The National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP) is featuring a 10-Hour Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Construction Safety Course for the Landscape Industry.
“The students need to know what OSHA is really emphasizing,” says Sam Steel, Ed.D., NALP safety adviser and instructor of the course. “There are new emerging hazards that impact worksites; it’s always changing. As safety adviser for NALP, I get a lot of questions about what would happen if we get an OSHA inspection, who will show up and what will they want to see?”
Topics covered in the course include slips, trips and falls; electrical shock hazards; what to do if an employee is caught in or between gears, belts, pulleys or drive lines; what an OSHA inspection would entail; excavation and trenching safety; standards around respirable silica dust; materials handling; personal protective equipment; and more.
The course is broken up into two days, with five hours of instruction each day. The cost is $150 for NALP members and $250 for nonmembers.
Steel says it’s designed for crew managers, safety directors, landscape company owners, human resources staff and more.
Offered for about two years by NALP, the safety course is currently being held virtually due to COVID-19. NALP held in-person events before the pandemic.
Steel adds that the course is offered in Spanish for companies on the West Coast because the instructor for that region is bilingual. He hopes to be able to offer a Spanish version for companies on the East Coast soon.
