Help Center

Take a breath. Most "OSHA letters" are not citations — they are notices of an upcoming inspection, a programmed inspection schedule, or a complaint follow-up. The first 15 minutes matter more than the next 15 days.

Read the letter twice and identify the type

There are four common letters. Look for the heading:

• Notice of Inspection — an inspector is coming, often within a few days. No fine yet.
• Citation and Notification of Penalty — violations were found on a prior visit. There is a 15-business-day window to contest.
• Rapid Response Investigation (RRI) — a complaint was filed. OSHA is asking you to investigate and respond in writing within 5 business days.
• Information Request — paperwork audit by mail. Usually 7–10 days to respond.

Open Inspector Mode and pull your binder

In ShopShield, open Home → Inspector Mode and tap Start handover. The app freezes a snapshot of your written programs, training rosters, and SDS index. If the inspector arrives before you finish reading this, hand them the iPad — they can scroll, you can talk.

Don't ignore the response deadline

The most expensive mistake is missing the response window. Penalties default upward when shops fail to respond. Add the deadline to your calendar and to your manager's calendar before you do anything else.

When to call us

If the letter is a citation with a contest deadline, email support@shopshieldhq.app with the subject line URGENT — citation. We will route it to a compliance specialist the same business day. We cannot represent you at OSHA, but we can help you assemble the documentation you need before you call your attorney.

Every shop with hazardous chemicals must keep a current SDS for every product on site (29 CFR 1910.1200(g)). ShopShield gives you three ways to surface one fast.

1. Search by product name

Open Home → SDS Library and type the product name. Search matches both the product label and the manufacturer field, so "PPG DBC" and "Deltron" both find the same sheet. Partial matches work — typing redu will surface every reducer in your binder.

2. Scan the barcode

If you are on the floor, open the SDS Library on your phone and tap Scan. Point the camera at the product UPC. If we have a match anywhere in your account, the SDS opens in the viewer. If we do not, the app gives you a one-tap link to upload the supplier sheet.

3. Filter by location or hazard class

Multi-shop accounts can scope by location (Location → Choose shop). You can also filter by GHS hazard class — useful when an inspector asks "show me every flammable on site."

Why a sheet might be missing

• Older than three years — flagged with a yellow badge. Click Request update to send the supplier a request.
• Discontinued product — keep the last revision in case of a follow-up question, then archive it.
• Never uploaded — if you bought the product after onboarding, drop the PDF onto the SDS Library page or email it to your account intake address.

If the inspector is in front of you and the sheet is not there, hand them the iPad open to the SDS Library, then say "Let me get that one for you in a moment." Pulling it up later is fine. Pretending it exists is not.

Annual training is one of the top three citation categories in body shops. ShopShield tracks each employee's renewal date so you do not have to hold it in your head.

What renewal cadence looks like

Where ShopShield surfaces it

• Home dashboard — banner shows any employee within 30 days of expiry.
• Training → Renewals — full table sorted by next renewal date.
• Email digest — owners and managers receive a weekly Monday summary if anything is coming due in the next 30 days.

Recording a renewal

1. Open Training → Renewals.
2. Click the employee's name.
3. Tap Mark trained for the relevant program.
4. Upload or e-sign the attendance roster. Both the employee and the trainer must sign.
5. The new expiry rolls forward 12 months from today (or 5 years for EPA 6H initial certifications).

What if I missed a renewal?

Train the employee as soon as you notice. The renewal record will show a gap — that is fine for OSHA's purposes as long as the new training is documented and dated. Do not back-date. Inspectors notice.

The MSO plan supports up to ten shop locations from a single login. You manage company-wide policy at the top, and each location keeps its own training rosters, SDS binder, and OSHA 300 log.

Adding a location

1. Open Settings → Locations.
2. Click Add location.
3. Enter the shop name, address, and number of employees. The address sets the OSHA jurisdiction automatically (federal vs. state-plan state).
4. Choose Copy programs from if you want to seed this location's written programs from one of your existing shops. This is the fastest way to onboard a new acquisition.

How policy cascades

Company headquarters can set policies that override individual shops:

• Required training programs — every location must run them.
• PPE specs — you can pin a respirator model or glove standard.
• SDS approval list — central library that all shops inherit.

Individual shops can add to these — they cannot remove them. If you need to remove a corporate-wide policy at one location, the location manager has to request a waiver. Owners and account admins approve waivers in Settings → Waivers.

Switching between shops

Use the location switcher at the top-left of the home dashboard. Your role permissions follow you — if you are an owner at HQ but only a "viewer" at one of the shops, you will see the shop in read-only mode.

Limits and pricing

• MSO Standard: up to 10 locations.
• Enterprise (11+): contact sales — pricing scales linearly per shop with volume discounts.
• One subscription covers all shops; we do not bill per location seat unless you are on Enterprise.

Inspector Mode is a one-tap screen that turns ShopShield into a guided binder for an OSHA inspector. Use it the moment an inspector identifies themselves on the lot.

What it does

When you start Inspector Mode, ShopShield:

• Freezes a snapshot of every written program, training roster, SDS, and acknowledgment as of right now. The inspector cannot accidentally see edits you make during the visit.
• Locks navigation to a read-only view. Employees who pick up the iPad cannot modify records.
• Logs the visit with the start time, who started it, and the inspector's name and badge number if you enter them.
• Bookmarks the most-asked sections at the top: Hazcom plan, Respiratory plan, OSHA 300 log, EPA 6H roster, and the SDS index.

How to start it

1. Open the app on the iPad you keep in the office.
2. Tap Inspector Mode on the home screen — it is the orange button next to the location switcher.
3. Enter the inspector's name and agency (federal OSHA, state plan, or insurance auditor). You can leave this blank and fill it in later.
4. Hand the iPad over.

What you can do while the inspector reads

You can keep working in the app on a different device. Edits you make do not appear in the inspector's snapshot. After the inspector leaves, tap End handover to capture closing notes and export a PDF of the visit log.

What it does not do

Inspector Mode is not legal advice. It does not respond to the inspector for you, and it does not redact information. If you have privileged or attorney-client material, do not store it in ShopShield — keep it in a separate secure location.

Drill mode for new managers

We also ship a drill that simulates a 12-question OSHA walk-through using your real shop data. Open Inspector Mode → Drill and a virtual inspector will ask the same questions a real one does. New managers should run this once a quarter.

A written program is the document OSHA expects to see when they ask "show me your Hazard Communication plan." ShopShield drafts the regulatory language for you — your job is to fill in the location-specific details and sign it.

Where the programs live

Open Programs. You will see one row per required written program for your shop (Hazcom, Respiratory, PPE, EAP, Fire, Electrical, plus EPA 6H if you have a paint booth). Click the program name to open it.

Editing the location-specific sections

Programs have two kinds of sections:

• Regulatory sections (locked) — pulled from the OSHA standard. You cannot edit these because changing them invalidates the document.
• Site-specific sections (editable) — chemical inventory, evacuation routes, designated emergency contact, list of respirator users. You fill these in.

Click any editable section to open the inline editor. Save creates a draft; the previous published version remains live for inspections until you publish the new one.

Reviewing and signing

When the draft is ready, click Send for signature. Choose the responsible party (usually the owner or general manager). They receive an email with a magic link, review the document, and e-sign. The signature is captured with timestamp and IP. If you are required to use a wet signature instead, click Print + sign — upload the scanned PDF and ShopShield links it to the document version.

Renewals

OSHA expects you to review written programs annually and revise them when conditions change (new chemical, new equipment, layout change, employee role change). ShopShield will nudge you 11 months after the last published version. The reminder lives on the home dashboard and in the Monday digest.

Common edits

• Adding a new chemical → opens the Hazcom plan to the inventory section.
• Hiring a new painter → opens the Respiratory plan and the EPA 6H roster.
• Renovating the booth → flag the EAP and Fire programs for review.

The employee roster powers two of the most-cited record sets — annual training records and the OSHA 300 log. Keeping it accurate is the single biggest predictor of an inspection that goes well.

Adding an employee

1. Open Members.
2. Click Add member.
3. Enter name, role (Painter, Body Tech, Estimator, Office), hire date, and shift.
4. Optional: enter the employee's email so they can sign acknowledgment forms themselves.

ShopShield assigns the right training programs based on role. A new painter is auto-enrolled in Hazcom, Respiratory, PPE, and EPA 6H. A new estimator gets Hazcom and EAP only.

Removing or changing an employee

When someone leaves, set them to Inactive (do not delete). Inactive employees keep their training history, which is required for record retention (5 years for OSHA 300 logs, 30 years for hearing-conservation audiograms where applicable). Deletion only happens on full account closure.

To change a role mid-employment, open the employee, change the role, and confirm. ShopShield will prompt you to add or remove training requirements automatically and will preserve the old role on the audit trail.

Bulk import

For shops with more than ten employees on day one, drop a CSV onto Members → Import. The expected columns are first_name, last_name, role, hire_date, email, shift. Sample CSV is available on the import screen.

Roles and permissions

• Owner — full access, can manage billing.
• Manager — can edit programs, training, and members; cannot change billing.
• Tech (employee) — can view their own training and acknowledge programs.
• Viewer — read-only.

You can change a member's role any time from Members → Permissions.

Almost everything billing-related lives in Settings → Billing. You do not need to email us to make changes.

Change plan (Solo ↔ Pro ↔ MSO)

1. Open Settings → Billing.
2. Click Change plan.
3. Pick the new plan. We prorate the change to the day. Upgrades take effect immediately; downgrades take effect at the end of the current billing period so you do not lose paid time.

Update payment card

Click Manage in Stripe on the billing page. Stripe's customer portal lets you swap cards, set a default, and view invoices. Receipts are emailed automatically when a charge clears.

Annual vs. monthly

Annual plans save roughly 17% over monthly (two months free). You can switch from monthly to annual any time — we apply the unused portion of your current month as a credit against the new annual invoice.

Cancel

Click Cancel subscription in Settings → Billing. You keep full access through the end of the paid period. Before you cancel, run Settings → Export to download every written program as PDF and your training records as CSV. After cancellation we keep your data for 90 days in case you change your mind, then it is permanently deleted.

Refunds

We do not auto-renew without a 7-day reminder email, and we do not charge cancellation fees. If a charge looks wrong (duplicate, wrong amount, or you cancelled and were billed anyway), email billing@shopshieldhq.app with your invoice number and we will fix it within one business day.

Tax

US sales tax is calculated based on the billing address you have on file. If you are tax-exempt, upload your exemption certificate in Settings → Billing → Tax and we will reissue any current-period invoices.

Your data is yours. ShopShield ships export buttons in every major area — there is no enterprise-tier upcharge for getting your own records back.

Per-record export

• Written programs — open the program, click Download PDF. The export includes the version number, signature block, and the publish date.
• OSHA 300 / 300A — open Programs → OSHA 300. Click Export 300 for the running log or Generate 300A for the year-end summary (auto-fills employee hours and total cases).
• Training records — open Training, choose an employee or program, and click Export CSV or Export PDF roster.
• SDS binder — open SDS Library and click Download binder. The export is a zipped folder organized by hazard class, with an index PDF on top.

Whole-account export

For an inspector request that asks for "everything," open Settings → Export. ShopShield builds a single ZIP that contains all of the above, plus the visit log from any Inspector Mode handovers in the last 12 months. The job runs in the background — you will get an email with the download link when it is ready (usually under 5 minutes; large multi-shop exports can take up to an hour).

Retention windows

ShopShield does not auto-delete your records. We follow the longest applicable retention window:

• OSHA 300 / 300A: 5 years
• Training records: duration of employment + 3 years
• Audiograms (where applicable): 30 years
• SDS history: indefinite (we keep superseded versions read-only)

If you need a record older than what is shown in the UI, email support@shopshieldhq.app — we can pull it from cold storage within one business day.

Most questions are faster to answer in this Help Center than over email. If you do need a human, here is how to reach us.

Standard support

• Email: support@shopshieldhq.app
• Hours: Monday–Friday, 9 AM–6 PM Eastern
• Response window: 1 business day

You can also use the Contact form on this site if you prefer not to switch to email.

Urgent inspection lane

If an inspector is on site, has scheduled a visit in the next 5 business days, or has issued a citation with a contest deadline, put URGENT in the subject line and we will respond same business day. Include in the email:

1. The shop name and location.
2. The deadline (date/time and what kind — contest, RRI response, info request).
3. A photo or PDF of the letter if you have one.

Billing questions

billing@shopshieldhq.app for invoices, refunds, tax exemption, and plan changes that you cannot self-serve in Settings → Billing.

Sales and onboarding

If you are evaluating ShopShield for a new shop or for a multi-location rollout, use the Contact form and choose Sales / onboarding. Owners get a 30-minute walkthrough scheduled within 48 hours.

Bug reports

Found something broken? Open the in-app help (the ? button at the bottom-right of any screen) and click Report a bug. The report is auto-tagged with your browser, plan, and current page so we can reproduce it. Screenshots are encouraged but optional.

Feedback that actually gets read

Feature requests go to feedback@shopshieldhq.app. We read every one and post a public roadmap update at /changelog whenever something ships. We do not respond individually unless we need clarification — silence does not mean we ignored you.