Is OSHA 10 Free? The Truth About Free Training

The usual answer to this question is "no, and be careful of scams." That answer is mostly right and slightly self-serving, because nearly every site that gives it sells the course. The fuller answer is that free OSHA 10 exists, it is just rarer and more specific than the ads suggest. If you want to know what applies where you work, the requirement finder is the fastest way to check.

Where it genuinely is free

Nevada runs its own program. The state's Safety Consultation and Training Section, part of the Division of Industrial Relations, publishes this plainly:

SCATS Offers Free 10 & 30 Hour OSHA Training

That is not a trial or a sample. It is the state offering the course at no charge, and Nevada is a state where the card is not optional: under NRS 618.983 a construction worker has 15 days from being hired to get an OSHA-10 card, and NRS 618.987 requires the employer to suspend or terminate a worker who does not produce one. Nevada made the training mandatory and then removed the cost of complying with it. You can read the full Nevada rule here.

Some unions and apprenticeship programs also cover the course for members, and some employers pay for it directly. Ask before you pay out of pocket, because in a lot of cases someone else already has a budget line for this.

Where it is not free, and why

Outside those channels, the course costs money because the provider has real costs: OSHA authorization, trainers, platform, and the card itself. Prices among authorized providers generally run in the $60 to $90 range for the 10-hour construction course, and we publish what we have verified and the date we checked it.

Be careful with the phrase "free course, pay only for the card." Sometimes that is an honest description of a fee structure. Sometimes it is a way to advertise a low number that is not what you end up paying. The question to ask is not what the course costs, it is what the total is to walk away with a Department of Labor card in your hand.

What is never free

Here is the line that matters. A "certificate of completion" is not a DOL card. Any site can generate a certificate. Only a provider OSHA authorizes can produce the plastic DOL card, and that card is what a foreman actually asks to see.

There is a second thing worth knowing: OSHA does not certify people. It authorizes trainers and providers, and completing the course produces a DOL card. When a site advertises "OSHA certification," it is using a word that does not describe what you receive. That is not always dishonest, but it is a reliable signal that the site is written by marketing rather than by someone who knows the program.

How to check before you pay

1. Confirm the provider appears on OSHA's own published list of authorized online providers. We keep that list here, read directly from OSHA.
2. Confirm you are being told a DOL card is included, not just a certificate.
3. If you are in Nevada, check the state program first.
4. Ask your employer or union whether they already cover it.

The honest summary: free OSHA 10 that ends in a real DOL card exists, but it comes from a state program, a union, or an employer, not from a banner ad. If a stranger on the internet is offering you a federal card for nothing, the thing being sold is not the course.