Site-Specific Safety Plan: PDF Template for Subcontractors

To help project managers outline job safety requirements, we’re offering a free site-specific safety plan (SSSP) template.

To get your free template, simply fill out the form above (on mobile devices) or to the right (on desktop), and we’ll email it to you right away.

What Is a Site-Specific Safety Plan?

A Site-Specific Safety Plan (SSSP) is a written document that outlines the health and safety procedures, policies, and responsibilities for a specific job site. Unlike general safety manuals, an SSSP is tailored to the unique conditions, hazards, and work scope of each project. It serves as a critical tool for ensuring that all workers—subcontractors, general contractors, and site supervisors—are aligned on safety expectations before and during work.

An effective SSSP helps:

• Identify and control site-specific hazards.

• Ensure compliance with OSHA and local regulations.

• Define clear responsibilities for all parties.

• Set the tone for a strong safety culture on-site.

• Provide a reference document for safety inspections and audits.

For subcontractors and project managers, the SSSP is both a compliance requirement and a practical tool for minimizing risk, improving communication, and protecting workers. It should be created before work begins and updated as site conditions change.

What to Include In a Site-Specific Safety Plan

Below are the key components to include in your SSSP. These sections help establish a comprehensive, actionable plan for managing safety on your job site.

General Project Information

Begin with essential project details:

• Project name and address

• Job site location (include specific site access instructions if relevant)

• Start date and anticipated completion date

• General contractor and subcontractor details (company names, supervisors, phone numbers, and emails)

This section serves as the header for your safety plan and should be updated any time team roles or project timelines shift.

Scope of Work

Clearly outline what type of work will be performed, by whom, and in what order.

• Tasks to be completed by each subcontractor

• Equipment to be used

• High-risk activities ( trenching, working at heights, etc.)

The more specific this section is, the easier it becomes to match tasks with relevant safety protocols.

Job Site Hazards

Identify all known and potential hazards unique to the job site:

• Environmental: Weather exposure, wildlife, uneven terrain

• Chemical: Asbestos, solvents, flammable materials

• Physical: Heavy machinery, noise levels, trip hazards around the work area

• Structural: Open edges, scaffolding, unstable materials 

For each hazard, define control measures (signage, barricades, engineering controls, administrative protocols, PPE use).

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Requirements

List the types of PPE required for the work site, along with any task-specific requirements:

• Standard: Hard hats, high-visibility vests, steel-toe boots

• Task-specific: Respiratory protection, hearing protection, chemical-resistant gloves

Include PPE inspection procedures to ensure workers aren’t wearing damaged or expired equipment.

Safety Training Requirements

Document the training that workers must complete before starting work:

• Fall protection

• Confined space entry

• Hazard communication (HazCom)

• First aid/CPR

• Equipment operation (forklifts, boom lifts, etc.)

Consider maintaining a training log with employee names, dates, and certification copies for easy reference.

On-Site Safety Orientation

Include a checklist or script to guide your on-site safety orientation. It should cover:

• Job site-specific rules

• Emergency procedures

• Reporting hazards or incidents

• PPE expectations

• Location of first aid kits, fire extinguishers, and exits

Require signatures to confirm all workers have attended orientation before they begin work.

Emergency Response Procedures

Provide clear steps to follow in the event of an emergency:

• Emergency contact list (names, titles, phone numbers)

• Evacuation routes and muster points

• Procedures for medical emergencies, fires, chemical spills, etc.

• Location of first aid stations and AEDs

It’s helpful to post printed copies in visible site areas and ensure everyone knows where to find them.

Job Safety Analysis (JSA) / Job Hazard Analysis (JHA)

Break down each major task into:

• Steps involved

• Hazards associated

• Control measures in place

Use a table format for clarity and consistency. This helps ensure forepersons and crew members understand risk-mitigation steps before each phase of work.

Site Safety Rules

Document both general and project-specific rules, such as:

• Prohibited behaviors (e.g., horseplay, substance use)

• Required work hours and check-in procedures

• Access restrictions

• Rules for subcontractor coordination

Reinforce these rules during daily meetings and post them on site in high-traffic areas.

Site Safety Inspections

Include a standardized form or checklist to document safety inspections. Track:

• Date and time of inspection

• Inspector name

• Findings (hazards, violations, near misses)

• Corrective actions taken

Regular inspections help identify patterns and enforce accountability across crews.

Communication and Reporting

Establish protocols for:

• Daily pre-task safety meetings (toolbox talks)

• Near-miss and incident reporting

• Weekly safety reviews with GC and subs

• Methods of communication (radios, phone trees, etc.)

Create space in your plan for quick documentation of daily safety notes—this builds a helpful paper trail.

Sign-Off and Acknowledgment

Conclude the safety plan with a sign-off section to confirm everyone understands and accepts the plan:

• Name, title, and signature of safety reps from both GC and subcontractors

• Date of acknowledgment

• Optional: Signature of each worker on site

Why PDF Templates Fall Short in Project Safety

While PDFs are sufficient for the initial documentation of a construction safety program, they fall short in various ways when it comes to long-term use throughout the life of a project. For example:

• Poor user experience: Entering information into small, predefined fields for each safety inspection and incident report is cumbersome, making it difficult for both the person filling out the form and the one reviewing it.

• Limited to text only: PDF templates do not allow the addition of photos, videos, or other media to highlight safety issues or incidents.

• Accountability challenges: PDFs lack features that help ensure safety inspections are completed regularly and on time, which can lead to gaps in oversight.

For ongoing safety management, dynamic digital form tools offer a better solution. These alternatives provide a more user-friendly experience, allow for real-time updates, and promote higher accountability—ultimately helping your team stay on top of safety protocols and respond to issues faster.

So, in addition to sharing the free safety plan template above, we’ll also walk through how our construction management software, ServiceTitan, solves these challenges and more.

How ServiceTitan Custom Forms Streamline Project Safety Management for Subcontractors

ServiceTitan’s construction software allows contractors to create customized forms and checklists — including safety incident reports and safety inspection checklists. Report forms and checklists can be added to specific jobs, customers, locations, or equipment. All forms can be accessed on our desktop or mobile app. 

This functionality eliminates the need to type safety inspections and incident reports into small fields in a PDF table, instead providing a form that is easy to fill out via mobile device, and easy to read by the person in charge of reviewing the form. 

More than 10 different formats can be used for each form item, including text, numbers, checkboxes, photo/video uploads, dropdowns, stoplight buttons, and more. Signatures can also be added if you require someone from the team to sign off on your reports, and rules can be set to require certain team members to fill out particular forms at set times.

Forms can be built from scratch. But our users also enjoy access to numerous pre-built templates — sourced from forms used by other subcontractors via TitanExchange. These, too, can be customized to a shop’s specific needs or preferences. 

Other Ways ServiceTitan Helps Subcontractors Facilitate Construction Project Management

To demonstrate how our platform can streamline and automate construction project management, we’ll look at some of our foundational construction management features, including:

• Project dashboard

• Estimates

• Purchase orders

• Job costing

• Progress billing

• Work in progress reporting

Manage Projects from the Project Overview Dashboard

A project overview page is automatically generated when a new project is created in ServiceTitan. From this dashboard, contractors and project managers can:

1. View all basic project information — including project name, job address, contact information, brief description of the project, project milestones/due date, etc.

2. View, log, and prioritize project tasks. 

3. Access project financials — including project job costing and expense details that update automatically throughout a project.

4. Initiate key actions — such as generating an estimate, purchase order, application for payment, invoice, and more.

5. View team members/stakeholders involved in the project.

6. Access an audit trail including events, notes, and project documentation ( work permits, contracts, safety policies, hazard assessments, etc.).

Build Estimates with Accurate Pricing

Project estimates allow you to build detailed construction estimates by adding the specific tasks, equipment, and materials needed to do the work. Users can draw from pre-built job estimate templates or build estimates from scratch. 

Tasks, materials, and equipment can all be tagged with color-coded project labels to organize the project details and make everything easy to visualize. In addition, pricing and markups for each line item are automatically calculated based on the most up-to-date prices in your pricebook. 

Once an estimate is completed, it can be printed, emailed, or exported in PDF format and sent to the client. If changes are made to approved project plans, estimates can be updated and/or additional estimates can be created as needed throughout the project.

Initiate Requisitions and Purchase Orders

When an estimate is sold, all of the details you’ve set up in the estimate are automatically integrated into the rest of the project management workflow. For example, you can initiate a requisition of equipment and materials within your sold estimate.

Let’s say at the beginning of a project, you want to start ordering your permits and materials — you can select those items within your estimate, which will lead you through a workflow to create the purchase orders you’ll need. 

In the purchase order workflow, line items are automatically populated from your estimate. You simply select your procurement sources and shipping locations for each material. Then, you can save that order to create a transaction and send those purchase orders to your vendors — without ever leaving ServiceTitan. 

Automate Project Financials and Job Costing

As you progress through a job — creating purchase orders, logging labor hours, processing change orders, receiving progress payments, and so on — ServiceTitan provides real-time project financials and job costing.

Instead of manually updating a series of spreadsheets every time labor and material costs are incurred, this is done automatically for you, based on work that’s completed and entered into the system. 

If we continue with our example from above, and you’ve made your initial purchase order of permits and materials, your project summary table is updated to reflect those expenses:

Furthermore, you can view a more detailed breakdown of your project budget versus actual costs.

This will automatically update as you accumulate expenses from materials, equipment, and labor hours. It will display your margins in dollar and percent form to help you track job costs and profitability throughout your project. 

You can also access a table breaking down your expenses in further detail:

You can click on any line item and see the exact source of that expense (e.g., which technician logged those hours, or which purchase orders and vendors a given set of materials came from). This allows you to easily check your numbers and feel confident in your data.

When it comes time to send applications for payment and invoices at each stage of progress billing, this can also be easily accomplished from the project overview dashboard.

Automate Progress Billing and Invoicing

The initial estimate you created also informs and populates the continuation sheet in your application for payment:

When sending a payment application, you can easily generate one by selecting the billing period and the percent of each line item you want to bill for.

Then, you can generate a PDF payment application with the details automatically filled out, and send it to your client for review. The continuation sheet details make the bill easier to defend against pushback from construction companies or general contractors. 

As a result, subcontractors can get paid faster and reduce cash flow issues.

When applications are accepted, generating an invoice for the progress payment is just as easy. When payments come in, you can update your accounts receivable through our Viewpoint, Sage, QuickBooks, and CSV accounting integrations. 

Automate Work In Progress Reporting

ServiceTitan offers work-in-progress (WIP) reports to help construction businesses maintain an accurate, up-to-date view of their projects by calculating recognized revenue based on the percentage-of-completion method.

For business owners and executives running larger organizations with many jobs in progress, this report is invaluable for getting a real-time view of the financial health of the business and ensuring that budgets are managed effectively. In addition, project managers can use WIP reports to manage over- and under-billing.

To run the report, users select from a series of fields, including date ranges, project statuses, and completion dates. The report then generates a table with the following project details:

• Project number and name

• Contract value

• Estimated total cost

• Total cost

• Percent complete cost

• Earned revenue

• Revenue

• Retainage percent

• Retainage

WIP reports can be customized with a variety of different columns and calculations based on the needs of your business. These reports can easily be exported to be further manipulated in spreadsheets if desired.

Like all other features within ServiceTitan, the data used to generate WIP reports is automatically pulled from other areas of the platform. As a result, the amount of work and potential for errors in generating these reports is significantly reduced. 

Get a Personalized Demo of ServiceTitan Construction Software

What we’ve covered above is just a sampling of the features that ServiceTitan offers for facilitating construction project management. We also offer construction business reporting, timesheets, inventory management, and more.