OSHA Required Training Checklist: General Industry

An OSHA required training checklist for general industry starts with a simple rule: under 29 CFR 1910, you must train every employee on every hazard their job exposes them to, before they face it, and refresh that training on the schedule the specific standard sets. Some standards run on an annual cycle. Some run on a three-year cycle. Most run on triggering events like a new chemical, a new machine, or an observed deficiency. Missing any of them can cost up to $16,550 per employee for a serious violation, or up to $165,514 for a willful or repeated one, at the maximums effective January 15, 2025.¹

Quick Checklist by Training Frequency

Use this as your first pass. If a hazard exists in your workplace, the corresponding training applies.

Annual retraining: Hearing conservation (at or above 85 dB TWA), bloodborne pathogens, respiratory protection, and portable fire extinguisher education.
Every three years: Powered industrial truck (forklift) operator performance evaluation.
Initial only, with event-triggered refreshers: Hazard communication, lockout/tagout, confined space entry, personal protective equipment, emergency action plans, and fall protection.
Before first exposure, every time: Any training tied to a hazard the employee has not been trained on before.

The sections below spell out what each training must cover and what triggers a refresher outside the calendar.

Hazard Communication

The Hazard Communication Standard covers virtually every workplace where employees handle or could be exposed to hazardous chemicals. Training is required when an employee first starts working with or near those chemicals and again whenever a new chemical hazard enters the work area. There is no annual retraining requirement.

Cover your written hazard communication program, the GHS-aligned labeling system with its standardized pictograms, signal words, and hazard statements, and how to locate and read the 16-section Safety Data Sheets that must stay immediately accessible each shift.² Do not skip secondary container labeling. When chemicals are transferred from the manufacturer’s container to a workplace container, that secondary container still needs at minimum a product identifier and words, pictures, or symbols conveying the general hazards.³

Lockout/Tagout

The Control of Hazardous Energy standard (1910.147) splits employees into three groups. Authorized employees, who actually apply locks or tags, need training on recognizing hazardous energy sources, understanding their type and magnitude, and knowing the specific methods for isolating and controlling them.⁴ Affected employees, who work in areas where lockout/tagout is used but do not perform it, need training on the purpose and procedures. Everyone else in the area must know one rule: never attempt to restart or reenergize a machine that has been locked or tagged out.⁵

Retrain when job assignments change, when new equipment or processes introduce hazards employees have not been trained on, or when a periodic inspection reveals gaps. Certify training in writing with each employee’s name and the dates.⁵

Powered Industrial Trucks

Only trained and evaluated operators may drive forklifts. Training must combine formal instruction (lecture, video, or written materials) with hands-on practice, including actual driving exercises. Content splits into truck-related topics like operating controls, capacity, and stability, and workplace-related topics like surface conditions, pedestrian traffic, and narrow aisles.

Certify each operator’s competence, and evaluate performance at least every three years. That evaluation requires a demonstration of both knowledge and hands-on skills, not just a written test.⁶ Refresher training is required immediately if an operator drives unsafely, is involved in an accident or near-miss, or is assigned to a different type of truck.

Electrical Safety

Employees who face a risk of electric shock not reduced to a safe level by the facility’s electrical installation must be trained. That covers more than electricians: maintenance staff, machine operators, and, in some configurations, office workers.⁷

Unqualified employees need enough training to recognize electrical hazards and avoid them. Qualified persons, meaning those permitted to work on or near exposed energized parts, must additionally be trained to distinguish live parts from other equipment, determine the voltage of exposed conductors, and maintain the clearance distances specified in the regulations. Only qualified persons may work on energized circuits or perform electrical testing.⁷

Permit-Required Confined Spaces

If your workplace contains permit-required confined spaces such as tanks, silos, vaults, or pits, everyone whose work involves those spaces needs training before their first assignment. The standard assigns different duties to authorized entrants, attendants, and entry supervisors, and each role’s training must match those duties.⁸

Retrain before any change in assigned duties, whenever permit space operations change in ways that introduce new hazards, or whenever there is reason to believe an employee’s knowledge of entry procedures has slipped. Certify training with each employee’s name, trainer identification, and dates.⁸

Personal Protective Equipment

Before assigning any PPE, conduct a workplace hazard assessment to determine what is actually necessary. Document that assessment in a written certification identifying the workplace evaluated, the person who performed it, and the date.⁹

Each employee who needs PPE must be trained on when it is necessary, which type is required for their tasks, how to put it on, take it off, and adjust it, its limitations, and its proper care, maintenance, useful life, and disposal. Before the employee starts work, they must demonstrate that they understand the training and can use the equipment correctly.⁹

Respiratory Protection

When employees must wear respirators, you need a full respiratory protection program. Training must cover why the respirator is necessary, how to put it on and take it off, its limitations, and how to inspect and maintain it. Medical evaluations and fit testing are required before an employee uses a tight-fitting respirator.¹⁰

Retrain annually, and again whenever workplace changes make previous training outdated, when an employee shows gaps in understanding, or any other situation where retraining appears necessary.¹¹ Voluntary respirator use has its own obligation. If you provide filtering facepiece respirators like N95s for employees to use voluntarily, you must give them the information in Appendix D of the standard.¹²

Hearing Conservation

When employee noise exposure equals or exceeds an 8-hour time-weighted average of 85 decibels, you must run a hearing conservation program that includes training.¹³ Repeat the training annually. Cover the effects of noise on hearing, the purpose and proper use of hearing protectors (including selection, fitting, and care), and the purpose and procedures of audiometric testing.¹⁴ Update content when protective equipment or work processes change.

Bloodborne Pathogens

Employees with occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials must receive bloodborne pathogens training at initial assignment and annually thereafter. OSHA has confirmed that the annual requirement applies regardless of any prior training or education, including healthcare degrees.¹⁵ Keep training records for three years from the date of the training.¹⁶

Emergency Action Plans

If a standard that applies to you requires an emergency action plan, that plan must include procedures for reporting emergencies, evacuation routes and exit assignments, duties for employees who stay behind to operate critical equipment before evacuating, a method to account for everyone after evacuation, and contact information for employees who can explain the plan.¹⁷

Review the plan with each employee at initial assignment, when their responsibilities under it change, and when the plan itself is revised. Employers with ten or fewer employees may communicate the plan orally rather than maintaining a written document.¹⁷ Exit routes must be unobstructed, adequately lit, and clearly marked with signs meeting the standard’s visibility requirements.¹⁸

Portable Fire Extinguishers

If portable fire extinguishers are provided for employee use, deliver an educational program on the general principles of extinguisher operation and the hazards of fighting fires in their early stages. This is required at initial employment and at least annually afterward. Employees specifically designated to use firefighting equipment as part of the emergency action plan need hands-on training in that equipment, also annually.¹⁹

If your emergency action plan calls for total evacuation and prohibits employees from using extinguishers, you do not need the extinguisher education program. You still need evacuation training under the emergency action plan.

Fall Protection and Walking-Working Surfaces

Before any employee is exposed to a fall hazard, a qualified person must provide training that covers the fall hazards in the work area, how to recognize them, procedures for minimizing them, and the correct way to install, inspect, operate, maintain, and take apart any personal fall protection systems the employee uses, including proper hook-up, anchoring, tie-off, and manufacturer-specified inspection and storage.²⁰

Employees must also be trained on the proper care, inspection, storage, and use of equipment covered by the walking-working surfaces subpart, such as ladders and scaffolds, before they use it.²⁰

Training Must Be Understandable

This one runs through every other item on the checklist. OSHA’s position across all general industry, construction, maritime, and agriculture training standards is that “train” and “instruct” mean presenting information in a manner employees are capable of understanding.²¹

If an employee does not speak English, the training must be delivered in a language they do understand. If an employee has limited vocabulary, the training must account for that. Handing written materials to an employee who cannot read does not satisfy the obligation. Compliance officers look past the sign-in sheet: signatures do not prove compliance if the training was delivered in a language or format the workers could not follow.²¹

Recordkeeping

Several standards require written certification records, and the details vary. Lockout/tagout certifications must include each employee’s name and the dates of training. Confined space certifications add the trainer’s name or initials. Powered industrial truck certifications must document the operator evaluation and be updated with each triennial performance review. Bloodborne pathogens training records must be kept for three years from the date of training.¹⁶ Other standards do not specify retention periods; keeping records for at least as long as the employee works for you, plus a buffer, is the safe practice.

Penalties for Missing Training

OSHA treats missing or inadequate training as a citable violation, and penalties add up because each untrained employee can count as a separate violation. At the maximums effective January 15, 2025:

Serious violations carry a maximum of $16,550 per violation. Most training deficiencies are classified as serious because untrained employees face a substantial probability of injury.
Willful or repeated violations carry a maximum of $165,514 per violation. An employer who knowingly skips required training, or has been cited before and still fails to train, faces this higher tier.
Failure to abate carries a maximum of $16,550 per day past the deadline OSHA sets for correcting the violation.

These maximums are adjusted for inflation annually, typically in January.¹

1
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Penalties
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Hazard Communication – Overview
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Labeling of Secondary Containers
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Lockout/Tagout – Tutorial – Employee Training and Communication
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.147 – The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. PIT Operators Triennial Performance Evaluation Requires Demonstration of Both Knowledge and Skills for Safe Operation of Vehicle
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eCFR. 29 CFR 1910.332 – Training
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.146 – Permit-Required Confined Spaces
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.132 – General Requirements
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.134 – Respiratory Protection
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eCFR. 29 CFR 1910.134 – Respiratory Protection
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.134 Appendix D – Information for Employees Using Respirators When Not Required Under the Standard
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.95 – Occupational Noise Exposure
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eCFR. 29 CFR 1910.95 – Occupational Noise Exposure
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Annual BBP Training Requirement for Employees Who Have Been Provided More Stringent Training
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.1030 – Bloodborne Pathogens
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eCFR. 29 CFR 1910.38 – Emergency Action Plans
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.37 – Maintenance, Safeguards, and Operational Features for Exit Routes
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eCFR. 29 CFR 1910.157 – Portable Fire Extinguishers
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 29 CFR 1910.30 – Training Requirements
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA Training Standards Policy Statement