A question for those Safety Professionals here

While looking around for some online OSHA training I ran across a company called OSHAcademy that offers 10/30 hours programs as well as several "professional" certificates.
OSHAcademy | Free Online OSHA Training | Occupational Health and Safety Training
The courses are fairly reasonable, actually they're free, but the certificates cost.

What I'm curious about is how (or if) it satisfies OSHA training requirements.
Here's how they explain it:

Are OSHAcademy courses "approved" or "certified"?

That's a great question. OSHAcademyTM online training is recognized by colleges, insurance companies, and many public and private sector organizations. Our training is endorsed by the National Safety Management Society.

"OSHA doesn't certify anyone as qualified to do anything" was a regular comment I used while working as an OR-OSHA Safety Training Specialist for 16 years. However, OSHA does "approve" or "certify" training only when it's conducted by OSHA Outreach Instructors who work with the various OSHA Training Institute Centers. Although OSHA does "recognize" training, for legal reasons OSHA does not formally approve or certify training presented by other providers. Remember, is someone tells you they or their products are "OSHA certified", "OSHA qualified" or "OSHA approved," you better verify the claim. Most likely, it's not truthful.

OSHAcademyTM online training does conform to the guidelines within ANSI Z490.1-2009, Criteria for Accepted Practices in Safety, Health and Environmental Training, and OSHA Publication 2254, Training Requirements in OSHA Standards and Training Guidelines for online training as stated and inferred in letters of interpretation. If you ask OSHA about online training, they will state that if the online training conforms to their standards they will likely "recognize" it as valid training. It's important to understand that the guidelines within ANSI Z490.1-2009, Criteria for Accepted Practices in Safety, Health and Environmental Training, and OSHA Publication 2254, standards include the following criteria for online training to be considered valid:

* Adequate treatment of the subject in terms of content and currency.
* Conducted by a competent person.
* A standard knowledge test. Typically multiple-choice, true-false, or essay questions.
* At least 25 questions for complex procedures or topics.
* A minimum exam pass score of at least 70%. No more than three attempts to pass a test.
* An opportunity for student-instructor interaction
* A certificate of completion with unique student identification.
* A student evaluation of training


So, for those here who are a little more knowledgeable about Safety and OHSA, is he right about how OSHA sets training standards, or is he playing games with the wording - recognized vs certified vs approved?

Thanks.

 

I am familiar with OSHA as far as forklifts, weight handling, and other machinery and they do not endorse or certify anyone in those areas. OSHA puts out requirements and guidelines and requires you to follow them. For example, with forklifts which they called powered industrial trucks the requirement is pretty much as follows: Instructor has to be someone appointed by the organization that is familiar with the machinery and operating them. The instruction given should be both classroom and hands on operating.

So for me, I am in the military and do this for our base. I am the instructor. There are no requirements by OSHA for how long I would have to have been familiar with forklifts, how proficient I am, or anything else. The only requirement is that I am "familiar" and appointed by the organization. The requirements that I have to teach others are also very vague. As I mentioned there are a few areas that have to be hit in the classroom and hands on but no time durations or specific areas that are required.

Now, given all that information there are many companies that do "train the trainer" for instructors like me. They are familiar with OSHA requirements and make sure the instructors are knowledgeable of the OHSA requirements. These aren't required by OSHA but help make sure that the organization is following the law.

I am not sure if all of OSHA's rules and regulations are ran the same way as the forklift but in my experience the ones I have encountered are. It is up to the organization to make sure they are in compliance and then when something goes wrong you are going to be hit with heavy fines if you aren't.

There may be things in every field like the ones with forklifts where private companies are giving out certifications to reassure corporations and other organizations that they are following the law and this may be something along those lines.

 

Check them out with your employer. Generally I'm suspicious of free or low cost certifications.
So you are prudent in checking out this outfit before sending money.

At CSUDH they offer OSHA courses (I'm not sure if any are online) which are also listed on the OSHA training web site
OSHA Directorate of Training and Education

 

OSHAcademy Training

Hi All,

I stumbled across this thread and wanted to encourage you to check out OSHAcademy. Yes, the training is free and if the student wants documentation, there is a comparatively modest administrative fee to cover records administration, certificates, etc. A student may complete all of the courses, including quizzes and exams, for free. There is no catch at all. I developed most of the classroom and online training for Oregon OSHA during my employment with them as a senior training specialist, and I can say that our OSHAcademy training meets or exceeds OSHA requirements for online training. The training is completely legitimate, valid and recognized by the National Safety Management Society and the Institute for Safety Health Management. Steve Geigle, CSHM, CET

 

Been a while since this was last addressed but ran across it while doing a review search of this particular traiing organization.

OSHA will not certify anyone. It is up to an employer/training organization to deem someone "OSHA Competent or Qualified Person". For example I attended a 3 day course on fall protection which included classroom lectures, written tests and hands-on modules. From this course earned an OSHA Fall Protection Competent Person certificate from that facility but not OSHA itself. The course was paid for by the employer an d was accpeted as appropriate for the corporate training matrix completion.

AS far as "certified OSHA trained", it is very vague. Pretty much OSHA outlines what an employee and employer are responsible adn how someone can be deemed "competent or Qualified" and that is about it. It is then up to the employer or student to do there due diligence in investigating whether a training program/class/organization meets the needs of their individual requirement.

Speaking directly of OSHAcademy, it is decent stuff and the 132-hour program is accepted for the certification portion of ISHM's ASHM certification. So I would judge it as good quality but not all-inclusive or competent person level training (no hands-on portion). You will not be deemed a "Safety Stud" but if you want some generalized knowledge, say for a department or project manager or even someone new to safety duties/responsibilities, definitely go for it.

 

OSHA Young Workers Safety in Restaurants Course

https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/youth/restaurant/equipment_foodprep.html

Free, Online, Certificate

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