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The money question

Who pays for your OSHA card?

There is no free course that ends in a Department of Labor card: every authorized provider charges for the course, and OSHA charges a fee for each card issued. What is true is that most workers never pay for it themselves. Five arrangements cover it, and the first one covers most people.

Which course you need decides who is likely to pay for it, so start there: check what your state requires. If you work in New York City the answer is a different card entirely, and it works differently.

Five ways it gets paid without coming out of your pocket

  1. 01

    Your employer pays it, and usually wants to

    This covers most workers. An employer who needs trained crews on a site has a reason to pay: an untrained worker who cannot get through the gate is a day of lost work, and in the jurisdictions with a mandate it is the employer who carries the exposure, not you. Many companies buy the courses in bulk and enroll you. Ask before you buy anything yourself, because if you pay for the wrong course you have paid twice.

  2. 02

    Your union or apprenticeship program covers it

    Building trades locals and registered apprenticeship programs routinely include safety training in what members get, and often deliver it themselves. If you are in an apprenticeship, the training is usually part of the curriculum and you do not buy it separately. Ask your local's training center what they already cover before you look anywhere else.

  3. 03

    A state or local workforce program pays for it

    Workforce development boards, community colleges and state training funds pay for job-required training as a way of moving people into work. Where a state has a training mandate, it often funds delivery too. Nevada is the clearest case: the state runs a safety consultation and training program of its own, and our Nevada page links to it directly.

  4. 04

    You are a student, and a school program covers it

    Several authorized providers run programs aimed at high school and career-technical students, where the school or a grant pays instead of the student. If you are still in school or just out of it, ask the career and technical education office before you pay retail.

  5. 05

    The job site itself requires it, so the contract pays for it

    On large projects the general contractor sets the training requirement for everyone on site, subcontractors included, and the cost usually gets built into the subcontract rather than charged to the individual worker. If a site is telling you to show up with a card, the person telling you is the person to ask who pays for it.

The question to ask your employer, word for word

Do you cover OSHA 10 or 30 training for this role, and do you want me to take it before I start or after? If you cover it, which provider do you use, and do you need the Department of Labor card or just the completion certificate?

The last question is the one that saves money. A completion certificate and a Department of Labor card are not the same thing, and some employers only need the first.

What is not a way, however it is advertised

A site advertising a free OSHA 10 certificate is not lying about giving you a document. It is quiet about which document. The Department of Labor card comes from an authorized provider that reports your completion, and OSHA charges for each card. Nobody absorbs that for free at scale.

How to tell a real card from a PDF

Common questions

Is there a free OSHA 10 that gives me a real card?

No. All 8 organizations OSHA authorizes to deliver Outreach training online charge for the course, and OSHA charges a fee for each Department of Labor card issued. Free study material exists and is useful. A free card does not.

What about the sites offering a free certificate?

What they hand you is a PDF from their own system, not a Department of Labor card. It can be genuinely useful as training. It will not get you onto a site that asks for the card, and that is the part that costs money to find out late.

My employer says they will pay me back. Should I buy it myself?

Ask which course and which provider first, in writing if you can. The most common way people end up paying twice is buying the 10-hour when the job needed the 30-hour, or buying an OSHA course when the city needed a different card entirely.

If it does come out of your pocket: $60-$89

For this the course is OSHA 10, and 8 of the organizations OSHA authorizes to deliver Outreach training online are authorized for it. Every organization OSHA authorizes to deliver this course online, with the price we read on their own page and the date we read it. We do not sell courses and we do not rank them.

See all authorized providers

MyOshaCard is not a school. We do not sell courses and we do not issue Department of Labor cards.

Checked September 2, 2026