November 25, 2002—The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Small Business Administration have pledged to work together to help small businesses reduce their ergonomic hazards through increased outreach and education.
Under the agreement, OSHA and SBA will establish an information sharing process to distribute ergonomics program information to small businesses. The partners also will create a referral procedure to submit small business input on industry and task-specific ergonomics guidelines.
The SBA’s Office of Advocacy agreed to distribute OSHA ergonomics information and gather comments from small businesses in various industries. In addition, the Office of Advocacy will promote small business access to ergonomics information through The Small Business Advocate and electronic regulatory communications.
The SBA’s National Ombudsman will also disseminate OSHA small business resources and educational materials on OSHA’s ergonomics plan at regional hearings and fairness boards, small business roundtables, and in its monthly electronic publication RegFair Report.
For more information, contact OSHA.
