Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a Federal Government agency with the duty to enforce safety and health legislations. The agency is under the United States Department of Labour and its mission is to assure safe and healthy working conditions for employees by enforcing standards, providing training and educating workers. You can actually build a career as an OSHA trainer or instructor and take up the duty of training workers on work safety and how to prevent health hazards in a work environment. In this article, I will discuss stipulated requirements for becoming an OSHA instructor and how to become an OSHA instructor:
Requirements For Becoming an OSHA Instructor
The agency stipulated that any person that wishes to become an OSHA instructor must fulfill the following criteria;
- Experience: you must have at least 5 years experience in construction safety or general industry safety.
- OSHA Training: you must have completed an Occupational Safety and Health Standards for Construction industry training or its equivalent also known as the #501 training course.
- College Degree: OSHS instructors are also required to have a college degree in any field.
How To Become an OSHA Instructor
- Register For Training: the first step to becoming an OSHA instructor is that you have to register for the #501 training course in an accredited OSHA training institute or educational centre. OSHA has their educational centres in various locations in every State; locate the OSHA training educational centre near you and register for a trainer’s course.
2. Complete The Number of Hours: as part of the requirements stipulated by OSHA, any person that wishes to become an OSHA instructor or trainer must complete at least 30 hours of training in any of their training institute; you have to make out time to complete the stipulated time requirement. If you take 3 hours course every day, you should be able to complete the program within a month.
3. Collect Your Trainers Completion Card: after you are done with the OSHA trainer’s course, you are issued with an authorized trainer’s course completion card; the cards can be issued by OSHA instructors to students who have completed their health and safety course. The card is not mandatory, but some organizations may make it mandatory that you issue the card to all their employees that have completed the health and safety course. The card is gotten free of cost from any of the OSHA training centres; you are to request for it after you have gone through your trainer’s course.
4. Lease an Office Space: you can operate this business as a home business since you will be going to the Organization’s location site to train the workers; all you need is to drop a standby mobile number where clients can reach you for your services and also to decide on a good payment structure for receiving payments. On the other hand, you can also lease a space that will serve as your office with a receptionist desk to entertain inquiries concerning your services.
5. Create a Profile on Outreach Trainers: the Outreach trainer is a free website where OSHA trainers or Instructors can create a profile to enable workers or organizations searching for an OSHA instructor to locate them easily. Creating a profile on the Outreach Trainer’s site is free of charge but you have to be as explicit as possible when creating your profile; remember to include your portfolio including popular companies you have worked with. If you are just starting out and don’t have an impressive portfolio, not to worry because it is just a matter of time and hard work before you get to that stage. Visit www.outreachtrainers.com and create a profile for yourself now.
6. Advertise Your Services: at this stage, you are now a certified OSHA instructor, the next step is for you to advertise your services to companies that need the services of an OSHA instructor; I have mentioned one of the ways to advertise your services which is to register on the outreach trainers website; but other ways to advertise your services include;
7. Proposals: you can make a list of companies and organizations around with employees that may need safety and health training; send them a proposal on the services you offer and how the company can benefit from training their workers on health and safety standards in the workplace.
8. Online: also create a website for your services where people looking for OSHA instructors in your location can be directed to your site by search engines. The details of the service you offer; different packages available and how organizations can benefit from using your services should be included in your website.
9. Reactivate Your Card: at the end of every 4 years, your OSHA trainers authorization card expires, and you are required to retake a new #501 training course to reauthorize or reactivate your card to enable you continue as an OSHA instructor.
How Much Can an OSHA Instructor make annually
This question is always asked by people wishing to start a career as an OSHA instructor. The truth is that there is no specific amount mapped out for OSHA instructors’ yearly earning; the amount an OSHA Instructor will make annually will depend on; how much he charges for his training package and how many companies he gets to work with him before the year runs out. But on the average, a hard working and determined OSHA instructor should be able to make at least $50,000 or more annually.
So far, I have covered basic requirements stipulated by OSHA for becoming an instructor, how to become an OSHA instructor, easy ways to become an OSHA Instructor and concluded with how much an OSHA instructor can make in a year. In conclusion, this line of career is a very lucrative one and inexpensive to start; you can actually venture into it and create a brand for yourself in the industry. Remember to get your Tax Identification number from the IRS department to enable you keep up to date with your tax payment.