Why Get a Third-Party Safety Plan Review?
After you complete your safety plan, you will have the option for a third-party review.
After you complete your safety plan, you will have the option for a third-party review. What is a third-party safety plan review and why would you need one?
⚡ In short: OSHA compliance officers review safety plans first during inspections. A third-party review ensures your plan covers all required elements, addresses site-specific hazards, and demonstrates to regulators that you took compliance seriously — not just checked a box.
⚠️ Why this matters: Many facilities write safety plans using templates, then OSHA shows up and the first question is “where are the procedures for X?” or “this doesn’t address your facility’s layout.” A plan that fails inspection scrutiny gets cited. A plan that was reviewed by an experienced professional before the inspection is more likely to survive it. OSHA officers assign significantly fewer citations to facilities that clearly invested in their plans.
In 2017 alone, OSHA handed out over 3,600 citations related to programs. Safety plans are an important part of a company’s overall safety program and provide a handbook for how the company handles a particular safety issue. It’s one of the very first things that a compliance officer will ask to see when he/she arrives onsite, so they are a very visible part of your compliance efforts. Not only are they important to have, but how thorough and correct they are is just as important.
This is where third-party reviews come in. Third-party reviews can …
Give You Another Set of Eyes, Experienced Eyes
Our third-party reviewers are safety managers who have been working with OSHA regulations, safety plans and safety compliance for a number of years. Many of our reviewers are former environmental, health and safety managers themselves. As safety consultants, they are now working for various types of companies, from small to large, throughout multiple industries and multiple locations. They have seen both the successes and pitfalls of safety plans and routinely represent clients during regulatory inspections while safety plans are being reviewed. Their firsthand experience can be a benefit for you.
Make Sure All Elements Are Covered
OSHA regulations typically specify which components need to be included, and a reviewer will be able to check for these areas and ensure they’re covered completely.
Help Give You Ideas To Strengthen Your Plan (or Determine Where You May Be Over Committing)
Programs generated from SafetyPlans.com provide a substantial basis for compliance, but there can be certain site-specific and facility-specific processes you may need to add to your plan. Our reviewers have prepared hundreds of custom safety plans and can give ideas on which areas may need to be strengthened or where more details could be added. Conversely, they’ll be able to spot the instances where you may be including information above and beyond what’s required and be able to review with the implications overcommitting on certain compliance activities on your plan.
Provide an Extra Level of Credibility
Having an unbiased, experienced third-party review may provide additional level of credibility to help show regulators that your company wants to make the extra effort to be complete. From our experience, success with OSHA inspections and visits can be boosted by attitude towards compliance. Any time your company can show a sincere effort to do all you can to be compliant, it will appear very favorably for your company to the regulator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is a third-party safety plan review?
A third-party safety plan review is a comprehensive evaluation by an independent safety professional or consultant of a facility’s written safety programs, procedures, and policies. Reviewers assess completeness, regulatory compliance, site-specific applicability, and documentation quality. Third-party reviews are conducted before or after plan development to identify gaps and strengthen compliance programs.
Q: Why should companies invest in third-party safety plan reviews?
Third-party reviews provide: independent assessment by experienced safety professionals with multi-industry knowledge, verification that all OSHA-required elements are included, site-specific recommendations to strengthen programs, feedback on whether commitments are realistic and achievable, and demonstrated good-faith compliance effort that influences OSHA inspection outcomes.
Q: How do third-party reviews help during OSHA inspections?
OSHA compliance officers typically review safety plans first during facility visits. A well-reviewed, comprehensive plan demonstrates management commitment to compliance and thoughtful hazard management. Facilities showing evidence of third-party review of their plans typically receive more favorable inspection outcomes because the third-party involvement signals genuine compliance commitment rather than minimal effort to check a box.
Q: What can a safety plan review identify?
Third-party reviewers identify: missing OSHA-required elements, site-specific hazards not addressed by generic templates, over-commitments that exceed regulatory requirements and create liability, gaps between written procedures and actual facility practices, training deficiencies, and documentation requirements. Findings help facilities avoid OSHA citations during inspections.
A third-party review typically costs $1,500–$3,500 depending on facility size and plan complexity. That investment pays for itself the first time an inspector doesn’t cite you for a missing element or an under-developed procedure. Facilities with reviewed, site-specific safety plans consistently report shorter inspections and fewer citations.
💰 What a safety plan citation costs vs. a proactive review: A single OSHA serious violation for inadequate safety plan: $16,550. Three violations (missing elements, procedural gaps, training deficiencies): $49,650. Cost of a third-party safety plan review and remedial updates: $3,000–$5,000 total. The ROI is immediate.
Need help reviewing or developing safety plans? Contact iSi Environmental for a same-day quote, or explore our safety compliance services to see how we can help your facility build plans that pass inspection scrutiny.
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