Site-Specific Safety Plan Template
Nothing in 29 CFR names a “site-specific safety plan”. It is a contract document — the general contractor’s way of getting 1926.20(b) and 1926.21(b)(2) in writing from every sub before anyone mobilises. This template is built around what actually gets rejected.
The document a general contractor asks for before you mobilise. Section headings follow what GC prequalification packages actually request, with the OSHA duty that backs each one.
Project and responsibility
The four reasons a plan comes back
| Rejection | What the reviewer wanted |
|---|---|
| “This is your corporate manual” | The address, the scope of YOUR work, and the hazards that scope creates on THIS site |
| “No competent person named” | A person by name for each standard that demands one, with the basis of the designation |
| “Emergency section is generic” | Muster point, nearest hospital, the site address as a caller would read it out |
| “No task-level analysis” | A JHA per high-risk task, attached, not promised |
The underlying duties read from 29 CFR 1926.20 and 1926.21 on 2026-09-04; the rejection reasons are contract-review practice, not a regulation.
Name the competent persons, standard by standard
“Competent person” is not one job. Excavation, scaffolding, fall protection and confined space each demand their own, and the designation has to be specific to the hazard. A named person with no listed basis reads as a placeholder.
The definition and the standards that call for one are set out in competent person under OSHA.
Caution
The emergency section, written for a bad morning
Two numbers belong on the front page. The site address as a dispatcher would need to hear it, and the OSHA reporting line, 1-800-321-6742. 1904.39 gives you eight hours to report a work-related fatality and 24 hours to report an in-patient hospitalisation, amputation or loss of an eye. Those clocks start when the event is reported to you, not when you get around to it.
Which events cross the reporting line, and which only go on the log, is worked through in OSHA recordable vs reportable.
Keep it alive after it is accepted
The plan is written once and then contradicted daily. Every new phase adds a hazard the original scope did not cover, and the plan that was accepted in March describes a site that no longer exists in July.
Two habits keep it honest: attach each new JHA as the phase starts, and walk the site against the construction safety checklist weekly, dating the sheet. Both are the “frequent and regular inspections” 1926.20(b)(2) asks for.