CHESS’s safety and health professionals can advise on what regulations and codes apply to your business. We’ll advise you about new regulations and laws, and help you comply with those.
Since 1993, CHESS has helped numerous clients prepare for surprise inspections from OSHA and other regulators. And when those inspections occur, CHESS is there, onsite, to help our clients with the OSHA inspections. After an OSHA inspection, CHESS can help with the abatement process and with contesting citations.
OSHA Inspections & Abatement of Citations
CHESS can take the stress out of OSHA inspections while helping to reduce anxiety in meeting and dealing with the regulators
We help you to understand the inspection process, understand what OSHA looks for, and identify what OSHA requires from employers like you. If you’re a maintenance client, we’ll be there as soon as possible after the inspector arrives, to handle the inspection.
If your company is cited by OSHA, we’ll guide you on every aspect from advising on whether to contest the citation to correcting the problem. After a citation, it is imperative that your records, documentation and paperwork be submitted by the deadline to avoid high OSHA penalties for failure to abate. CHESS can help you through the process, whether you are contesting a citation or simply completing the abatement paperwork.
EPA/MPCA and Other Regulators
Fire inspectors, pollution control regulators from the EPA, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, or county environmental agencies may inspect you for compliance with fire codes, hazardous waste and regulated waste management standards, and other environmental or public safety regulations. CHESS can help you make sure your facility is in safe condition, your waste is handled correctly and cost-efficiently, and your records are in order. We can train your staff on correct handling and disposal of hazardous waste, including what to look for before signing hazardous waste manifests. We can also provide DOT-required hazardous materials security training.
Exposure Monitoring for OSHA Compliance
CHESS’s Certified Industrial Hygienist can advise you on OSHA requirements for employee exposure monitoring and design the monitoring job. We’ll do the industrial hygiene exposure assessment for you, providing results that are understandable and can be used as exposure benchmarks for future monitoring.
Written Safety Programs
CHESS can identify the particular safety and health programs that OSHA requires you to have. We create your written safety programs in collaboration with you and your employees, so your programs are tailored to your specific needs, facilities, and operations. After we work with you to get the details and expertise on what you do and how you function, the CHESS team puts together the written documentation.
Common safety programs include, but are not limited to:
- Right to Know / Hazard Communication
- Respiratory Protection
- Bloodborne Pathogen/Infectious Agents Exposure Control Plans
- AWAIR (Minnesota)
Safety Audits (Mock OSHA/Environmental Compliance Inspections)
How would you fare in an OSHA inspection? A thorough safety assessment begins with a detailed review of your company’s safety records, safety training, and your facilities. This safety and health compliance audit will identify areas of safe operations, areas in need of improvement, and areas that require immediate attention. CHESS professionals conduct your workplace safety audit with a keen eye for detail, often keener than an OSHA inspector’s. All safety compliance audits include a final safety report, in electronic or paper format – your choice – with plain language explanations of any regulatory or compliance issues or areas of concern specific to your business, priorities for correction, and guidance on how to correct these safety issues.
Record Keeping
If you don’t record it, you have no proof you did it. We will set up a system for keeping your safety, environmental, and training records, so you can find them easily. For maintenance clients, we’ll even do the filing. We’ll accurately maintain your OSHA 300 log and submit your 300A summary to OSHA if required.
Read about our safety services case studies to learn how we have helped our clients.