Are you OSHA inspection ready? Do you know what OSHA inspectors will be looking for within your dental office?
It’s not only important to train your employees annually on OSHA Laws, it’s important to be aware of and prepared of OSHA inspector check-points. Working with an OSHA Compliance Training Company that will provide insider tips for what OSHA inspectors focus on is critical. Listed below are the top (5) finable OSHA offenses that are scrutinized most often within the dental office:
1. Annual OSHA Employee Training—Make sure you sign up with a company that can provide reminders of the date you are due to re-train annually or one that has an OSHA Renewal Program.
2. New OSHA GHS Proof-of-Training Requirement— GHS (Global Harmonization System) is a new federal mandate that standardizes chemical safety within the workplace. All United States work facilities that have/ use hazardous chemicals or professional products needed to be trained in GHS with proof of this training by December 1, 2013. If you are not yet trained in this OSHA /GHS area of compliance make sure to choose a simple yet comprehensive GHS Training solution.
3. OSHA Manual written to the new GHS Standard— With the change in law to this new GHS Standard all of your OSHA paperwork, required forms and even the written standards within your current OSHA manual will change. Best to update and obtain a new one.
4. OSHA Updated Employee Paperwork— There are (5) required documents for each employee in your dental office to sign and have on file. Make sure again, that these are written to the new GHS Standard. Need help? Work with a knowledgeable and reliable OSHA Compliance Training Company that will supply all of these forms.
5. Third Party Biological Testing— Most States require weekly testing of your heat sterilizer. (Exceptions are Arkansas & Florida which require proof-of-testing every 40 hours that you run your sterilizer). The tricky part here is that if you have a failure, you must provide written proof that your sterilizer, and an alternate sterilizer prove the consistency of the failure. Ugggh…this is enough to make your head spin. Find and use a Third-Party Biological Monitor Testing company and have them send you official reports. Save these on file for 3 years for your OSHA inspectors.
Of course there are many other considerations and regulations to follow. Work with an OSHA Compliance Training Company that will provide an assessment of your facility and supply you with a customized report and recommendations for rectifying any of your non-compliant areas.
So, what do you think? Are you OSHA Inspection ready after reading this? If not, stop procrastinating and find an OSHA coach that can help you scrutinize your OSHA status and let you get back to the art of dentistry.
Written by Jill Obrochta and Heather Whitt of Dental Enhancements.
