Custom Compliance & Training Programs for Your Business

We Help Texas Businesses Comply With OSHA Standards and Training Requirements

The United States Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is responsible for monitoring and enforcing regulations that keep employees safe at work and address hazards at the workplace. For all businesses, but especially those in the construction or manufacturing industries, complying with OSHA regulations is vital to maintaining a safe, healthy, and productive work environment.

At Hendershot Cowart P.C., our Houston-based OSHA compliance attorneys have more than 30 years of experience helping business owners maintain safe, efficient workflows. We can review your worksite for potential OSHA violations and help you develop a training and compliance program that keeps your employees safe.

Safety Is No Accident

To address OSHA’s 1910 or General Industry training requirements without too much upfront costs, many employers purchase on off-the-shelf training program. Then, they leave it on a shelf.

Safety is a mindset. “Safety training and compliance cannot exist on paper alone,” says Hendershot Cowart’s OSHA expert Ian McNeill. “It must be inherent in the day-to-day practices of the workplace.”

“A dusty, unopened training manual that’s been used one time or not at all can actually be more troublesome when defending an OSHA citation,” says McNeill. “It indicates that the employer was aware of the training guidelines but did not appropriately implement them.”

If you have a training program, but do not implement it or adhere to it, that could indicate to OSHA that you knew better, potentially elevating a violation from serious to willful – a more consequential and expensive violation. Additionally, off-the-shelf compliance programs may not effectively address the specific needs and circumstances of your business or your industry – resulting in greater potential costs should an unrecognized hazard lead to a citation or workplace incident.

Our OSHA Compliance Lawyers Take a Different Approach

A compliant training program should be tailored to the specific safety and health aspects of your workplace and clearly define the practices and conditions adopted to protect workers on the job. We create a custom program based on your workplace and industry, ensuring that the appropriate issues are highlighted. The training needs of a health care facility, for example, will vary dramatically from the training needs of a scrap metal yard, so customized programs are a necessity. In the end, our programs are more cost-effective because businesses pay for exactly the solution they need, not a one-size-fits-all product that may leave an employer vulnerable to unprotected hazards.

Our approach is designed to optimize employee welfare, as well as to proactively defend against standards violations. Our comprehensive programs encompass all stages of an effective compliance program, including:

• Job hazard analysis
• Hazard prevention and control, including communication plans, emergency action plans, fire prevention plans, PPE assessment checklists, and other hazard-specific checklists
• Safety and health training
• Program audits
• Recording and reporting procedures
• Recordkeeping
• Mock OSHA inspections

We Help Businesses Develop Written OSHA Compliance & Safety Training Procedures

Our counsel has helped countless businesses create workable solutions that maintain their bottom line, protect their workers, and comply with all federal safety regulations that apply to their industry.

Here’s what we do for Houston employers:

• Step #1: Evaluate, audit and identify training and policy needs. In addition to assisting employers in following voluntary training guidelines that apply to all industries, we also provide industry-specific training.
• Step #2: Develop worksite-specific training. We work hands-on with employers during this step. Our practical experience in all types of industries, combined with our extensive understanding of OSHA policies, makes us ideally suited to developing effective and compliant training programs that address the health and safety hazards of your specific worksite and the activities that take place there.
• Step #3: Conduct and improve trainings. We pull from our vast nationwide network of training experts to conduct the training. We know where to find trusted trainers to conduct on-site training on everything from how to put on personal protective equipment (PPE) to how to operate a crane. Everything is customized based on the workplace and industry to ensure that it is as effective as possible.

Custom Compliance Programs for the Construction Industry

The unique facets of the construction trade have led OSHA to create a separate set of training requirements specifically for employers in this industry. Our firm knows these varied requirements, and we know how to apply them through customized training programs that protect both employers and their employees. After all, even within the construction industry, the training needs of an employer dealing with excavations vary substantially from an employer handling concrete and masonry.

OSHA Compliance & Training Lawyers in Harris & Fort Bend Counties and Throughout Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma

We assist companies of all sizes and in all industries – from health care and retail to construction, manufacturing, and more – with health and safety training programs that comply with OSHA standards and provide a workplace free from recognized hazards. To arrange a consultation about OSHA training, call (713) 489-2028 or contact our Texas law firm online. In addition to our main offices in Houston, we are available by appointment at our offices in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Austin, and the Galveston area.