What is OSHA Certification? HIPAA Journal

What is OSHA Certification?

Posted October 17, 2023 by Steve Alder

OSHA certification is a recognition workers obtain for completing courses in OSHA’s Safety and Health Fundamentals Program. Some OSHA certification courses are designed to teach general workplace safety, while others may be geared towards specific hazards or specific roles. Examples include:

Job Hazard Analysis
Health Hazard Awareness
Electrical Standards
Industrial Hygiene
Machinery and Machine Guarding Standards
Permit-Required Confined Space Entry
Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure Control
Occupational Noise Exposure Hazards
Training Guidelines for Safe Patient Handling
Fall Hazard Awareness for the Construction Industry

How to Obtain OSHA Certification in the Fundamentals Program

OSHA’s Safety and Health Fundamentals Program awards certificates to participants who complete a minimum of seven courses. The courses vary in length from 4 hours up to 35 hours, and participants must complete at least 68 contact hours of training for a construction or general industry certificate, or 77 contact hours of training for a maritime certificate.

The courses are run at OSHA Training Institute (OTI) Education Centers located throughout the country – usually attached to a college or university – or remotely via Zoom or Canvas. Prospective candidates can find a searchable database of courses (by course, location, language, etc.) plus the cost of taking each course on the OSHA website.

OSHA Certificate Programs for Safety and Health Professionals

In addition to the Safety and Health Fundamentals Program, OSHA’s website contains details of certificate and degree programs for safety and health professionals. The objective of these programs is to provide students and existing safety managers with the skills and qualifications required to perform at various levels within the safety management field.

As with the Safety and Health Fundamentals Program, OSHA certification is dependent upon participants completing a minimum number of courses over a minimum number of hours. The number of courses and contract hours required for OSHA certification depends on the level of the course (Certificate, Associate, Bachelor, Master, etc.) and the qualification achieved at the end.

What is OSHA 10-Hour and 30-Hour Certification?

OSHA 10-hour and 30-hour certifications – also known as Outreach Certifications – are two types of training programs offered by OSHA-authorized training organizations. The 10-hour certification program is intended for “entry level workers” and covers the basics of OSHA compliance such as hazard recognition, workers’ rights, employers’ responsibilities, and how to file a complaint.

The 30-hour certification program is more advanced and intended for supervisors and managers with responsibility for safety and health in the workplace. The program covers more topics than the 10-hour program; and, although not standard-specific, is recommended for anybody that will ultimately be responsible for providing OSHA training to members of the workforce.

The Benefits of Obtaining an OSHA Certification

The benefits of obtaining an OSHA certification vary according to your location and the industry you work in. In some states, it is necessary for workers in the construction industry to hold an OSHA 10-hour certification before being allowed to work on certain types of projects. In some states, the 10-hour and 30-hour certification courses have to be retaken every five years.

For workers not required to obtain OSHA certification, the benefits include having a better understanding of workplace safety, helping colleagues recognize workplace hazards, and helping an employer improve or maintain safety standards. In some cases – particularly when a high-level qualification is achieved – OSHA certification can result in a better paid job.

Governor Newsom Signs California Delete Act into Law

Posted October 17, 2023 by Steve Alder

On October 10, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Delete Act (Senate Bill 362) into law. The bill was introduced in April 2023 by Senator Josh Becker to give California residents greater control over their personal information and how it is used by data brokers. Data brokers sell millions of consumers’ data points to the highest bidder. That information includes purchasing data, which can be accessed by retailers and used to serve targeted ads. More sensitive information may also be collected and sold, such as geolocation information and even reproductive health information.

The new law will allow state residents to request that data brokers delete their personal data and/or forbid them from selling or sharing their personal data. Since 2018, Californians have had similar rights, but in order to exercise them they were required to make requests to each individual data broker. Since there are almost 500 data brokers operating in California, exercising those rights would be a time-consuming process.

The Delete Act simplifies that process, as it calls for the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) to develop a mechanism for allowing California residents to exercise their rights, which should be made available on a single page on its website. Consumers will be able to submit a single request for all data brokers to delete their personal information and prohibit them from selling or sharing that information. The CPPA has been given until January 1, 2026, to implement the feature on its website.

By August 1, 2026, data brokers will be required to check for any new requests at least once every 45 days and process those requests. The bill will not prohibit a data broker from continuing to collect the personal data of consumers who have exercised their rights, but once a request has been made via the CPPA, the data broker will be required to delete any new data that is collected at least once every 45 days. The data broker would not be permitted to sell or share a consumer’s data once a request has been made.

The Delete Act takes the definition of data broker from the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which classes data brokers as companies with gross revenues of more than $25 million in the previous year, that buy, sell, or share the personal information of 100,000 or more consumers or households each year, provided that at least 50% of the company’s annual revenue comes from the sale of personal information.

From January 1, 2028, and every 3 years thereafter, data brokers would be required to undergo an independent third-party audit to determine whether they are compliant with the Delete Act and submit the audit report to the CPPA on request. Any data broker found not to be compliant with the Delete Act would be liable for administrative fines, fees, expenses, and costs.

While the Delete Act will provide consumers with greater control over their personal data, the Delete Act has significant exemptions. The definitions used for data broker means some companies that collect and sell considerable amounts of consumer data would be exempt and not subject to any deletion requests. Data brokers are likely to have to overcome technological challenges to comply and critics say it will place an undue burden on data brokers and could even undermine California’s digital economy. If large numbers of California residents exercise their rights, it will make it hard for small businesses to find new customers as they will no longer be able to rely on data-driven advertising.

The signing of the bill has been welcomed by the CPPA. “We applaud Governor Newsom for signing SB 362, the California Delete Act, which the CPPA Board unanimously voted to support in July. SB 362 is consistent with CPPA’s mission to further Californians’ privacy by making it easier for consumers to exercise their rights,” said Ashkan Soltani, Executive Director of the CPPA. “Similar to the California Consumer Privacy Act’s existing requirement for businesses to honor opt-out preference signals, the ‘accessible deletion mechanism’ is another privacy innovation that further cements California’s leadership in technology policy and consumer protection.”

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