What to show a Cal/OSHA inspector
What gets asked for, in what order, and how to have it ready before the knock.
A heat inspection follows a predictable pattern: the written plan, proof of training, records for the hot days, and interviews with the crew. Nothing about it rewards a slide deck. What it rewards is a written plan that describes your actual procedures, dated logs that show what happened, and a crew whose answers match the paperwork.
Takeaways
- Assemble the four things that get asked for, before you need them.
- Understand why crew interviews are the part paperwork cannot fix.
- Handle a gap in your record honestly rather than papering over it.
- Know what the packet is and is not.
The four things that get asked for
The crew interview is the real test
What to do about a gap
Rules that were never checked
What the packet is and is not
Frequently asked questions
- How far back should the packet range go? Default to the period under discussion, and expand if asked. For a general inspection the recent weeks are usually enough; for an incident, the period around the incident plus the training and acclimatization history.
- Do I have to hand over everything they ask for? You generally have to produce records the standard requires you to keep. Questions about the scope of a request, or about anything beyond that, are worth a call to counsel before you answer.
- What if my plan is in the office and the inspection is at the site? The plan is required to be available at the worksite. Keeping it in the packet on a phone or in the truck is how most crews satisfy that, and it is a cheap thing to fix in advance.
- Should I generate the packet for every site or just the one being inspected? Just the sites and dates at issue. A narrower packet is easier to read and does not volunteer scope.