Reading through OSHA Standards can be cumbersome, even for career Safety Managers. And while slogging your way through you might ask yourself, what do they mean by that?
Don’t worry, you wouldn’t be the first person to ponder over the Standards and wonder how your company would be expected to adhere to or comply with a particular regulation. This Meith Minute will help you navigate your way to more in depth information and understanding.
OSHA receives countless inquiries annually asking for clarification and guidance. And to all of our benefit, they post those inquiries and OSHA’s response (their interpretation of the Standard) on their website (www.osha.gov). They also don’t bury those responses deep in the depths of their website. They can be found on the front page Standards menu as Standard Interpretations.
Now if you have just checked that those instructions above even work, your next exclamation might be, “But they have interpretations going all the way back to 1972 on there! How is that supposed to make this less confusing?”
We have you covered, you can sort by Publication Date or Standard. Go with Standard and for most run of the mill businesses (even actual Flour Mills – section 1910.272), the Standard that applies to you is 1910: Occupational Safety and Health Standards. This Standard covers General Industry and when sorting by Standard under section 1910 you can easily maneuver your way to the topic that you have questions about.
There may still be a good amount of reading to ensure your company is in compliance with these regulations, but utilizing these interpretations makes understanding the intention of, and how your company’s compliance may be measured against these Standards, a whole lot easier.