Small business owners want to ensure their workers go home safe and healthy at the end of the day. However, small businesses tend to experience higher rates of workplace injury and illness than larger businesses. In general, many small businesses do not have a full-time industrial hygienist or certified safety professional on staff. The volume of safety and health information, regulations, and guidance can feel overwhelming, and many of the topics can be complex.

With the updated OSHA-NIOSH Small Business Safety and Health Handbook, small business owners have access to self-inspection checklists to support safe practices in the workplace. This general guide may be useful for employers in all industry sectors.

What’s Inside?

This free handbook summarizes the benefits of an effective safety and health program, provides self-inspection checklists for employers to identify workplace hazards, and reviews key workplace safety and health resources for small businesses.

This handbook has been a popular choice for many small business owners over the years. The checklists in the updated version can now either be checked off in the electronic PDF version or conveniently printed for paper filing.

Self-Inspection Checklist topics include:

• Safety and health programs
• General work environment and housekeeping
• Posting of required safety and health information
• Recordkeeping and reporting
• Compressed gas cylinders
• Electrical safety
• Exit routes and emergency planning
• Fire protection
• Hand and portable power tools and equipment
• Hazard communication and chemicals
• Lockout/tagout procedures
• Machinery and machine guarding
• Materials handling and storage
• Medical services and first aid
• Noise exposure
• Permit-required confined spaces
• Personal protective equipment
• Respiratory protection
• Walking-working surfaces
• Welding, cutting, and blazing

At the end of the handbook, users will also find a list of OSHA, NIOSH, and other resources, along with brief descriptions.

What’s Next?

The updated Small Business Safety and Health Handbook will be available exclusively online. OSHA and NIOSH will periodically update the checklists and add new topics so that small business users will know they have access to up-to-date information.

Let us know your thoughts on this updated handbook and if you have any suggestions for additional checklist topics.

Brenda Jacklitsch, PhD, MS, is Coordinator of the NIOSH Small Business Assistance Program and a research health scientist in the Division of Science Integration.

Tom Cunningham, PhD, is a Senior Scientist in the NIOSH Division of Science Integration.

Garrett Burnett, MS, MBA, is an Assistant Coordinator of the NIOSH Small Business Assistance Program and a health communication specialist in the Office of Communication and Research to Practice.