Life Sciences EH&S Community Blog

How big does my company have to be before I have to start worrying about this? A small startup with a good idea worth investing in might not have the money for a comprehensive program and is probably small enough to fly under the EPA's radar.

Without knowing all of your company's specifics, in my experience, in order to lease laboratory space you would need to have some baseline programs in place. Although some OSHA regulations are not applicable until employing a certain number of employees, most regulations are not triggered by number of employees but rather specific activities that are being conducted and/or materials onsite. Unfortunately, I cannot offer you a specific threshold of employees to hit before making program investments. This would be for you to decide but there are considerations beyond the EPA such as OSHA, your state environmental agency, and the Department of Public Health to name a few.