TemplaKit — OSHA compliance documents for small to medium businesses
Small Contractor Guide

OSHA-required written programs for small contractors

The requirements apply to you too — but meeting them doesn't take a safety department.

Short answer

Which OSHA-required written programs do small contractors need?

Small contractors owe the same written programs as large ones — the standards contain no small-business exemption from the programs themselves, only a partial recordkeeping exemption for routine injury and illness logs. In practice the recurring set is Hazard Communication, PPE hazard assessment, Fall Protection, Respiratory Protection where respirators are used, Silica where cutting or grinding occurs, and Lockout/Tagout where equipment is serviced. Prequalification portals then ask for those same programs in writing before you can bid.

Governing requirement: 29 CFR 1904.1 (partial recordkeeping exemption only)

Do OSHA's written-program requirements apply to small contractors?

Yes — and that catches a lot of small businesses off guard. OSHA's written-program requirements are triggered by the hazards your work involves, not by how many employees you have. A two-crew contractor exposed to silica, chemicals, and fall hazards needs the same written programs for those hazards as a much larger company. The requirement follows the work, not the headcount.

What is different for a small contractor is the burden of meeting it. Large companies have safety departments; you probably don't. And that gap — real requirements, no dedicated staff — is exactly where small contractors get stuck, especially when a client suddenly requires prequalification and you're trying to run the business and assemble a compliant program set at the same time.

You don't need a safety department — you need the right programs

The honest path for a small contractor is narrower and cheaper than it looks. You don't need every safety program that exists, and you don't need to hire a consultant at four figures per program. You need the specific written programs your actual hazards require, built correctly, kept current. That's a finite, knowable list — not an open-ended project.

The first step is the same one that saves the most money: find out which programs your work actually requires before you build or buy anything.

Find the exact programs your work requires

Run the free Compliance Readiness Check — tell it your trade and hazards, get back the exact written programs a contractor your size needs. Free, no login.

Run the free Readiness Check

Built for the contractor without a safety department

TemplaKit is self-serve by design — you generate the written programs your work requires yourself, as company-specific documents you own, without hiring a consultant or standing up a safety department. It's the small-contractor path to being audit-ready and supporting your prequalification submissions, at a subscription price instead of a per-program consulting bill.

Start with the readiness check See pricing

Related guides

Common questions

Are companies with fewer than 10 employees exempt from OSHA written programs?
No. The fewer-than-10 provision relaxes only routine injury and illness recordkeeping under 29 CFR 1904 — it does not touch written programs. The written-program requirements in the individual standards apply regardless of headcount.
Do sole proprietors with no employees need written programs?
OSHA standards apply to employers with employees, so an owner-operator with no employees generally has no OSHA obligation — but general contractors and prequalification portals routinely require the programs contractually anyway.