Getting Started – Setting Up Your Injury and Illness Prevention Program
This Cal/OSHA standard [Title 8 CCR §3203 and §1509] requires every California employer to establish, implement, and maintain an effective Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) to promote health and safety in the workplace.
An IIPP must be a written plan that includes all of the following elements:
- Management commitment and assignment of responsibilities. Someone with the authority and responsibility for the program must be identified and given management’s full support to implement the program.
- A system for ensuring that employees follow safe and healthy work practices. This will include a plan for providing re-training to employees when necessary.
- Safety communication system. Employers must communicate with employees about safety in a language they can understand and in a manner that does not depend on employees’ reading and writing skills. Communication systems may include safety meetings, written materials, health and safety committees, or other methods that encourage employees to share their safety concerns or suggestions without fear of being fired or punished.
- Hazard identification and control. There must be specific procedures for identifying, evaluating, and correcting hazards, including scheduled periodic inspections of the workplace. Hazards must be corrected as soon as they are found, or as quickly as possible, with priority given to the most serious hazards.
- Incident investigation. There must be a process for investigating work-related injuries and illnesses. Written documentation of incidents should be kept, indicating why they occurred and what actions will be taken to prevent them in the future.
- Training. Training must be provided to all employees when the IIPP is established, to all new employees when they start, and to anyone with a new job assignment. Whenever new substances, processes, procedures, or equipment are introduced in the workplace, employees must receive training about them.
The written IIPP must be made available to all workers. Records must be kept to document that there is an effective program in place. These records should include scheduled inspections, actions taken to correct problems, and types, dates, and providers of training. Please note that while all employers need to have written IIPPs, there are some exceptions to the documentation requirements if you have fewer than 10 employees.
- TASH Guide to Developing Your Workplace Injury and Illness Prevention Program outlines steps you can take to develop an effective program. It includes checklists for self inspection.
- Cal/OSHA Injury and Illness Prevention etool includes an online tool for creating an IIPP for your business. Click on “How to Create Your Written IIPP.”
- TASH Model Injury and Illness Prevention Programs. You can download and print a hard copy model that you can fill in by hand.
