If you’re new to the safety profession, or even if you’ve been around a while, you may have a few questions about the US Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA).

We may not have ALL the answers for you here, but we think we’ve got a lot of the common OSHA FAQs along with helpful answers and links to additional helpful OSHA-related resources.

Of course, if we’ve missed a specific OSHA-related question that you were hoping to get answered please use the comments section below the article and we’ll try to get you an answer as well as add that question to our list of FAQs.

And since you’ve found your way to an article about all-thing-OSHA, you might want to download our free guide to OSHA General Industry Compliance. 

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During this coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, we’re all being forced to change. And change isn’t always easy for people.

Not that long ago, and in entirely different circumstances, I talked with Arun Pradhan about anticipating, dealing with, facilitating, and benefitting from change. Of course, the circumstances are entirely different now, but there were still some useful tips that came up in the conversation that we thought would help people better adjust to the changing circumstances as a result of COVID-19.

Check out the entire discussion if you wish, or read on for some highlights and tips you may be able to apply today.

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Here’s another in our continuing series of “Coronavirus Basics” articles, in which we’re trying to offer helpful information to folks trying to figure a whole bunch of stuff having to do with working during the coronavirus pandemic.

In this one, we want to give you a quick FYI that OSHA recently released a new Temporary Enforcement Guidance – Healthcare Respiratory Protection Annual Fit-Testing for N95 Filtering Facepieces During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

It’s not too long, so do yourself a favor and click the link above and get the straight information directly from OSHA.

OK, are you done reading the full thing? Here’s a quick summary of what caught our attention, below.

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Most safety professionals will tell you that an organized safety management system or program is more effective than a simple compliance-based program.

OSHA certainly will, for example, even if you think of them in terms of compliance. To help you with that, in 2016 OSHA published OSHA 3886, Recommended Practices for Safety and Health Programs in Construction.

In the infographic below, we’ve listed, illustrated, and briefly explained the seven core elements that OSHA says your construction safety management program should have.

Be sure to download the OSHA document, this infographic, and the companion “Getting Started with Construction Safety Management” infographic we also made to jump start and improve your current construction safety management program. And let us know if we can help you with your construction safety efforts.

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As you no doubt know, the new coronavirus is spreading across the globe and US government officials have said it’s not a question of IF coronavirus will spread in the US but rather WHEN (and also, what the consequences will be).

That’s not to panic you–panic won’t help–but it is to say that you’d be wise to check out some credible authorities, learn more, and consider coming up with a plan about how your organization will prepare for the possibilities (and of course, how you’ll manage this issue in your personal life and with your families/loved ones/etc.).

We are not medical experts or public health authorities, so we thought the best thing we could do was point you toward some people who know what they’re talking about: the CDC and OSHA, both of whom have created helpful resources for you.

Here’s the CDC’s Coronavirus Disease 2019 webpage. There’s a subsection of this larger webpage titled Interim Guidance for Business and Employers to Plan and Respond to Coronavirus Disease 2019.

And here’s the OSHA Safety & Health Topic Page for Coronavirus (COVID-19).

And here’s a new CDC page (we think) for creating a coronavirus/COVID-19 Home Preparedness Plan.

We’ll continue adding helpful resources to this article as we find them. Please feel free to suggest your own in the comments section below.

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