The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets important standards across industries, and failure to meet these requirements can result in injury and hefty fines. The federal organization cites thousands of businesses each year for noncompliance, with penalties ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Avoid being cited for noncompliance by staying on top of the standards in your industry. This helpful checklist takes you through some of the most important and prevalent OSHA standards. For each, we offer an overview of the requirements and provide tips for improving compliance.
OSHA 1910.22: Walking-Working Surfaces
OSHA 1910.22 stipulates that walking-working surfaces be clean, orderly, sanitary, free of hazards, and able to support the maximum intended load. Workroom floors must be kept in a dry condition, when feasible; drainage and dry standing places must be provided when wet processes are used.
What Meeting Walking-Working Surface Standards Might Look Like
Well-organized warehouse aisles and manufacturing floors remain free from obstructions such as discarded tools, trash, storage, or equipment. Spills are promptly cleaned and dried, and wet floors are identified with temporary signage. Custom floor signs state weight limits at relevant locations, and anti-slip tapes and guardrails prevent falling hazards on elevated or uneven surfaces.
How To Improve Walking-Working Surface Compliance
Make your walking-working surfaces as safe as possible and minimize slip, trip, and fall hazards with these tips:
- Use color-coded floor tape to mark storage and improve organization. When everything has an established place, it’s less likely that items will protrude into pathways.
- Use custom floor signs to mark maximum loads for relevant surfaces. Clear visual clues communicate to employees what equipment or goods are not allowed.
- Use warehouse signs or color-coded tape to mark the location of cleaning supplies so employees can easily find what they need to clean up spills.
- Wrap guardrails with hazard tape that makes it easy to see the edges of elevated platforms, and add anti-slip floor grip tape that prevents employees from tripping and falling off.
OSHA 1910.36 and 1910.37: Emergency Exits & Exit Routes
Safety around emergency exits and means of egress, as outlined in OSHA 1910.36 and 1910.37, are of utmost importance. Easy and streamlined evacuations in an emergency can be the difference between life and death. OSHA requires sufficient exit routes, which must be clearly marked, unobstructed, and maintained in a safe condition.
What Meeting the Standard Might Look Like
Regular facility inspections ensure exit routes are kept clear from obstructions and properly maintained. Regular drills and training increase employee familiarity with evacuation routes and emergency procedures. Exit doors and paths are marked with illuminated signs visible from a distance, and appropriate emergency lighting is installed and maintained along the path of egress to ensure visibility during a power outage.
How To Improve OSHA Exit Route Compliance
Floor markings and other visual cues for emergency exit routes can help increase your compliance with OSHA standards:
- Supplement directional markings with Superior Mark® repeating message tape to mark the edges of aisles along the emergency exit route. Clear markings help ensure that storage, equipment, and tools do not protrude into aisles and limit compliance with required widths.
- A pre-cut kit can ensure areas in front of exit doors are kept clear of obstructions, ensuring the path to safety remains unblocked in an emergency. We have emergency exit floor marking kits for indoor and outdoor use so you can mark both sides of the exit door.
- Use glow-in-the-dark tape to mark exit routes, ensuring visibility during a power outage.
- Ensure your color code specifies a different color for exit routes than is used for other pathways to eliminate confusion in the heat of the moment.
- Custom or pre-printed directional arrows and other floor signs can direct employees to the closest exit route and provide instructional reminders of appropriate procedures.
OSHA 1910.144: Color Code for Physical Hazards
OSHA 1910.144 outlines the safety color code for marking physical hazards, providing designations for red (danger) and yellow (caution).
What Meeting OSHA’s Color Standards Might Look Like
Fire protection equipment and apparatus and stop bars and buttons are marked in red. Further, red markings warn of immediate danger, while yellow “caution” markings signal potential physical hazards that could lead to injuries.
How To Improve Compliance With OSHA Color Codes
Most pre-printed signage intended for industrial facilities will adhere to the standards set forth by OSHA and other regulatory bodies, such as American National Standards Institute (ANSI). But there are still steps you can take to improve your compliance, including creating supplementary markings that meet established color codes. If you establish a custom color standard for your facility, ensure it does not compete with OSHA’s danger and caution messaging guidelines.
OSHA 1910.132: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
OSHA 1910.132 requires that “protective equipment…shall be provided, used, and maintained in a sanitary and reliable condition wherever it is necessary.” It is the employer’s responsibility to assess the workplace and determine what, if any, PPE is necessary. Employers must provide protective gear to each employee and offer adequate training on how to use PPE.
What Meeting OSHA’s PPE Standard Might Look Like
Personal protective equipment is readily available in various sizes—and is clearly organized so employees can find what they need. Regular training ensures employees understand how to properly use the protective gear, and processes are in place to implement consequences when PPE requirements are ignored.
How To Improve OSHA PPE Compliance
Use floor marking products to improve PPE compliance by providing regular reminders about what PPE is required where:
- Use arrow-shaped directional floor markers printed with custom messaging to guide employees to the location of PPE storage.
- Organize PPE storage by type, size, or application, and label with color-coded tape so employees can identify what they need at a glance.
- Use floor signs or repeating message tape to alert employees when entering or exiting areas where PPE is required. Floor signs for PPE should include text and/or a graphic or symbol that clearly communicates which gear is required in the area.
OSHA 1910.176: Safe Material Handling & Storage
OSHA 1910.176 outlines requirements for materials handling and storage, including guidelines for using mechanical handling equipment including cranes, hoists, and conveyors. Materials must be stacked or stored in a way that does not create hazards or block exit routes. This standard also includes requirements for handling hazardous materials.
What Material Handling Standard Compliance Might Look Like
Facilities in compliance with OSHA Material Handling and Storage requirements conduct regular inspections of storage areas, ensure proper maintenance of handling machinery, implement safe storage practices, and train employees on appropriate handling of hazardous and other materials.
How To Improve Material Handling Compliance
Follow these tips to improve material handling compliance in your facility:
- Add L- and T-shaped floor markers to outline the boundaries of pallet storage, ensuring that all boxes are stored in the appropriate locations so as not to infringe on established walkway widths, etc.
- Print custom floor tape to include height limits for each storage area and reinforce proper stacking techniques to limit the risk of goods sliding or falling.
- Use color-coded floor tape to designate storage areas by specific materials that can be stored within.
- Use GHS labels to mark secondary containers for hazardous materials, making it easy for employees to see if they are improperly or dangerously placed in storage areas for other goods.
- Use floor tape to create a red tag holding area for supplies as you decide whether they should be discarded, repaired, or moved to long-term storage.
- Superior Mark® pre-cut kits for clearance areas prevent goods from being stored blocking fire extinguishers, electrical panels, first aid kits, and other important areas in your facility.
OSHA 1910.178: Forklifts
OSHA 1910.178 outlines extensive guidelines for the safe operation, inspection, storage, and maintenance of forklifts—also called powered industrial trucks (PITs)—including speed limits, requirements for training, lockout/tagout procedures, and storage guidelines.
What OSHA Forklift Standard Compliance Might Look Like
The biggest indicator of OSHA compliance with safe forklift operation will be an absence of injury and an abundance of visual cues, including posted speed limits and caution reminders. Thorough lockout and tagout procedures, clearly marked parking and storage areas, and marked aisles with adequate clearance all indicate a comprehensive approach to forklift safety in your industrial, manufacturing, or warehouse facility.
How To Improve Forklift Standard Compliance
Improve compliance while increasing safety for pedestrians and vehicle operators with these floor markings and visual cues for forklifts:
- Use floor markings to indicate traffic flow and designated forklift lanes, as well as pedestrian-only lanes or storage areas for flammable materials where forklifts and other PITs are prohibited.
- Provide reminders for proper operation at key points in your facility, such as reminders to stop or honk when approaching intersections.
- Use reflective or high-visibility tape to mark edges of storage racks or bins that protrude into the walkway or low-hanging materials that pose overhead hazards.
- Install warning signs to alert forklift operators of low-hanging objects, uneven surfaces, and other potential hazards.
- In areas where load limits apply, floor signs can quickly, easily, and clearly communicate maximum weights and alert operators of alternate routes.
- Designate forklift parking or red-tag holding areas with clearly printed repeating message floor tape.
OSHA requirements set the bare minimum for safety markings in your facility. Use the organization’s guidelines as a starting point, then expand upon compliant markings to make your space as safe as possible for employees and visitors. Our heavy-duty Superior Mark™ tape and floor-marking products feature a durable, recessed adhesive and beveled edges so it stands up to the rigors of an industrial environment. For more on OSHA compliance and using floor markings in industrial environments, explore our Resource Center.
Sources:
- https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.22
- https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.36
- https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.37
- https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.144
- https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.132
- https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.176
- https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.178
