Compliance Check

What it does

Compliance Check provides state-specific compliance guidance for commercial cleaning operations — business licensing requirements, OSHA Hazard Communication standards, worker classification rules, and applicable wage orders. It draws from state licensing databases, OSHA CFR 29, and the BLS regulatory database to give you a cited, state-specific compliance checklist and a gap analysis against what you've described about your current setup.

When to use it

• Starting operations in a new state — licensing and registration requirements vary significantly across all 51 jurisdictions.
• Pre-audit preparation — before a client or government body audits your compliance posture.
• Responding to an OSHA inquiry or citation — the tool identifies what the cited standard requires and the most common corrective actions.
• Verifying that your chemical inventory practices meet Hazard Communication (HazCom) requirements for GHS labeling and SDS access.
• Checking what permits or registrations are required to handle specific chemical classes (disinfectants, pesticides) in a new service area.

Step-by-step

1. Select the compliance topic: Business licensing, OSHA HazCom, Worker classification, Wage & hour, Chemical handling, or General operational compliance.
2. Select the state(s) — multi-state checks are supported.
3. Optionally describe your current situation — what you have in place now — for a gap analysis output.
4. Click Run compliance check. Output takes 15–30 seconds.
5. Review the checklist, gap analysis (if situation was provided), and citations for each requirement.

Tips that change outcomes

• Business licensing is not one step. Most states require: (1) state business registration, (2) local city/county business license, and (3) a separate janitorial service license in states that have one. The tool breaks these down for your specific state — don't assume your state business registration covers all three.
• OSHA HazCom applies to any employer with one or more employees who may be exposed to a hazardous chemical. That means almost every BSC. The three most commonly cited violations in commercial cleaning: missing SDS, unlabeled spray bottles, and no documented employee training. The compliance check flags all three.
• Some states require pesticide applicator licenses for certain disinfectant products. In California and several other states, EPA-registered disinfectants used for pest control (mold remediation sprays, for example) require a separate license. This is frequently overlooked.
• Wage orders in California apply even to janitorial subcontractors. If you're a subcontractor in California, you may be jointly liable for wage violations by your client BSC. The compliance check flags this liability chain when applicable.

Inputs explained

Outputs explained

• Compliance checklist: State-specific requirements for the selected topic, with citations to the controlling regulation or statute for each item.
• Gap analysis: If you described your current situation, this section identifies what's missing or potentially non-compliant and what to do about it.
• Priority flags: High/Medium/Low severity for each gap — lets you triage what to fix first.

Limits

Anonymous users get 3 free runs per day. Multi-state checks count as one run. See the limits page.

Troubleshooting

I can't find my state's janitorial license requirement in the output.

Not all states require a separate janitorial business license — about 12 states have one. If the output doesn't mention a janitorial-specific license for your state, it's because one isn't required there. The general business licensing checklist still applies.

The OSHA citations reference CFR numbers I can't find.

OSHA standards are codified in 29 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations). The full text is at osha.gov/laws-regs. Enter the CFR section number in the search box on that page.