This is the rejection reason nobody warns you about, because the reviewer assumes you already know. If you work in one of the states below, a program set citing only 29 CFR can be returned without anyone telling you why.
Twenty-one states and Puerto Rico operate OSHA-approved State Plans covering private-sector employers. Each writes and enforces its own standards, which must be at least as effective as the federal ones — and are frequently stricter.
| State-plan jurisdictions covering private employers |
|---|
| Alaska · Arizona · California · Hawaii · Indiana · Iowa · Kentucky · Maryland · Michigan · Minnesota · Nevada · New Mexico · North Carolina · Oregon · Puerto Rico · South Carolina · Tennessee · Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Washington · Wyoming |
If you work in any of these and your written programs cite federal standards only, they are not describing the law that applies to you.
Cal/OSHA requires a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program under 8 CCR 3203 from every employer, with no size threshold. It is a document federal OSHA has no equivalent of, and no federal template pack contains one. A California submission without an IIPP is incomplete regardless of how good the other twenty programs are.
The required elements and the small-employer exceptions
Washington requires a formal Accident Prevention Program outlined in writing under WAC 296-800-14005, and the rule is explicit that it "must be tailored to the needs of your particular workplace or operation." It has two required components: a safety orientation covering a defined list of topics, and a safety and health committee.
Fall protection is also not the single federal 6-foot trigger. Under Chapter 296-880 WAC it varies by activity:
| Activity | Trigger | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Most walking and working surfaces, open sides, ramps, steep-pitch roofs | 4 feet | 296-880-20005 |
| Low-pitched roofing work and leading-edge work | 6 feet | 296-880-30005(1) |
| Erecting or placing structural members; excavation and trenching | 10 feet | 296-880-30005(2) |
| Written fall protection work plan required | 10 feet | 296-880-10020 |
That last row is a separate written document, required wherever a 10-foot fall hazard exists. Contractors who assume Washington is simply "4 feet instead of 6" miss it.
MIOSHA issues its own Part standards for general industry and construction. A program citing 29 CFR alone does not reference the rule a Michigan inspector or reviewer works from, even where the substantive requirement is identical.
Most contractors never discover the gap through enforcement. They discover it when a hiring client's reviewer returns a submission, because the reviewer is checking documents against the jurisdiction the work happens in — which is exactly the check a template seller never performed.
A template pack cannot know which state you are in. It is sold to everybody, so it is written to the only standard that applies everywhere.
The rule follows the worksite, not your office. A Florida-based contractor taking a job in Tennessee is subject to Tennessee's plan for that work. Multi-state contractors generally need their programs written to cover each jurisdiction they operate in, rather than picking one.
A complete Hazard Communication Program as we deliver it — document control block, responsibilities matrix, training frequencies in a table, retention periods with the citation that sets each one, revision history and a management signature block. Client details removed. Five pages.
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All twenty-plus programs written to your trade, your state and your stated operations. Questionnaire drafted from your intake answers and returned to you for sign-off. Uploaded, submitted, and every rejection handled until your grade passes. Then $129 a month keeps it passing — documents refreshed before they expire, OSHA 300A each year, insurance and EMR letters updated.
Passing grade or your money back, provided the information you give us is accurate and your insurance limits and EMR meet your customer's published thresholds. We check both before you pay anything.
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It tells you whether you can pass and what it costs, before any money changes hands. If your EMR or your limits will fail regardless of paperwork, we tell you that instead of taking the $795.
We will not write a program describing safety practices you do not actually follow. The questionnaire asks factual questions about your operations, and the answers go to a customer relying on them for site access. We draft from what you tell us and send it back for your sign-off. If you want a document that says something untrue, buy a template.