In the Safety Program Elements section, you will need to answer several questions related to programs, hazards, and activities. Any affirmative or Yes response will require the upload of supporting documentation. Documentation will be uploaded in the Advanced Initiatives tab at the bottom (or for Precision Equipment ContractingPartners at the bottom of the Advanced Initiative tab).
If the hazard, activity or program addressed by the question is applicable to your company’s scope of work you are responsible to have a safety program in place to address the associated hazards and the protection of your employees. Your response should be ‘We have a program in place to address this hazard/activity’.
Your uploaded supporting documentation must be able to meet any or all of the following requirements:
- The International Standard Organization’s ISO 14001:2015,
- The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations’ 29 CFR 1910 and 29 CFR 1926
- The American National Standards Institute’s Workplace Safety Standards.
A typical safety program contains the following items:
- Hazard recognition and assessment.
- Steps and or procedures to control the hazard.
- Training materials and procedures for affected employees.
- Competent person designation. (Person or Job Title responsible for implementing controls)
As an example, if your employees work in or around excavation and trenches, your safety program should address the following items:
- What activities do your workers typically perform that involve potential exposure to excavation and trenching hazards?
- What are the hazards associated with excavations and trenches that your employees will face, and what steps or procedures will your company implement to control the hazards and protect your workers?
- How will you train your employees to recognize excavation and trenching hazards, and to implement identified control measures? How frequently will employees be trained?
- Identification of competent persons (persons with extensive training that are responsible for identifying hazards, implementing controls, periodic/daily inspections, etc. and that have the authority to stop work should hazards be present).
These are the basic elements of any effective safety program regardless of the hazard or activity.
While the example provided here is specific to construction, the responsibility to have safety programs in place applies to all companies. The safety programs you develop must be specific to your company and must address the specific hazards presented by your company's scope of work.
If the uploaded supporting documentation is insufficient, there will be points deducted from your score. This presents an opportunity to identify any potential gaps in your safety programs and presents an opportunity for improvement. You can visit this article for information on how to improve your safety score. Should you decide to develop and implement additional safety programs to address any deficiency you can login and upload additional documentation at any time.
If you feel that your uploaded documentation sufficiently addresses any discrepancy you can request that Highwire conducts an additional review.
To expedite review of your documentation, we need you to provide us with the following information:
- Reference the specific deduction/question you would like us to review (tab and question number)
- Provide the file name of the uploaded document where the content can be reviewed
- Provide the page number(s) where the content can be reviewed
A manual review of the documentation can take a few business days for our Certified Safety Professionals to complete. We will notify you via email when this review is completed.
Please contact us by clicking the Help Icon in the top right of your profile, or by clicking the Contact Us link here.