the compliance officer, as well as other employees. OSHA actually supplies examples of safety plans and programs on their site to help employers get ideas for how to put similar plans in place for their roofing businesses.
Conduct Internal Audits
Conducting internal audits is something that can not only help you prepare for your inspection, but will also help you stay on top of things in case of another inspection in the future.
Roofing business owners and managers should be consistent when it comes to reviewing records to make sure everything is up-to-date and all documents are correct. You should also be running through all required safety training to be sure the right procedures have been outlined and recorded. You can also set aside time every quarter to walk through everything and look for potential violations to help you stay on top of things.
Following these simple tips can help you show up the inspection prepared and—more importantly—less stressed. As long as your employees training is updated, you keep record of every injury or illness that happens in the field, you should have nothing to worry about. Roofing CRMs like AccuLynx can store all of your certifications, documents and other vital records in one place to help you stay organized in case of any future surprise inspections. Schedule a demo today!
