NFIB, OSHA Alliance Aims to Help Small Business Improve Safety
When you think of your business partners, you probably think of your vendors, your professional advisers, your banker, maybe even your customers. What about the government? How does it figure into your business? Odds are that you normally think of government agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in a more adversarial manner.
 OSHA Assistant Secretary John Henshaw and NFIB President Jack Faris sign the alliance agreement. |
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But because of its focus on safety, OSHA is also a great resource, with lots of information that could be helpful to your company. When NFIB created a safety CD two years ago to help small businesses design custom safety manuals, it asked OSHA to review the content. They liked what they saw -- and they wondered if there were other ways to help small business by working together.
"NFIB and OSHA have created an alliance designed to benefit small business with resources and education initiatives," says NFIB Vice President Jeff Koch. "Of course, nothing in our agreement will prevent NFIB from representing our members fully -- even when it comes to OSHA regulations that we find unfair. And, OSHA will still enforce its statutes.
"But working together, NFIB members can more easily draw on the resources OSHA offers, and OSHA can learn more about what a small business faces in trying to comply with regulations. NFIB members already know that safety is smart business – this alliance will help make it easier to achieve a safe work environment.”
 Clockwise from top left: NFIB Vice President Jeff Koch; NFIB/Ohio Assistant State Director Shawn Combs; Jim Wirth, manager of Safety Fund Services for GatesMcDonald; NFIB President Jack Faris; and OSHA Assistant Secretary John Henshaw. |
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Koch says the alliance will focus on several areas to aid small-business owners with resources in the coming months:
- Helping employers establish a drug-free workplace program
- Complying with hazard communications regulations, including Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) rules
- Making OSHA's online tools more useful to small business
- Promoting OSHA's free consulting services
"In addition, we are trying to build a greater voice for small business within OSHA through the alliance," Koch said. "It helps tremendously to have a seat at the table when new safety tools and resources are being developed, and NFIB brings small business' voice into that process."
See links at the right for more information on the NFIB/OSHA alliance and NFIB's other safety and risk-management member-benefit programs.
