In California, state law mandates that all employers have an IIPP. Violation of this rule is Cal/OSHA’s most frequent citation. If your organization is lacking a formal IIPP, there are a few options for creating one.
The first option is to hire a consultant who specializes in safety and OSHA compliance. This is a person who will ask you questions about your operations and take a tour of your facility. They will provide a custom plan to suit your specific needs. The huge benefit of working with a consultant is the fact that you can ask them all your questions and discuss how to implement particular portions of your program. We highly recommend this option and LBW has several expert firms we are happy to refer.
Another option, which is FREE, is offered by the State Compensation Insurance Fund. In support of their continuing efforts to help keep California workplaces safe, they’ve launched a new and easy-to-use Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) Builder. It’s available to all California employers at no cost. The Builder is a free online tool that helps employers create a comprehensive, compliant safety plan for their businesses. It guides users through each of the eight parts of an IIPP, asking questions about their current safety plans along the way.
The FREE IIPP Builder can be found at State Fund’s SafeAtWork.com
On that page, you’ll select one of two options:
“Guests” - this is what you'll select if you do not have a current Workers Compensation policy with State Fund. Keep these points in mind: you can create an IIPP and save it as a PDF to your computer, which is great, BUT the application will time out after 20 minutes of inactivity and will not save your work. So, before you begin, be sure you’re ready to complete the process, start to finish in one sitting.
“Policyholders” – If you are a current State Fund policyholder, you can log into the portal to build, save, and edit your IIPP’s. You can also create additional plans for different locations.
A third option is to simply download Cal/OSHA's IIPP template as a Word doc and customize it for your organization. Cal/OSHA has recently updated their website and launched a page that offers templates, forms, checklists, and additional resources. That page can be found here Cal/OSHA Publications
Before starting work drafting your plan, you’ll want to gather some basic information about your organization.
This includes:
- Your current safety procedures. (You’ll need them to help answer some upfront questions)
- Identify who in your business is responsible for managing your safety program
- Your business contact information
For more information about IIPP’s, workplace safety, Workers' Compensation insurance, or a referral to a safety consultant, contact us today. We’re here to help!