OSHAcampus vs OSHAEducationCenter.com: Which Should I Choose?

Meeting the environmental safety and health (ESH) training requirements can be difficult. There are compliance considerations, like what kind of training, what topics, and when. You also need to make sure the training sticks for actual on-the-ground occupational safety results.

And of course, money is always a factor.

Even once you have all that nailed down, choosing a training provider can be difficult. You need to make sure they're approved or authorized by the relevant agency, have a good reputation, and offer what you need.

Once you tick those boxes, it can feel like a coin toss. How do you know which OSHA/EHS training provider is right for you?

Let's look at two big names in the industry that are popular and well-regarded: OSHAcampus by 360training and OSHAEducationCenter.com.

What is OSHAEducationCenter.com?

OSHAEducationCenter.com is a well-known online OSHA-authorized training provider associated with the American Safety Council, Inc.

Individuals and businesses can purchase various safety courses through their website. They've been in business for almost 10 years.

What is OSHAcampus?

OSHAcampus is the environmental safety and health arm of an online training company called 360training. 360training has offered online OSHA-authorized training for over 20 years.

Like OSHA Education Center, they offer safety training solutions for both individuals and businesses. However, due to the broad catalog of their parent company, businesses can access many non-EHS compliance courses, as well.

Is OSHA Education Center Legit? Is OSHAcampus?

Yes, but it's important to understand that they're both companies authorized by, but not part of, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

OSHA doesn't train workers directly. It's just too big and complex a job. Instead, the OSHA Training Institute (OTI) "trains the trainers," who earn the official "OSHA-authorized" designation by completing their program.

OSHA Education Center and OSHAcampus both have solid reputations for providing up-to-date and effective online safety training. Both are OSHA-authorized and IACET accredited. Both are legitimate businesses that sell essential safety training services.

However, if by "legitimate" you mean "more official than other options," rather than "authorized to provide training," there could be one point of confusion.

It's easy to confuse OSHA Education Center with a non-profit. The name sounds more education- or advocacy-based than commercial. You might even mistake them for an official OSHA department since real OTI training facilities are called "OTI Education Centers."

Additionally, their parent company name is easily confused with a well-known advocacy organization. American Safety Council Inc, which owns OSHAEducationCenter.com, is a for-profit company that offers driver safety courses. The National Safety Council (NSC) is the leading nonprofit safety advocate in the U.S.

All of these factors combined may make OSHAEducationCenter.com seem like the more official or trustworthy choice. However, OSHA Education Center is no more official than any other OSHA-authorized safety training provider.  

OSHAcampus vs OSHAEducationCenter.com

OSHAcampus and OSHA Education Center have a lot in common: similar course offerings, similar pricing, and similar course formats. The biggest differences are in course offerings and enterprise solutions.

Here are the highlights:

Criteria

	OSHAcampus	OSHA Education Center
Good for	OSHA, NYC SST, HAZWOPER, UST, DOT HAZMAT, and more (as well as broader regulatory and compliance training)	OSHA, HAZWOPER, and other safety training
Cost	Very competitive	Reasonable
Training format	100% online	100% online
Plastic DOL Cards	✅	✅
OSHA Authorized	✅	✅
Enterprise Support/Solutions	Whole-Business Training Solutions	EHS-Only Training Solutions

It's worth noting that both providers offer courses that are 100% online. If you're looking for classroom-based training or a third-party mixed training solution, you'll need to look elsewhere.

The upsides of online training include cost, convenience, consistency, and efficiency. However, some EHS topics require an in-person training component for compliance.

That means you'll need to supplement either site's coursework with a little training of your own.

Now that we've covered the overview, let's look at the four main areas where these training providers differ: available courses, course pricing, bulk discounts, and employer solutions.

OSHAcampus vs OSHAEducationCenter.com: Course Offerings

OSHA Education Center and OSHAcampus both provide well-regarded courses on a variety of EHS topics. There's a lot of overlap in their course catalogs, and they both carry the most in-demand safety courses.

Both offer the most popular OSHA Outreach training: OSHA 10 General Industry, OSHA 30 General Industry, OSHA 10 Construction, and OSHA 30 Construction. They each provide:

• English- and Spanish-language course options
• Sturdy plastic Department of Labor (DOL) wallet cards
• Paper certificates of completion to use in the meantime
• 100% online, self-paced, mobile-friendly eLearning

The specific topics included in each Outreach course vary a little, which is normal because OSHA designed these programs to be consistent but flexible. They're similar, but it's always worth comparing the topics list to ensure the best fit for your workforce.

Both providers also offer a variety of other OSHA compliance courses, including a la carte standard-based courses and HAZWOPER 8, 24, and 40. As a bonus, OSHAcampus also offers a HAZWOPER Basics course for workers who need a general awareness of HAZWOPER protocols but don't fit the HAZWOPER training job profiles.

Additionally, both training providers have other safety training topics on offer, from MSHA to NFPA. The differences in their course catalogs will matter to certain employers, so it's worth taking a good look at the table below.

Criteria	OSHAcampus	OSHA Education Center
OSHA General Industry Outreach Courses
OSHA 10	English & Spanish	English & Spanish
OSHA 30	English & Spanish	English & Spanish
A La Carte Courses	✅	✅
OSHA Construction Outreach Courses
OSHA 10	English & Spanish	English & Spanish
OSHA 30	English & Spanish	English & Spanish
A La Carte Courses	✅	✅
HAZWOPER Courses
Basic	✅	❌
24 Hour	✅	✅
40 Hour	✅	✅
8 Hour	✅	✅
Other EHS Courses
NYC SST	Worker Only (40 Hour)	Worker & Supervisor (40 & 62 Hour)
MSHA Part 46	New & Refresher	New & Refresher
8-Hour EM385 Refresher	✅	❌
16-Hour EM385	✅	✅
24-Hour EM385	✅	✅
40-Hour EM385	✅	✅
NFPA 70E	4 hours	2 hours
UST	A, B & C (state-specific)	❌
DOT / 49 CFR Courses	HAZMAT Suite & Supervisor Awareness	HAZMAT General Awareness Only
More	Electrician CE & HVAC	❌

The most significant course differences are in a handful of areas.

If you run construction in New York City, it's important to note that both providers offer 40-hour worker-level SST cards but only OSHA Education Center offers the 62-hour supervisor card.

If your workforce needs DOT HAZMAT training, 60/60 Supervisor training, or state-specific Underground Storage Tank (UST) training, on the other hand, then only OSHAcampus will have what you need.

OSHAcampus vs OSHAEducationCenter.com: Cost Per Course

OSHA Education Center and OSHAcampus both offer competitive pricing and excellent value. Since they're online courses, they're each more cost-effective than in-person training.

OSHAcampus is typically about 10% cheaper for individually purchased courses.

Here are some of the highlights:

	OSHAcampus	OSHA Education Center	Savings Of
OSHA 10	✅ $54	$79	$25
OSHA 30	✅ $159	$179	$20
HAZWOPER 24	✅ $155	$179	$24
HAZWOPER 40	✅ $219	$245	$26
HAZWOPER 8	$40	✅ $39	$1

*Website pricing for individual course as of 11/4/2021

OSHAcampus vs OSHAEducationCenter.com: Bulk Discounts

(Note: All data in this section was pulled from the vendors' bulk-purchasing calculators on 11/4/2021.)

OSHAcampus and OSHAEducationCenter.com calculate bulk pricing differently.

It shakes out like this, for two common courses:

	OSHAcampus Bulk Discount		OSHA Education Center Bulk Discount
Quantity per Course	per OSHA 10	per OSHA 30	per OSHA 10	per OSHA 30
1 (alongside other courses)	39%	16%	$0	$0
2 to 4	39%	16%	$5	$5
5 to 9	39%	16%	$10	$10
10 to 24	39%	16%	$15	$20
25 to 49	39%	16%	$20	$24
50 or more	39%	16%	$25	$30

Stacked on top of OSHAcampus's lower sale prices, these differences make OSHAcampus more cost-effective for all but the most massive organizations.

Let's look at two typical bulk-purchasing patterns for safety training:

• The need to train or refresh your whole workforce on the same topic at once
• The need to onboard a few new hires on a full suite of topics

Let's say you're purchasing a single course for multiple learners – the whole-workforce case. For OSHA 10, the bulk pricing looks like this:

		OSHAcampus			OSHA Education Center			OSHAcampus  Saves You
Course	Quantity	Total	Savings	Discount	Total	Savings	Discount
OSHA 10	2	$108	$70	39%	$148	$10	6%	$40 (27%)
OSHA 10	5	$270	$175	39%	$345	$50	13%	$75 (22%)
OSHA 10	10	$540	$350	39%	$640	$150	19%	$100 (16%)
OSHA 10	25	$1350	$875	39%	$1475	$500	25%	$125 (8%)
OSHA 10	50	$2700	$1750	39%	$2700	$1250	32%	n/a

OSHAcampus's discount structure provides significant savings even if your "whole workforce" is you and your spouse's cousin.

OSHA Education Center only pulls even when you're buying 50 or more of the same OSHA 10 course.  With a more expensive course like OSHA 30, their model catches up a little sooner – pricing is equivalent if you're buying 10 of the same course at a time. The scales don't tip in OSHA Education Center's favor until you need 25 or more.

Let's look at the onboarding case – for simplicity's sake, we'll stick with OSHA 10 and OSHA 30, but the principle holds for non-Outreach courses.

To onboard a mix of OSHA 10 and OSHA 30 workers, the bulk pricing looks like this:

Quantity OSHA 10	Quantity OSHA 30	OSHAcampus			OSHA Education Center			OSHAcampus Saves You
		Total	Savings	Discount	Total	Savings	Discount
1	1	$213	$65	23%	$258	$0	0%	$45 (17%)
2	1	$267	$100	27%	$327	$10	3%	$60 (18%)
3	1	$321	$135	30%	$401	$15	4%	$80 (20%)
3	2	$480	$165	26%	$570	$25	4%	$90 (16%)
3	3	$639	$195	23%	$744	$30	4%	$105 (14%)

Since you're only buying small quantities of each course, OSHA Education Center's discount is practically non-existent. With OSHAcampus, on the other hand, you reap significant savings even when you're only onboarding one new hire.

For virtually every quantity, OSHAcampus will cost you less.

OSHAcampus vs OSHAEducationCenter.com: Business Solutions

OSHAEducationCenter.com and OSHAcampus (through its parent company 360training) each offer an enterprise solution that includes bulk purchase discounts (covered in detail above), dedicated enterprise-level account support, and free use of their learning management system (LMS) for delivering and managing courses.

OSHAcampus's solution also allows businesses to hook our courses into existing management tools if they prefer. You can choose from a variety of different integration options.

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The biggest difference between these enterprise solutions, however, is the breadth of courses available.

OSHAEducationCenter.com is an EHS-only course provider. There are only 3 non-EHS courses in their catalog covering workplace harassment and the giving and receiving of feedback.

Since OSHAcampus has a parent company with broader online compliance training solutions, its enterprise clients can browse and purchase from a huge number of regulatory-approved courses.

Criteria	OSHAcampus	OSHA Education Center
Dedicated Enterprise Support	✅	✅
Bulk Discounts	Best for SMBs and reasonably large organizations	Best for 50+ workers (non-supervisory)
Provides an LMS?	✅	✅
Ports to Your LMS?	✅ (SSO, XAPI, AICC & Others)	❌
Bulk Management Options	✅	✅
User Management	✅	✅
In-Depth Reporting	✅	✅
Uptime	99.9%	Data Unavailable
HR & Compliance Training	Full catalog	2 topics
General Business Training	Full catalog	❌
Other Available Training	Industrial Skills, NERC, and much more	❌

When you sign on as an enterprise client with OSHAcampus/360training, your dedicated account manager can help you build a whole-company custom training solution that includes not just EHS courses but also:

• Extensive HR, Ethics, and Compliance topics, including sexual harassment courses tailored to your state, workplace violence training, and more
• General business skills for managers and supervisors, including courses for onboarding, employee retention, and HR topics aimed at fair hiring practices
• Skills-building courses for power and utility workers, industrial   maintenance workers, HVAC technicians, electrician CE, and more

As a result, OSHAcampus can offer one-stop shopping for your compliance training needs, while OSHA Education Center's enterprise solution is for safety training only.

OSHAcampus vs OSHAEducationCenter.com: Bottom Line

The best safety training is the one that meets your workforce's needs and complies with the requirements of your industry and jurisdiction, so that's got to be considered number one. If you're not the decision-maker and your employer prefers a certain vendor, go with that.

But if it's up to you, you should choose OSHA Education Center when:

• NYC SST training is a core concern for you
• You need to purchase massive quantities (50+) of a single course at a time

You should choose OSHAcampus if:

• You need the most competitive prices for individuals or small- to medium-sized business
• You need DOT, HAZMAT, or UST training in addition to typical OSHA courses
• You want a single vendor that provides more than just safety training, but a broad catalog of other compliance topics
• You need a service that integrates with your existing LMS, HR management tools, or other systems

If you're looking for training as an individual, check out the online OSHAcampus catalog. Looking for enterprise-level support? Reach out to 360training's business solutions team.