Management's Responsibility

According to the OSHA Act every employer has a legal obligation to furnish employment (work) and a place of employment (workplace) free from known hazards that could cause serious injury or death.

This course is designed to give you some ideas to help meet that obligation and apply effective management principles to the function of workplace safety. The ultimate goal is to help you understand these principles so that it affects your thinking, beliefs, decision and finally your actions to improve your company's safety management system and leadership culture.

Safety is smart business!

If you want to reduce the costs and risks associated with workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities, you should place as much emphasis on safety and health in your workplace as you do on other management issues such as production, sales, transportation and quality control. The old phrase, "Safety First", may sound nice, but in reality, safety is more effective if it's thought to be a priority. In a highly competitive environment priorities can change rapidly. To survive, a company must both produce and be safe. Turn safety into a core value that never changes. Change "Safety First" to "Safety Only."

"Safety Only" emphasizes the idea that it's fine to produce as hard and fast as you can, as long as you can do it safely. High productivity is desired, but if a safety hazard or practice is discovered that might cause serious physical harm or death, it should be corrected immediately, even if that means shutting down production. That's commitment to safety!

The Eight Elements of a Safety Management System

In this course, each of the modules will discuss one of OSHAcademy's eight elements of an effective Safety Management System (SMS). Each of the elements listed below are critical to the success of the SMS.

1. Commitment and Leadership
2. Accountability
3. Safety Involvement
4. Safety Communications
5. Hazard Identification & Control
6. Accident Investigation
7. Education and Training
8. Continuous Improvement

Getting Started

• Study the elements of an effective safety and health program covered in this course, and come up with a plan to suit your individual workplace.
• Decide exactly what you want to accomplish, and determine what steps are necessary to achieve your goals.
• Some of the elements may already exist, needing only minor changes to make them more effective.
• Next, plan how and when each step will be carried out and who will do it. If your company has a safety committee, its members can be a great help in this effort.
• Put the plan in writing. It's smart to put your plan in writing so everyone can read it and get involved.

OSHA has developed a Safety and Health Program Advisor that will help you analyze and evaluate your organization's safety and health management system. We encourage you to use this resource.

Modules

To begin your training, click on the module links below. If you are just starting this course, you should start with module 1.

1. Commitment and Leadership
2. Accountability
3. Safety Involvement
4. Safety Communications
5. Hazard Identification & Control
6. Accident Investigation
7. Safety Education
8. Continuous Improvement

Course 700 Final Exam

OSHAcademy course final exams are designed to help ensure students demonstrate a sufficient understanding of the content covered within each course. To help demonstrate this understanding, students must achieve a minimum score of 70% on final exams. It is OSHAcademy's policy to protect the integrity of our exams and, as a result, we do not provide missed questions to students.

After you have studied all of the course material and taken the module quizzes, you can take the final exam. The module quizzes are optional, but we highly recommend you take each quiz, as the questions are similar to those on the final exam.

This is an open book exam. As you are taking the exam, if you find a question you are unsure of, you should use the course study guide or course web pages to research the correct answer. Don't worry if you fail the exam. You can study and retake the exam when you are ready.

If you have already paid for a Certificate Program

If you have already paid for your certificates, your exam score will be displayed in your student dashboard next to the course. You will also be able to view or print the course PDF certificate if you purchased this option. Your PDF transcript will also be automatically updated to include the course.

If you only want free training

You are welcome to take all of our courses for free! We only charge a fee if you want certificates, transcripts and exam scores to document your training. If you have not made a payment for your certificate, we will archive your exam results and you will see "Completed!" next to the course if you passed the exam. If you did not pass the exam with a score of 70% or higher, you will need to retake the exam.

Course 700 Study Guide. You can save this study guide to your computer for offline studying, or print the study guide if you prefer.

Additional Resources

• Safety and Health Management Systems eTool, OSHA
• Field Operation Manuel, OSHA
• OSHA 2254, Training Requirements in OSHA Standards and Training Guidelines, OSHA
• Two Dimensions of Safety, HSE Press Journal
• 5S Training and Research Page, Creative Safety Supply
• OSHA Safety Pays, OSHA
• Foundation for a Safe Workplace, Oregon OSHA
• ANSI/AIHA Z10-2005, American National Standards Institute
• Injury Data and Statistics
• General Industry OSH Management Program
• General Industry Basic OSH Management Program
• Public Sector OSH Management Program
• Medical and Dental Office OSH Management
• Long Term Care Industry OSH Management Program
• Wood Products Industry OSH Management Program
• Fire, Rescue and EMS OSH Management Program
• Grocery and Related Products OSH Management
• Food Manufacturing Industry OSH Management Program