Does Michigan require a written accident prevention program on a construction site?
Yes, every construction employer, at any size. Michigan runs its own OSHA program, and Part 1 of its construction standard requires an accident prevention program that is developed with employees, kept at the worksite, and backed by instruction to each employee. There is no rule on how often a crew meets, and the instruction requirement is where the weekly talk earns its keep.
What the rule says
The rule is R 408.40114, Employer responsibilities; accident prevention program, in MIOSHA's Construction Safety and Health Standard Part 1, General Rules.
“An employer shall develop, maintain, and coordinate with employees an accident prevention program, a copy of which shall be available at the worksite.”
| What the rule requires | |
|---|---|
| Who | Every employer performing construction operations in Michigan. There is no headcount threshold in the rule. |
| Inspections | “Inspections of the construction site, tools, materials, and equipment to assure that unsafe conditions which could create a hazard are eliminated.” |
| Instruction | To each employee on “the operating procedures, hazards, and safeguards of tools and equipment” when needed for the job, and “in the recognition and avoidance of hazards and the regulations applicable to his or her work environment.” |
| Harmful substances | Instruction on potential hazards, safe handling, use, personal hygiene, protective measures and first aid for anyone who handles poisons, toxics, caustics and other harmful substances; the same for flammable liquids and gases. |
| Plants and animals | Instruction where harmful plants, reptiles, animals or insects are present: the hazards, how to avoid injury, first aid. |
| Frequency and records | The rule sets neither. The proof that the instruction happened is yours to keep. |
Read it yourself: R 408.40114.
What applies to every crew regardless
Federal OSHA's construction rule does not mandate a meeting by name. It requires you to instruct each employee in recognizing and avoiding unsafe conditions and the regulations that apply to the work (29 CFR 1926.21(b)(2)), and a documented talk is how most contractors show they did. A general contractor, a prequalification platform and an insurer ask for the same thing, and none of them lowers the bar for a state without its own meeting rule. Every state, on one page.
Questions we get asked
We are a three-person crew. Does Part 1 apply?
Yes. The rule applies to every employer performing construction operations and has no headcount line. The program can be short; it cannot be absent, and a copy has to be at the worksite.
How does an inspector know we instructed each employee?
The rule does not say, which means the record is yours to design. A dated talk with the topic and every name signed is the plainest answer, and it doubles as the training record a GC asks for.
Does the program have to be developed with the crew?
The rule says “coordinate with employees.” A program the crew has read and signed off on, with a way to report hazards, meets that in a way a document nobody has seen does not.
Is a weekly talk required?
Not by interval. The instruction duty is continuous and the inspection duty is continuous. A weekly cadence is the practice that makes both provable.
How Tailboard handles it
The written program lives where the crew can open it
The safety program is a document in the account, dated and versioned, that every person on the roster can read on their phone and that the office hands to an inspector or a GC without a search.
The weekly talk is the record
Every closed meeting records the date, the topic and its OSHA reference, who ran it, which crew and who signed, in one sealed record you can print or hand over. That is the training record every state asks to see.
Inspections with a checklist and a date
Weekly walk-around, ladder, excavation, PPE and vehicle checks, pass or fail on every line, with a photo where it failed and a repair opened where a line failed.
Certifications with their dates
First-aid cards, competent-person letters and the rest, against every name, with what is current and what is about to lapse.
Inspections and the certification register are on Fleet at $199 a month; the committee, the program and the documents are on Company at $89 and on Fleet; the weekly meeting record is on every tier from $29. Crew members never need an account and never cost you anything; they tap their name and sign.
This page describes published law and is not legal advice. Whether a rule applies to your operation, and whether you have met it, is between you, MIOSHA and your own safety professional.