• U.S. Department of Labor (DOL): The DOL regulates various employee rights, including those regulated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The DOL is also the parent organization for the National Labor Relations Board and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Any growing company needs to check out this site.
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): OSHA’s mission is to save lives, prevent injuries and protect the health of America's workers. OSHA’s standards cover a broad array of regulations for workplaces. Although OSHA falls under the DOL, it’s importance in workplace regulations warrants its own link from this page.
• Food & Drug Administration (FDA): The FDA dictates standards and regulations for safety in food products and cosmetics, and regulations for the safety and efficacy of pharmaceuticals, biological products and medical devices. The FDA is an operating division of the Department of Health and Human Services.
• U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA): The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 requires all agencies to simplify language and forms used for Federal Regulations that small businesses must comply with, and that all agencies answer inquiries of all small businesses concerning information and advice about regulatory compliance. The bill allows Small Business Development Centers to provide small businesses information on complying with regulatory requirements.
• National Fire Protection Association (NFPA): The Mission of the NFPA is to reduce the burden of fire on the quality of life by advocating scientifically based consensus codes and standards, research, and education for fire and related safety issues. The NFPA is an international, not-for-profit organization. Currently, there are over 300 NFPA fire codes and standards used throughout the world.

www.nlma.org/lbrdepts.htm

This page gives a link to The US Department of Labor (DOL) page, which provides a Small Business Handbook describing statutes and regulations administered by the DOL as well as a general overview of DOL requirements. The actual DOL page contains an Interactive Compliance Assistant Advisor, to advise on the topics of Employee Standards Administration, Mine Safety & Health Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Veteran’s Employment and Training Services. This page also provides links to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and individual State Departments of Labor.
 

www.osha.gov

The Compliance Assistance and Standards links from the main page both provide valuable information regarding OSHA standards, and assistance as to how to follow them. OSHA also provides a link to a page that provides over thirty other related Safety & Health Internet sites.

 
www.fda.gov/opacom/morechoices/moreindu.html

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services

The page is a link called Information for Companies Regulated by the FDA. This link page includes links to the Code of Federal Regulations, Compliance References, Guidance Documents, Contacts and other useful information. The most useful link on this page is to A Small Business Guide to FDA, which, among other things, provides information on how to use the Federal Register, How to Obtain FDA Statutes and Regulations, and Who to Contact for Assistance.
 

www.sba.gov

U.S. Small Business Administration

In addition to detailed info regarding the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, the SBA web page includes a contact list of contacts of major agencies that regulate small business and agriculture.
 

www.nfpa.org

National Fire Protection Association

Because NFPA codes, standards and handbooks are copyrighted materials, they are not available to view or download over the Internet; but can be ordered from the page. However, the page includes a link, called NFPA Codes and Standards Fact Sheets, which provides a description of the larger codes and an understanding of their contents, written in non-technical terms.
 
 
 
 
 

By Danielle C. Keegan