OSHCON is the State of Texas's free, confidential on-site safety and health consultation program, administered by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI). It is one of the most underused compliance resources available to Texas small businesses — and using it proactively can significantly reduce your OSHA inspection risk while strengthening your safety program at no cost.
Key fact: OSHCON consultants have no citation authority. An OSHCON visit is completely separate from OSHA enforcement. Consultants cannot issue fines, cannot share findings with OSHA (with limited exceptions for imminent danger situations), and cannot create an enforcement record. The only outcome of an OSHCON visit is a report of identified hazards and recommendations for correcting them.
What OSHCON Provides
OSHCON offers two primary services to Texas small and medium-sized employers:
On-Site Safety Consultation
An OSHCON consultant visits your workplace, reviews your written safety programs, walks the operation, and identifies hazards. They provide a written report listing hazards by severity — imminent danger, serious, other-than-serious — and recommended corrective actions. You receive a timeline for correcting serious hazards. The visit is confidential.
Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP)
If your workplace completes an OSHCON consultation, corrects all identified hazards, and meets program requirements, you can be recognized under the SHARP program. SHARP recognition exempts your business from programmed (randomly scheduled) OSHA inspections for the recognition period. This is one of the only legitimate paths to inspection exemption available to small businesses.
Who Can Use OSHCON
OSHCON services are available to any Texas employer — with priority given to small and medium-sized businesses (under 250 employees at the establishment, under 500 employees company-wide). The program is funded by OSHA and administered by TDI at no cost to the employer.
Priority industries for OSHCON outreach include construction, agriculture, manufacturing, and any industry where Texas has elevated rates of occupational injuries and illnesses — which includes all six industries ReadyDocs Safe serves.
How to Request an OSHCON Consultation
Request a consultation through the TDI OSHCON program at tdi.texas.gov (search for OSHCON, as the URL may update). Requests can also be made by phone. After your request, OSHCON will contact you to schedule the visit. Turnaround times vary by demand, but most employers receive a visit within a few weeks of requesting one.
What OSHCON Consultants Look For
OSHCON consultants conduct the same hazard identification process OSHA inspectors use — they are trained to the same federal standards. During a written program review, they typically check for:
- Written Safety Plan: Does it exist? Does it cover the specific hazards of the operation? Does it reference the correct CFR standards?
- HazCom Program: Is there a written program? Is the chemical inventory current? Are SDSs accessible? Are containers labeled?
- Heat Illness Prevention Plan: Does it include the required elements — water, rest, shade, acclimatization, emergency response?
- Training records: Are employees documented as having received required safety training?
- Incident reporting: Is the DWC Form-001 reporting requirement known to supervisors?
- Job Hazard Analyses: Are JHAs in place for high-hazard tasks? Are they being used?
Physical hazard identification covers: fall hazards, electrical hazards, chemical storage and labeling, machine guarding, emergency egress, fire suppression, and any industry-specific hazards present during the walkthrough.
How to Prepare for an OSHCON Consultation
The most effective preparation for an OSHCON visit is having your written programs in place before the consultant arrives. Consultants can help you identify gaps — but if you walk in with no written programs at all, you will receive a long list of recommendations and a timeline for corrections that may feel overwhelming.
Preparation checklist:
- Written Safety Plan covering your industry-specific hazards and citing applicable CFR standards
- HazCom Program with current chemical inventory, accessible SDSs, and labeled containers
- Heat Illness Prevention Plan (if any outdoor work)
- JHA examples for high-hazard tasks
- Employee training records showing dates, topics, and signatures
- Incident/near-miss log showing how you track and respond to safety events
- DWC Form-001 reporting procedure known to supervisors
The Relationship Between OSHCON and OSHA Enforcement
OSHCON operates under a strict confidentiality protocol. Information gathered during a consultation visit is not shared with OSHA enforcement staff. OSHCON consultants and OSHA compliance officers are in separate programs and do not share findings. The only exception is an imminent danger situation — a hazard that could cause death or serious physical harm before it could be corrected — which consultants are required to address immediately.
Participating in OSHCON and correcting identified hazards is the strongest proactive defense against an enforcement action: you identified the hazard, you corrected it, and you have documentation. That is exactly the good-faith evidence that affects how OSHA assesses penalties if an enforcement inspection ever occurs.
How ReadyDocs Safe Documents Are Built for OSHCON
ReadyDocs Safe documents are structured around the same elements OSHCON consultants review. The Written Safety Plan covers the CFR standards applicable to your industry. The HazCom Program includes a chemical inventory framework and SDS management procedures. The Heat Illness Prevention Plan includes all required elements. The New Employee Safety Orientation includes a signature block that becomes a training record. Together, these documents give an OSHCON consultant a complete written safety program to review — and give your business the documentation foundation that SHARP recognition requires.