Safety Consulting Services

BCSP-Credentialed Safety Consulting Services

3P Safety Consulting Services delivers project-based, fixed-fee safety analysis and program work. We serve general contractors, federal primes, manufacturers, multi-site operators, and insurance and risk stakeholders.

Staffing gives you hourly site coverage. Consulting delivers discrete work products:

• Gap audits and program documentation.
• Incident investigations and regulatory response packages.
• Expert witness reports.
• EMR strategy plans.
• ISO 45001 certification path work.
• Customer audit prep.

Every consulting engagement is led by senior-credentialed practitioners. Lead consultant baseline is BCSP CSP. Specialty engagement leads carry more credentials:

• CIH for industrial hygiene.
• CHMM for hazardous waste.
• ARM/CRIS/CSRP for insurance and risk.
• ISO 45001 lead auditor for management system work.
• OSHA VPP coordinator background for VPP applications.

Founder Patrick Salazar has been a safety practitioner since 2005 — NCCCO Mobile/Tower/Inspector/Lift Director, OSHA 500 instructor, BCSP member. Safety consulting engagements are different from staffing — the deliverable is the analysis, the program, the audit, or the regulatory response, not hourly site coverage. Every consulting engagement is scoped against your specific question before any work begins.

Most consulting engagements run 30 days to 18 months on fixed-fee or fixed-deliverable scoping. We also offer fractional ongoing consulting on monthly retainer for clients who need ongoing program oversight without a full-time corporate director cost.

Consulting Service Categories We Deliver

Below is the engagement portfolio. Most clients start with one category and expand as the relationship develops.

• Safety program gap audit — written program review against OSHA, EPA, EM 385, state-plan, or customer-specific requirements. 4-6 week engagement, fixed fee $18K-$45K.
• Safety program authorship and build — written program, JHA library, training matrix, audit calendar, incident protocol. 8-16 week engagement, fixed fee $45K-$140K.
• OSHA citation response and contest support — informal conference preparation, 15-day contest filing decisions, settlement negotiation, corrective action plan authorship.
• Incident investigation — fatality, serious injury, near-miss, equipment damage. Root-cause analysis, regulatory notification flow, corrective action plan, witness interview protocol, evidence preservation.
• Expert witness and litigation support — construction defect, workplace injury, fatality litigation. CSP-credentialed expert testimony, report authorship, deposition support.
• Insurance carrier loss control engagement — broker-driven program improvement before renewal, captive insurance entrance prep, EMR reduction strategy with 3-year experience-period planning.
• Customer audit preparation — major customer (oil-gas operator, federal prime, large industrial) scheduled an EHS audit. We deliver the gap audit, build the deliverables, and stage documentation.
• ISO 45001 / ANSI Z10 management system consulting — full certification path or interim management system improvement. Partner with accredited certification bodies (ANAB, IAS) to avoid consultant-as-auditor conflict.
• OSHA VPP application support — Voluntary Protection Program eligibility, gap audit, application authorship, evaluator site visit prep.
• Process Safety Management (PSM) consulting — PHA leadership (HAZOP, what-if, LOPA), MOC, mechanical integrity program design, RAGAGEP audit.
• Industrial hygiene exposure assessment — silica, lead, noise, hexavalent chromium, benzene sampling with AIHA-accredited lab analysis. CIH-led, fixed-fee deliverable basis.
• Training program development and delivery — OSHA 30, EM 385, Subpart M competent person, NCCCO awareness, PSM training. Train-the-trainer engagements available.

Industries & Stakeholders Driving Consulting Demand

The stakeholder categories below represent the dominant demand for our consulting engagements.

• General contractors with 50-500 employees who need program-level work between projects.
• Federal prime contractors bidding USACE, NAVFAC, and AFCEC work where APP authorship and SSHO designation are contract requirements.
• Manufacturers and processors running PSM-covered facilities, RMP scope, multi-site operations needing harmonized programs.
• Insurance brokers and carriers driving client program improvement ahead of renewal, captive insurance entrance prep, and EMR-reduction strategy.
• Customer audit drivers — major oil-gas operators (Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell), federal customers (USACE, DoD, NASA, DOE), large industrial owners.
• Legal teams — corporate counsel, plaintiff and defense firms in construction defect, workplace injury, and fatality litigation requiring expert witness support.
• EPC firms — full-discipline scope across construction, commissioning, and startup needing integrated safety program documentation.
• Multi-site corporate EHS programs needing program manager bandwidth beyond what salaried staff covers.
• Specialty trade contractors — mechanical, electrical, demolition, environmental abatement with concentrated regulatory exposure.
• Owner-operator developers — multifamily, mixed-use, healthcare developers self-performing or hands-on managing GC.
• Post-incident corporate response — after fatality, serious injury, or significant property loss when corporate leadership needs program-level corrective action.

Consulting Triggers — What Brings Clients to the Phone

Most consulting engagements have a specific trigger driving timeline and scope. Recognizing the trigger drives the engagement structure.

• OSHA citation or repeat citation — corrective action requires program-level changes, not just project-level fixes. Citation response, 15-day contest filing decision, informal conference prep, settlement negotiation.
• Fatality or serious injury — we run the investigation and handle regulatory notifications. OSHA 1904.39 requires reporting within 8 hours for a fatality and 24 hours for an amputation or hospitalization. We also manage family, employee, and customer communications and the corrective action plan.
• EMR climbing above 1.0 — closing bid lists for prime-contractor work. We design claims management improvement, return-to-work redesign, and leading-indicator behavior change with 3-year experience-period planning.
• Prime contractor de-listing — your customer prequal system flagged you. Gap audit, program documentation rebuild, resubmission coaching.
• Insurance carrier loss control failure — broker shopping you to a different market. Program rebuild to carrier standards, renewal cycle documentation.
• Customer EHS audit scheduled — major customer demanding documented program before continuing relationship. Common in oil-gas, federal, large industrial verticals.
• Acquisition or merger integration — acquired company safety program needs to be harmonized to acquirer standard within transition period.
• Expansion into new regulatory environment — moving into federal work, new state plan, new industry vertical with different regulatory profile.
• ISO 45001 management system pursuit — 12-18 month engagement covering gap audit, build, internal audit, management review, certification body audit.
• Litigation support — construction defect, workplace injury, fatality. Expert witness CSP-credentialed report and deposition support for plaintiff or defense.
• NEP-driven inspection pre-positioning — OSHA National Emphasis Program targeting your industry; compliance verification audit before inspection arrives.

Standards Frameworks Consulting Engagements Address

The framework inventory below is what we crosswalk every consulting engagement against during the discovery phase.

• OSHA 29 CFR 1910 (General Industry) and 29 CFR 1926 (Construction) — federal baseline.
• State plan OSHA — Cal/OSHA, NC OSHA, Mich OSHA, Washington L&I, and 18 other state plans with additional state-specific standards.
• EPA — RCRA, RMP, NPDES, Title V, SPCC, EPCRA Tier II and Form R.
• DOT — 49 CFR Subchapter C hazmat shipping, hazmat employee training renewal cycle.
• MSHA — Part 46, Part 48, Part 50 reporting.
• USACE EM 385-1-1 — federal construction safety; NAVFAC SOH-9510, AFCEC, GSA PBS, VA, DOE 10 CFR 851, NASA STD-8719.
• NFPA standards — 70E electrical, 652/654/484/664 combustible dust, 855 BESS, 30A flammable liquids.
• ISO 45001 (OH&S management system), ISO 14001 (environmental), ANSI Z10.
• Insurance and risk standards — NCCI experience modification, OSHA VPP, ISNetworld, Avetta, BROWZ, Veriforce.
• Industry-consensus standards — API RP 75, RP 750, RP 754, RP 76 (oil-gas); AWS welding standards; ANSI A92 aerial work platforms; ANSI Z359 fall protection.
• Customer-specific programs — major operator contractor safety standards (Chevron ORM, Shell CSMS, ExxonMobil ECC, Marathon, Valero).

Consulting Engagement Process — Discovery to Deliverable

Below is the standard engagement flow. Most consulting work follows this shape regardless of starting condition.

• Step 1 — Scoping call (30-60 minutes, no charge). Trigger identification, document review of current state, regulatory exposure inventory, deliverable expectations, deadline drivers, budget envelope. Output: written engagement scope and fixed-fee proposal within 3-5 business days.
• Step 2 — Engagement signature. Master consulting agreement or single-engagement work order, confidentiality and conflict-of-interest checks, key contact assignment on both sides.
• Step 3 — Discovery and gap analysis (4-6 weeks). Document review, interviews with leadership and operations, site visits where applicable, regulatory and customer requirement crosswalk. Output: gap analysis report with prioritized findings.
• Step 4 — Build and authorship (8-16 weeks). Program documentation, JHA library, training matrix, audit calendar, customized templates. Iterative review with client throughout.
• Step 5 — Implementation support (4-12 weeks). Roll out to operations, deliver train-the-trainer, support initial application on active projects, refine documents based on field feedback.
• Step 6 — Audit cycle handoff. First internal audit, management review facilitation, leadership transition to ongoing operation.

For incident response and OSHA citation work, the timeline compresses sharply. Discovery runs 1-2 weeks, build and response is concurrent, regulatory deadlines drive sequencing. For ISO 45001 certification engagements, the timeline extends to 12-18 months total with additional internal audit and management review cycles before certification body engagement.

Consulting Engagement Cost Structure

Consulting work is billed on fixed-fee or fixed-deliverable basis rather than hourly site coverage. Below is the standard structure.

• Safety program gap audit (single-site) — fixed fee $18K-$32K typical. Multi-site adds $4K-$8K per site.
• Program build engagement (single-site) — $45K-$95K typical. Multi-site or PSM-covered facility adds $25K-$60K.
• OSHA citation response and contest — typically $8K-$45K depending on citation count, classification, and contest path.
• Fatality investigation — typically $25K-$85K depending on complexity, regulatory engagement, and corporate-counsel coordination.
• Expert witness and litigation support — hourly $250-$425 per hour depending on case complexity; report fixed fee $8K-$35K; deposition $3K-$8K per day; trial testimony $4K-$10K per day.
• EMR reduction strategy engagement — $35K-$95K initial program build plus 12-18 month implementation support.
• Customer audit prep — $15K-$55K depending on audit scope and timeline.
• ISO 45001 certification path (full) — $85K-$200K over 12-18 months including certification body coordination.
• OSHA VPP application engagement — $35K-$85K depending on facility complexity.
• PSM consulting — PHA leadership $15K-$45K per PHA; MOC program build $25K-$65K; MI program $35K-$95K.
• IH sampling deliverable — $8K-$35K depending on sampling scope, contaminant inventory, and AIHA-lab analysis cost.
• Fractional ongoing consulting — monthly retainer $6K-$18K covering 25-50 hours per month.

Consulting Practitioner Credentials & Specialty Endorsements

Consulting engagements require senior practitioners with specific credential mix. Below is the bench profile.

• BCSP CSP — Certified Safety Professional baseline for senior consulting leads.
• ABIH CIH — Certified Industrial Hygienist for sampling-heavy and exposure assessment engagements.
• IHMM CHMM — Certified Hazardous Materials Manager for waste-heavy engagements.
• BCSP CHST and ASP — for construction-focused consulting (project safety plan authorship, JHA library build).
• ISO 45001 lead auditor — for management system certification engagements.
• ANSI Z10 practitioner — alternative management system standard work.
• ARM, CRIS, CSRP — Associate in Risk Management, Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist, Certified Safety and Risk Professional for insurance-driven engagements.
• OSHA 500/510/511 trainer endorsements — for training program development and delivery engagements.
• EM 385-1-1 trainer — for federal construction APP authorship and SSHO training program design.
• PHA leader certification — HAZOP, what-if, checklist, FMEA, LOPA for PSM engagements.
• OSHA VPP coordinator background — for VPP application engagements; some practitioners served as VPP evaluators previously.
• Expert witness credentials — CV, prior deposition and trial experience, published work, professional society leadership.
• Patrick Salazar credentials — NCCCO Mobile Crane, Tower Crane, Crane Inspector, Lift Director; OSHA 500 instructor; BCSP member; First Aid/CPR/AED; bilingual where applicable.

Emergency Consulting Engagements & Rapid-Response Scenarios

Below are the rapid-response patterns we handle with pre-built engagement protocols.

• OSHA citation 15-day contest window. Citation received; client has 15 working days to file Notice of Contest with OSHRC or accept and pay. We deliver same-week assessment of contest viability, informal conference prep, settlement negotiation strategy, and corrective action plan authorship.
• Fatality response within 24 hours. OSHA 1904.39 requires fatality reporting within 8 hours, amputation or hospitalization within 24. We mobilize a senior CSP consultant on a same-day call to support regulatory notifications, evidence preservation, witness interview protocol, family and employee communications coordination, and corporate-counsel interface.
• Stop-work order recovery. Owner or GC paused project pending safety review. We author the corrective action plan, run the all-hands stand-down, produce the documentation required to lift the order, all within 5-7 days for most scenarios.
• Insurance carrier loss control audit failure. Broker has 60-90 days before renewal to show improvement. Expedited gap audit and build to position the renewal submission.
• Customer audit pre-positioning. Major customer scheduled audit in 60-120 days. We compress discovery and build to align with audit date.
• Expert witness on tight deadline. Litigation often surfaces expert needs late in discovery. We can mobilize a CSP-credentialed expert with construction or industrial scope match within 5-10 business days for report authorship.

24/7 line: 252-229-5238. Patrick personally takes the initial scoping call for any emergency consulting engagement.

Frequently Asked Questions About Safety Consulting Services

How is safety consulting different from safety staffing?
Staffing engagements provide hourly site coverage — a safety pro on your project deck for a defined duration. Consulting engagements deliver discrete work products — gap audit, program documentation, citation response, incident investigation, expert witness report, EMR strategy — on fixed-fee or fixed-deliverable basis. Consulting is bought by the deliverable; staffing is bought by the hour.

Does the initial scoping call cost anything?
No. The initial 30-60 minute scoping call is at no charge. We use it to identify the trigger, review document inventory, understand deadline drivers, and frame the engagement. Written proposal with fixed-fee scope follows within 3-5 business days.

Can you support an OSHA citation contest?
Yes. We assess contest viability within the 15-working-day OSHRC filing window. Then we prepare for the informal conference and negotiate settlement with the area office. We also author the corrective action plan required by any settlement agreement. We coordinate with corporate counsel throughout.

Do you provide expert witness services?
Yes. CSP-credentialed practitioners with prior deposition and trial experience deliver expert witness work for plaintiff and defense in construction defect, workplace injury, and fatality litigation. Report authorship is fixed fee ($8K-$35K); deposition is $3K-$8K per day; trial testimony $4K-$10K per day; preparation work runs $250-$425 per hour.

What does an ISO 45001 certification engagement cost?
Full certification path runs $85K-$200K over 12-18 months including certification body coordination. We partner with accredited certification bodies (ANAB, IAS) rather than serving as registrar ourselves to avoid the consultant-as-auditor conflict that disqualifies engagement under management system standards.

Do you offer fractional ongoing consulting?
Yes. Monthly retainer $6K-$18K covering 25-50 hours per month of ongoing program oversight, internal audit, regulatory tracking, and training maintenance. This model works well for general contractors and manufacturers in the 50-200 employee range. They have outgrown owner-operator program management. But they are not yet ready for a salaried corporate EHS director.