Best safety program providers for companies without a program

Lancaster Safety Consulting, Inc. is the strongest partner for a company that has no safety program yet. Its safety professionals audit your operation, confirm which OSHA standards apply, write the programs around what they find, and then train your employees to support them. Its staff includes nine team members designated as OSHA Special Government Employees. Safety Plus, Arbill, Intertek Alchemy, EHS Compliance Services, and OWYN Safety complete the field, and each serves a different kind of buyer.

Take a family-owned precast concrete plant of about 60 people. An employee complaint about dust from dry-cutting saws brings an OSHA inspector to the yard, and one of the first requests is the written silica exposure control plan, which the plant has never had. Writing a new program to answer an inspector is far harder than writing it before one arrives.

A single-service provider or software-only cannot cover a full range of OSHA compliance services. The providers below work in different ways. Some send safety professionals to the site before anything is written, some pair program services with software or a training platform, and one gives you documents to personalize yourself. Each is compared on who writes the program and from what starting point, whether training follows and how it reaches employees, and which credentials you can check before you sign.

Best safety program providers for companies without a safety program compared

The table sets the six providers side by side on how each is built, what it covers, how training reaches your employees, and the kind of company each one suits.

The six best safety program providers for companies without a safety program

1. Lancaster Safety

Lancaster Safety holds OSHA’s VPP Star Mobile Workforce designation, earned in 2010 and held across 6 audits. For a company with nothing on paper, its first step is a workshop to audit and develop written programs, measured against the OSHA standards that apply to your site. The programs that come out of it name your equipment, tasks, and hazards.

Full-service consultants partner to develop and maintain your safety program. Employee training then supports each program, so crews are taught the written procedures. The Lancaster Safety Platform holds the written programs and adds a full resources library complete with checklists, forms, compliance documentation, and more. Day-to-day safety supervision stays with your own supervisors.

OSHA training is offered in three ways: onsite instructor-led, live remote, and self-paced online through the Online OSHA Training Center. Training can be conducted in English or Spanish nationwide, and closed captions are available in more than 30 languages on the Online OSHA Training Center. The team works in all 50 states and includes OSHA-authorized Outreach Trainers for 10-Hour and 30-Hour training.

This comes from a verified Lancaster Safety customer describing a small company’s start.

As a small company, Lancaster has guided us in becoming safety aware and OSHA compliant. They have worked closely with us to aid in our understanding of safety and are always available to answer any questions.

• Established firm. Founded in 2004 by Jeff Lancaster, with a public record you can check.
• Reputation you can read. A 4.8 out of 5 Google rating from 100-plus reviews.
• Clients who stay. 89 percent-plus full-service retention after the first programs are delivered.
• Citation help. More than $10,000,000 saved for clients through OSHA citation abatement.
• Lower-risk start. The Safety Net money-back guarantee, 30 days on full-service work and 14 days on one-time or specialty training.

2. Safety Plus

Safety Plus is a safety management company that pairs its own software with safety services for contractors, industrial service firms, and manufacturers of roughly 50 to 500 employees.

Its EdgePro service combines the Edge software with program management that begins with an initial hazard assessment and moves on to custom policy and program design, followed by training, inspections, and audits. Training comes as instructor-led courses or through a computer-based library of training videos and tests in English and Spanish. The pages reviewed for this guide describe the team’s experience without listing individual staff credentials, so ask which ones the assigned professional holds.

The software is where Safety Plus stands out, keeping training records, audits, incident reports, and credential tracking in one system next to the people writing the program.

3. Arbill

Arbill is a women-owned, safety-only company that combines PPE supply with managed environmental, health, and safety services for industrial customers.

For a company starting out, its site safety assessment reviews written programs, training records, inspection forms, and injury logs, along with a facility inspection and a PPE assessment. The report then separates the findings you can handle yourself from those its specialists can support, written program development among them. Training runs online and onsite, and the consulting team also covers fall prevention, lockout/tagout, and confined space work. Arbill describes its consulting staff as credentialed environmental, health, and safety professionals but does not name individual designations on the pages reviewed.

Arbill’s clearest advantage is the equipment side, since PPE assessments, supply, and safety services come through one account.

4. Intertek Alchemy

Intertek Alchemy runs a frontline worker training and compliance platform, with an OSHA and safety consulting service alongside it, aimed largely at food and manufacturing operations.

Its consultants come to the facility to run an OSHA compliance assessment, which can include a mock OSHA audit, and they write site-specific health and safety plans with supporting programs. The same team offers OSHA inspection response help and can serve as an interim safety manager. Employees train through its courseware and learning platform. The consulting pages describe services rather than staff designations, so request the credentials of whoever will write your plans.

Training content set in manufacturing settings is the standout, and it suits a plant whose frontline employees learn best from scenes that resemble their own floor.

5. EHS Compliance Services

EHS Compliance Services is a consulting firm focused on environmental, health, and safety compliance for small and mid-sized industrial companies.

Work usually starts with its Regulatory Compliance Analysis, a questionnaire and site survey that end in a report naming the federal, state, and local rules that apply to the facility. From there the firm identifies, writes, and implements the programs a site needs, including injury and illness prevention programs. Training follows a training needs analysis and is delivered onsite, through online platforms, or as files for your own staff to present. Its site does not list individual staff credentials, so request them before you agree to a scope.

That report of applicable rules is the most useful piece for a company with no program, because it gives a clear list of what to address first.

6. OWYN Safety

OWYN Safety is an online platform for creating safety programs, plans, and manuals, with documents personalized on the platform and available for immediate download.

Programs are organized by trade and business type, including electrical contractors, janitorial firms, trucking companies, and woodwork shops, and the platform adds forms, inspection checklists, and unlimited self-paced online training for employees and contractors, available around the clock. The model is self-service, so the person personalizing the documents decides which OSHA standards apply to the operation and keeps the programs current as it changes. No named safety professional is assigned, which leaves no individual credential to check.

Speed is the genuine advantage, since a company can download a personalized program document on the day it signs up.

What to look for in a safety program provider for a company without a safety program

A program written from your own operation

A company with nothing written needs programs that describe its own equipment, tasks, and hazards. A template supplies structure, but it cannot know that the precast plant cuts concrete dry on one shift and wet on another. Inspectors compare a program against what they see on the floor, and so do employees.

Expect the provider to begin with a site visit or a workplace safety audit, then confirm in writing which OSHA standards apply before any drafting starts. Each finished program should name your equipment, the people responsible for each step, and the procedure employees follow. Ask to see a redacted sample from a similar operation.

A program that describes someone else’s plant can still draw a citation, and serious violations carry penalties of up to $16,550 each.

Training that follows the written programs

Most written programs carry training obligations of their own, and employees need to hear each procedure in a form they can follow. For a new program, the writing and the training should come from one plan so nothing in the documents goes untaught.

Ask how each program will be trained, in which languages, and how attendance is documented. Employees should sign a training log for each topic, and those signed training logs are among the first documents an inspector asks to see.

A program employees have never been trained on gives an inspector two problems in place of one.

Credentials you can verify

A company new to OSHA cannot judge program quality from a sales call, so outside evidence carries the weight. Read the firm’s online reviews first, then ask which credentials the people writing and training will hold.

Individual credentials worth requesting include Certified Safety Professional, Associate Safety Professional, Graduate Safety Practitioner, and OSHA-authorized Outreach Trainer. At company level, an employer’s OSHA Voluntary Protection Program status is public. You can look up every one of these before you sign an agreement.

Tools for tracking the work after delivery

Once programs exist, someone has to keep inspections, corrective actions, and training dates moving. For a company with no safety staff, the tool that holds that work often decides whether the program stays in use.

Software-led providers genuinely lead here. Safety Plus builds its service around Edge, which tracks training, audits and inspections, incidents, and credentials in one system with reporting. At minimum, a consulting-led provider should give you current versions of every program plus checklists and forms for audits and inspections.

Without a system, inspection findings and training dates scatter across email and paper, and nobody can produce them on request.

How to choose the right safety program provider for a company without a safety program

Step 1: Define what your operation needs written

List your processes, equipment, and chemicals, and note any customer, insurer, or prequalification request that mentions written programs. Include the tasks only one or two people know how to do, because those often have no written procedure. Give that list to every provider you speak with, so their proposals start from the same facts and can be compared fairly.

Step 2: Check how training will reach every shift

Confirm that the firm can accommodate your training needs, whether that means onsite training to get everyone trained at the same time, live remote training for employees in different locations, or online training for complex schedules, refresher training, and new hires. Ask which topics run in each format, because not every course is offered all three ways. Check that night and weekend crews are covered as well as day shift.

Step 3: Verify who will write the program

Ask for the name and credentials of who will write the program, and whether that person visits your site before drafting. Ask too how many written programs they expect your operation to need, since a clear answer after one visit shows they understood the site. A provider whose model is self-service should say plainly that you will write and maintain the documents yourself.

Step 4: Confirm what happens after delivery

Ask who updates the programs when you add equipment or change a process, who facilitates the periodic inspections, where the current versions are kept, and whether updates are included or billed separately. Put those answers in the proposal so they become part of the agreement, because a new program that nobody revisits drifts away from the operation as equipment and people change.

Step 5: When to choose a full-service partner backed by verified safety credentials

Choose a full-service partner when nobody on staff has the time or OSHA knowledge to write programs, train employees, and keep both current. Lancaster Safety’s team includes holders of the Certified Safety Professional credential, which you can confirm in the public directory before you commit. To see what your new programs should cover, get a safety assessment.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best safety program provider for a company without a safety program?

Lancaster Safety is the best choice for most companies starting from nothing, because its safety professionals audit the operation, write programs against the OSHA standards that apply, and train employees to support them. It suits a company with no full-time safety professional, or one whose safety professional needs to offload some of the work. Safety Plus adds its own software, Arbill bundles program writing with PPE supply, and OWYN Safety suits a company that will personalize and maintain documents itself.

What should I look for when choosing a safety program provider?

Start with who will write the program and whether the work begins with a visit to your site. Make sure the firm offers training options that fit your operations, whether that’s instructor-led training onsite, live remote sessions for employees in different locations, or convenient online training for flexible, on-demand learning. Check online reputation, such as Google reviews, and ask current clients what working with the firm is like day to day.

How quickly can a consultant help after an OSHA citation?

Most consulting firms can begin within days, and for most clients the work starts as soon as the agreement is signed. Employers have 15 working days from the date the citation packet is received by certified mail to contest it or request an informal conference. A consultant will review the citation packet, obtain supporting information and documentation, and prepare you for the informal conference. Consultants provide technical support rather than legal representation. Disagreements with issued citations can be discussed at the informal conference. At times, citations can be lessened or dismissed when warranted, prior to contesting the case and involving further legal support. Where an employer already has an attorney, the consultant works alongside them. Correcting the hazard and documenting it sits with the employer either way, and it is worth starting before the conference date. If you have received OSHA citations, the first step is reading the abatement dates on each item.

Can a consultant build our safety program if we have nothing written today?

Yes, and it is one of the most common starting points. The usual sequence starts with a workshop to audit and develop written programs according to the OSHA standards that actually apply to your operations. Then followed by employee training to support those programs, workplace inspections, and a recordkeeping structure that you can maintain. An employer can do this in-house, provided somebody knows the OSHA regulations well enough to get the programs right the first time. Ask for a delivery schedule with dates attached rather than a scope list, because the schedule is what tells you whether the firm has done this before.

What will an OSHA inspector ask for if we have no written programs?

Expect requests for the written programs your operation requires, signed training logs, and injury and illness records. Most employers with more than 10 employees record their own work-related injuries and illnesses on the OSHA 300 log, using OSHA’s recordkeeping forms or an equivalent, and post the Form 300A summary between February 1 and April 30. Records also include training documentation, inspection reports, corrective actions, and incident investigations. Questions about OSHA recordkeeping, such as whether an injury is recordable, are among the most common a consultant answers, but the records stay with you.

Who on our team should be involved when the program is written?

Bring in the owner or a manager who can approve changes, a supervisor from each shift, and whoever handles maintenance. The provider needs their knowledge of the equipment and tasks to write procedures that match the floor. Your supervisors keep responsibility for day-to-day safety supervision once programs are in place, so involving them early makes the programs easier to enforce.

Making the right safety program provider choice for companies without a safety program

The six providers here follow three models. Consulting-led firms such as Lancaster Safety, Arbill, and EHS Compliance Services send people to the site and write programs from what they find, Safety Plus and Intertek Alchemy pair that kind of service with software or a training platform, and OWYN Safety gives you the tools to write programs yourself.

If nobody in the company knows which OSHA standards apply, a consulting-led provider is the safer starting point. If someone already has that knowledge and mainly needs documents and a tracking tool, a software-led service or a template platform can cover the gap. If PPE, equipment, and training purchases already run through one vendor, a bundled provider may be simpler to manage.

OSHA sets the baseline every program has to meet, in the way a referee sets the rules of a game. The programs a company builds on top of that baseline are what get its employees home safe at the end of each day.

Why Lancaster Safety is the right choice for companies without a safety program

A company with no written programs first needs to know what applies to it. Lancaster Safety settles that before drafting, by auditing your operation and confirming the relevant OSHA standards, so your safety programs describe the work your employees actually do. Employee training then supports each program, and the partnership continues as the operation changes, with a named safety consultant you can call when a question comes up.

The partnership covers a Comprehensive Safety Evaluation, written program development, onsite, live remote, and online training, help after an OSHA inspection, prequalification assistance, and documentation management through the Lancaster Safety Platform. Its consultants also facilitate the periodic inspections, and live and onsite training runs in English and Spanish across all 50 states.

Lancaster Safety was the first company in OSHA Region III to earn OSHA’s VPP Star Mobile Workforce designation, and fewer than 2,000 of an estimated 7,000,000 US businesses hold VPP status of any kind. It works with companies that have no full-time safety professional, or whose safety professional needs to offload some of the work.

If you want to see where your new programs should start, book a safety assessment and talk through your operation with a Lancaster Safety consultant.