OSHA Construction Industry Training Becomes Mandatory

For the past 40 years, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has helped minimize hazardous work environments and promote worker safety. As a result, the total rate of workplace injuries and illnesses significantly declined. What's even better, numerous states have adopted OSHA safety and health programs to perpetuate the trend. And now some states are taking it a step further.

Several states have passed statutes requiring OSHA training including: New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Missouri, Nevada, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Similar in each state, the bills set forth requirements for construction workers to complete an OSHA construction training course. This not only is a smart idea for employers and contractors to provide the training (even if not required) but to ensure a safe job site. In addition, an OSHA citation can be costly.

One of the most aggressive is Nevada's bill, signed on June 5th, 2009, which was said to be driven by the 12 construction deaths that occurred along Las Vegas Boulevard in a period of just 18 months. Created to increase construction safety, this bill requires all employees and supervisors to complete OSHA training within 15 days of being hired. The law went into effect January 1st, 2010.

Here are some of the other state and local bills that have codified the importance and necessity of OSHA training.

• Connecticut
  • All construction workers for public building projects paid for (in part or in full) by state funding where the total cost is over $100,000 are required to take OSHA-authorized training.
• Florida
  • All construction employees are required to take OSHA-authorized training prior to employment on any Miami-Dade County public or private contract valued in excess of $1,000,000.
• Massachusetts
  • Construction workers for any public sector projects are required to take OSHA-authorized training.
• Missouri
  • All construction workers on public work projects (state or municipal) are required to take OSHA-authorized training.
• Nevada
  • All construction employees (10-hour) and supervisors (30-hour) are required to take OSHA-authorized training within 15 days of being hired.
• New Hampshire
  • All construction workers on public works projects with a total cost over $100,000 are required to take OSHA-authorized training.
• New York
  • All workers on public works contracts greater than $250,000 are required to take OSHA-authorized training (or a pre-approved equivalent program).
• Pennsylvania
  • All employees (10-hour) and at least one supervisory employee (30-hour) of licensed contractors are required to take OSHA-authorized training if they are performing permitted construction or demolition work within the city of Philadelphia.
• Rhode Island
  • All workers on municipal and state construction projects with a total cost of $100,000 or more are required to take OSHA-authorized training.
• West Virginia
  • Workers on any public improvement project with a total cost in excess of $500,000 are required to take OSHA-authorized training.

With OSHA-authorized training available online from certain trusted providers such as USFOSHA.com, meeting state and federal training requirements is even easier. For workers needing their OSHA 10-hour card, location, class availability and access is not an issue. Even travel costs and time away from work are eliminated. Students are given up to 180 days to complete the training, which provides an OSHA 10-Hour Completion Card upon graduation. To learn more about affordable online OSHA-authorized training, visit USFOSHA.com