IMPLEMENTING EFFECTIVE SAFETY PROGRAMS FOR DIVERSE INDUSTRIES

PEO clients span construction, manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, warehousing and office environments; each have distinct risks and regulatory obligations. The most effective safety programs are tailored to specific tasks and environments and are scalable across diverse operations. This article outlines a practical approach PEOs can use to classify work, assess hazards, implement targeted controls and connect safety with claims performance to reduce injuries and workers’ compensation costs.

Implementing effective safety programs for diverse industries requires a skilled safety professional. PEOs can benefit from highly experienced safety and loss control specialists who help clients prevent injuries, reduce workers’ compensation costs and maintain compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

These professionals should function in a consultative role—either developing and integrating a well-structured safety program into client operations or assessing and improving existing programs. A senior environment, health, and safety (EHS) professional brings broad industry experience and practical technical skills across compliance, risk reduction, workers’ compensation and culture. A senior or experienced health and safety professional (often functioning like an EH&S consultant or advisor) needs to have a diverse environmental and safety background that includes extensive industry experience that will assist PEO clients in practical, technical, and other measurable ways across compliance, risk reduction, and culture. This could include familiarity with workers’ compensation claims, investigations, and an understanding of general liability risk management principles and industrial hygiene practices.

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Effective safety practices across a PEO’s diverse client base necessitate a professional with OSHA expertise, claims insight and operational understanding who can develop tailored programs that prevent injuries and lower claim costs. Credentials and certifications matter but demonstrated competency in construction and general industry regulations—and the ability to scale solutions without copying them wholesale—matters more.

Effective safety practices across industries demand a chameleon-like PEO safety rep—part OSHA whisperer, part risk mitigation strategist, and part operations guru—who develops safety programs specifically tailored for multi-platform PEO industries. Implementing effective safety programs across multiple industries requires a custom approach that balances universal safety principles with industry-specific risks and operational realities. This includes having knowledge with the various agencies other than OSHA that may have requirements applicable to the operations such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation, and local health departments. OSHA also references and enforces its own performance-based rules using widely accepted American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) practices as evidence of what “adequate” or “recognized” protection looks like (including under the General Duty Clause). These are critical codes that require specific knowledge applicable to specialty trade scopes of work.

A safety professional should be considered a competent or qualified person in the workplace. Competent vs. qualified person definitions are central to implementation. A competent person can identify existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings and has authority to take prompt corrective measures. A qualified person has recognized credentials or extensive knowledge and experience to resolve problems related to the work. In many PEO contexts, safety professionals will serve as both, depending on the operation. This is critical knowledge as both ANSI and NFPA approved standards are widely recognized by industry, regulators, and courts as “consensus” best practice; some are incorporated by reference in OSHA rules.

OSHA STANDARDS CFR AND TITLE EXPERTISE

OSHA regulations are codified in Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR):

• 29 CFR 1910 covers general industry
• 29 CFR 1926 covers construction
• 29 CFR 1904 addresses injury and illness recordkeeping

The distinction matters: general industry applies to routine operations and maintenance across manufacturing, retail, hospitality, warehousing, healthcare, and offices, while construction applies to construction, alteration and repair work. Many standards cross over and apply in both settings. Other agencies can also be relevant depending on the operation.

EFFECTIVE PROGRAMS FOR CONSTRUCTION AND GENERAL INDUSTRY OPERATIONS

Both General Industry and Construction standards consist of specific regulations tailored to the respective industry’s regulatory and safety needs. However, these regulations may apply to both, and often cross over depending on the operations. The hazard communication standard, lock-out/tag-out (LOTO), fall protection, walking and working surfaces just to name a few, may apply to both standards. Again, this is where an experienced safety professional can assist PEO clients as they can identify, explain, develop, and integrate the industry-specific OSHA requirements into the varied industries within the PEO. Having the ability to accommodate a scalable approach to the various industries served is an advantage; however, knowing that “one size” does not fit all is paramount to the risk management success of the PEO’s clients.

STEP ONE: UNDERSTAND THE INDUSTRY

OSHA separates regulations by the type of work being performed. An experienced safety and health professional must first identify the diverse hazards within an industry and then use their skills and knowledge to protect both the PEO and the workers from those identified hazards. This is because the standards applicable to a certain hazard vary from one industry to another. For example, in general industry, fall protection is required at four feet and above, while construction requires protection at six feet and above for unprotected sides, edges and holes.

STEP TWO: UNDERSTAND THE SPECIFIC HAZARDS WITHIN EACH INDUSTRY

Implementing safety programs across diverse workplaces requires industry-specific expertise and a scalable, tailored approach. Construction hazards vary widely—bridge work, steel erection, structural insulated panels, tilt-up, tunnel forms, and masonry each carry distinct risks. An experienced safety professional is essential to identify these hazards and develop operation-specific fall protection methods. A safety expert is of value to a PEO who understands both standard requirements and approved alternatives of the fall protection standard. They must also be proficient in anchorages, cable lifelines, passive systems, and portable and roof fall protection solutions. Effective programs begin with industry-specific hazard assessments and must scale across diverse clients. That demands extensive experience, strong OSHA expertise, and fluency in the many construction trade regulations and operational best practice.

The operations applicable to the OSHA general industry standards may include healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality, and clerical environments. Again, 29 CFR 1910, general industry, applies to routine operations, maintenance, and most non-construction workplaces. Each of these operations should have distinct safety regulations that will need to be adapted from industry to industry as many of the regulations may be applicable to the various types of operations.

The safety requirements applicable to healthcare operations may differ from manufacturing; however, they may also have significant similarities. An example of this would be the applicability of the bloodborne pathogen standard associated with biological hazards in a hospital, medical laboratory, doctors or dental practice office. A biological exposure may also be present in a hotel specific to the housekeeping operations within the laundry department.

Other regulations applicable to general industry are similar to the construction industry – including the hazard communication standard, LOTO, respiratory protection, and fall protection. This is where a scalable approach in developing safety programs that serve multiple client sectors comes into play. Having a safety professional that can not only identify the hazards but also integrate the OSHA requirements into the various industries served by a PEO is critical to success.

An effective risk and safety professional that supports PEO clients must design safety programs that are both scalable and tailored to each industry and operation. They should identify hazards, align them with applicable OSHA requirements, and implement controls and training specific to each task and the environment in which the work is being performed. An experienced EHS professional who integrates OSHA compliance, risk management, workers’ compensation strategies, and operational insight will reduce injuries and costs, ensure compliance, and ultimately support both the clients’ and the PEO success.