Are You Prepared for a Random OSHA Inspection?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) can justify coming to your business for many reasons, including a random inspection. Understanding your rights and responsibilities, and how to react to a surprise inspection can help with safety operations and save you some anxiety.

Use this guide to prepare for an OSHA inspection and evaluate the condition of your safety programs:

A random inspection is simply that: random. Your facility may not have a high injury rate. Your employees may all be happy with you and the working conditions. You may not have any formal safety complaints against you. Still, you could be selected for a random inspection. OSHA occasionally conducts these inspections across industries.

You shouldn’t have much to worry about if you already practice good safety hygiene: protecting your employees from hazards, injuries and illnesses. But if you play the odds and toss safety to the wayside, a random inspection could end in citations and fines.

If your safety violations are severe enough, OSHA could shut down your operations.

Compliance safety and health official (CSHOs) are sometimes known as “compliance officers” or “OSHA inspectors.” CSHOs conduct inspections to ensure employers follow federal and state health and safety regulations. They identify potential workplace hazards, examine equipment and operational procedures, and check documentation and training records. They inspect workplace conditions, interview employees and enforce compliance with OSHA standards. CSHOs also educate employers on how to improve safety.

OSHA prioritizes its responses and inspections as follows:

1. Imminent danger (workers face immediate risk of death or serious harm)
2. Employee injuries, illnesses, catastrophes or death (incidents have already occurred)
3. Complaints from workers (not every complaint results in an investigation)
4. Referrals from federal, state or local agencies
5. Target industry inspections selected randomly (such as the National Emphasis Programs, which focus on certain hazards and high-risk industries)
6. Follow-up inspections (to ensure previously identified safety citations have been corrected)

OSHA gives top priority to imminent danger inspections because the employer can still prevent worker injury.

OSHA gives second priority to incidents that have already occurred so they can immediately investigate and prevent further injury.

Complaints, referrals, and targeted and follow-up inspections are conducted in order of importance.

OSHA standards are a bare minimum, not the gold standard. Your safety culture should showcase more than just your compliance. It should demonstrate that you, your people and your workplace are performing well. OSHA wants proof that you comply with its requirements, but its primary purpose is to ensure you’re actively trying to keep workers safe.

If your safety culture is based on meeting compliance alone, you won’t find long-term success. You need your people’s ongoing cooperation, engagement and participation to achieve a thriving health and safety program. OSHA has the right to interview your employees during an inspection. What will a compliance officer discover during these interviews?

In no particular order, here are some steps you can take to prepare for a random OSHA inspection:

Assess personal protective equipment

Conducting a personal protective equipment (PPE) risk assessment can help identify hazards within the general workplace and for specialized tasks.

Conduct a job hazard analysis

Conducting a job hazard analysis (JHA) for all the positions at your facility will help you rank and prioritize the hazards. This is known as your hierarchy of controls. It might even reveal hazards you didn’t think of. For example, a few workers might spot weld as part of their duties, but only occasionally. You should account for this in your safety evaluation. Provide welders with PPE, training, and a fire watch (aka spotter) when welding near combustible materials. It’s not a typical job duty, but it requires safety planning.

Develop written safety programs and action plans

Develop a safety action plan for your facility. Once you know what your hazards are and you’ve ranked their priority, you can address your safety planning, A comprehensive safety plan includes written programs like an emergency action plan and hazard communication plan. It also includes documentation such as a chemical inventory list, safety data sheets and recordkeeping.

Evaluate your employee training

Train your employees. A safety program only works if your employees understand the hazards and safety procedures available. Retrain employees periodically and whenever operations change. For example, if you adopt a new way of working or introduce new chemicals, retrain your employees. Informal toolbox talks are an effective way to communicate safety and refresh information from past trainings. It only takes a few minutes at the start of a shift. (Remember to keep records of your toolbox talks and informal on-the-job training so you can prove you’ve done it during an investigation.)

Do a mock safety inspection of your workplace

One of the easiest ways to measure your safety procedures is to do a walk-around inspection of your worksites. Engage all of your employees in a mock inspection. Create a safety inspection and assign each member duties for the inspection. Front-line workers have valuable insight into workplace safety improvements. But they’ll only tell you if you allow them to speak openly, without fear of retaliation. Allow them to offer suggestions, participate in walkthrough inspections and help mitigate hazards.

Consider assigning employees to sections of the worksite they don’t usually work in. They’ll have a fresh perspective and could catch safety issues that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Talk to an employment lawyer

A seasoned employment lawyer can help you evaluate your safety compliance and what to do in an inspection. Since you’ll only have 15 days to respond to OSHA’s written inspection results, connecting with an employment lawyer you trust before an inspection is best. You’ll have less anxiety knowing you already have someone to call for advice and help sorting out the details if OSHA cites you.

Model behaviors and make safety a part of every workday

Prioritize and model safety. Communicate with your employees. Give them ways to report safety concerns without fear of retaliation. Investigate near-misses and involve workers in the process. Make near-misses and safety mishaps a learning opportunity to advance safety initiatives, not a punishment. Toolbox talks serve as training tools but also allow time for worker questions and team bonding. If you make safety part of the daily routine, it won’t feel as awkward or overwhelming.

Review the safety citations in your industry

Looking into common hazards in your industry can be a learning opportunity. Review OSHA’s Top 10 Most Frequently Cited Standards. Use the list as a guide to identify and correct any items at your workplace. OSHA’s top 10 list is released annually. Many citations hold the top spots year after year. These include fall injuries, hazardous chemical exposures, and uncontrolled energy that causes unexpected machine startups and electrocution.

This repetition signals that employers can do more to protect workers in these areas.

Recordkeeping

If you’re required to keep injury and illness records according to OSHA’s injury and illness recordkeeping and reporting requirements, the CSHO will request:

• Your Form 300A (posted annually)
• All recordable injury and illness logs
• All injury and illness documentation going back five years

Don’t include personal information, such as names, in your incident report logs. Instead, anonymize the employee information before you submit it to OSHA. Use terms like “Worker 1” and cross-reference the personal data in separate files.

Posters

You’ll also need to show the compliance officer where you display your OSHA Job Safety and Health: It’s the Law poster.

Write and maintain your written plans as prescribed in the OSHA standards. An internet search will provide tips, lists and templates. OSHA has a Sample Programs resource to help you create written programs for various hazards and industries.

The following standards require a written plan:

You can combine your written programs into one comprehensive injury and illness prevention program (IIPP). The IIPP must address the OSHA standards that apply to the risks in your industry.

Rehearse the OSHA inspection process with your employees. Assign key roles to your employees:

• Designate someone to document what the inspector finds. Assign someone to take notes, sample (noise and air quality) and take pictures of everything the OSHA inspector mentions.
• Designate people to take immediate corrective action. The CSHO might find simple infractions, like a burned-out light bulb or boxes blocking a walkway. These things are easy to correct, but you don’t want to leave the inspection walkthrough to do them. It’s best to assign a secondary team to remedy minor infractions and document them before the inspector leaves.
• Designate an employee representative. If you have a union or human resources representative, make them part of the inspection. Inspectors can interview random employees. Employees have the right to talk to the inspector alone or request that a union representative be present. (It is up to the employee to decide.)
• Designate a company representative. A manager should attend the inspection walkthrough and all meetings. A safety director or upper management is preferable. They should understand the OSHA standards that apply to your organization and have access to training records, injury and illness logs, and other information documentation.
• Read the inspection letter. Make sure everyone on your team knows how to read an OSHA inspection letter. You team should stick to the areas the CSHO has requested to see. Don’t deviate from those areas. If you willingly allow access to areas of your business that aren’t on the inspection list, a CSHO can comment or cite what they find or see.
• Rehearse appropriate responses. If a CSHO finds violations during the inspection, do not admit fault or over-explain. Simply take notes and acknowledge what the CSHO says. Tell your corrective action team to remedy the violations immediately, if possible.

A surprise inspection can be stressful, but you should never react angrily. Always be polite.

Ask to see their badge and identification number. Call the number of your state or federal OSHA office to check their credentials, including their name and badge ID. Scams involving people impersonating a CSHO have happened. (Don’t rely on the contact number on the back of the badge in case it’s a fraud.)

Usher the CSHO to a conference room or another area separate from your general work areas. Remember, any area you show them could end up in a report.

Gather your team. The CSHO will explain the reason for the inspection and the areas and documents they will inspect at the opening meeting.

Only produce the documents they request to review while on site, which may include:

• Incident and injury logs and summaries
• OSHA poster
• Training records (five years)
• Written safety programs (emergency action plan, hazard communication plan, etc.)
• Safety data sheets
• Chemical inventory
• Medical surveillance programs and records (hearing tests, X-rays, blood samples, respirator fit tests, etc.)

Be careful about disclosing sensitive information. Remember to redact Social Security numbers and other personally identifiable information from employee records and inform the CSHO you’ve done so.

A massive benefit to preparing for an OSHA inspection is that you’ll increase your ability to identify hazards in the workplace. You’ll have methods to correct them before they cause an incident. You’ll gain staff buy-in that safety’s important because they’ll see you take safety seriously. Your modeled behaviors will set the pace for health and safety.

Preparing for a random OSHA inspection is not just about avoiding fines or citations—it’s about fostering a culture of safety that protects your employees and strengthens your business. By implementing proactive safety measures, maintaining thorough documentation, and engaging your team in regular training and mock inspections, you can ensure compliance and create a workplace where safety is second nature. Remember, the goal of OSHA inspections isn’t to punish but to promote safer work environments. By embracing this mindset, you’ll be ready for any inspection—and more importantly, you’ll safeguard your most valuable asset: your people.

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Related Links:

• Best Practices for Safety Committees
• 5 Steps for Building an Effective Safety Program
• What to Do When an Employee Refuses Workers’ Compensation Treatment?