Fractional EHS

Fractional EHS: a safety department without the payroll

A fractional EHS manager, also called a fractional safety manager or safety officer, runs your company's safety function on a monthly retainer instead of a salary, for a small fraction of what an in-house hire costs. A full-time occupational health and safety specialist earns an average of $100,830 a year in the Los Angeles area and $102,570 in San Diego, before benefits, payroll taxes and turnover (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025). The good ones are hard to find and harder to keep, and most contractors carry full Cal/OSHA exposure without ever making that hire.

Who you'll work with: M Squared Safety is run by Matt Horovitz from our San Clemente office, with twenty plus years managing contractor safety programs. More about us.

Fractional EHS closes the gap. M Squared Safety takes on that role for Southern California contractors, with twenty plus years managing contractor safety programs on live job sites behind it. Call 949-954-6581.

The problem this actually solves

There is a band most contractors sit in and cannot get out of. Too big to ignore safety, because your general contractors, your insurer and Cal/OSHA all expect a functioning program. Too small to justify a standing safety department, because the salary does not pencil against your revenue.

What usually happens instead is that safety gets bolted onto someone who already has a full job. A project manager, an operations lead, sometimes the owner. It works until the day it does not, and the failure mode is always the same: the program exists on paper and nobody owns it in the field.

Two ways to work with us

• Supplemental. You keep your internal safety owner and we back them up with training, inspections, written programs and senior guidance when the hard questions land on their desk.
• Full outsource. M Squared becomes your safety department. We run a 90 day transition, then hold the function month to month.

What every retainer includes

• Monthly safety training built for field crews and scheduled around your pours and your deadlines.
• A site inspection program, built and deployed, with documented findings, photographs and closure tracking.
• Written programs: Injury and Illness Prevention Program under 8 CCR 3203, Heat Illness Prevention Plan covering the outdoor standard at 8 CCR 3395 and the indoor standard at 8 CCR 3396, Code of Safe Practices under 8 CCR 1509, Emergency Action Plan, Hazard Communication, and site-specific plans. The heat plan has to answer both standards, and the triggers each one sets are explained in the California heat illness standards, indoor and outdoor, explained.
• Monthly and quarterly reporting that shows leadership where the risk sits and what it is costing.
• Unlimited phone, email and video consultation.
• A cost reduction review of what you already spend on safety.

Why a fractional model works for safety specifically

Safety is not a constant load. It spikes at mobilization, at inspection, after an incident, and whenever a standard changes. A full-time hire is sized for the peak and idle through the trough. A retainer is sized for the average and surges when you need it, which is closer to how the work actually arrives.

The other half is continuity. A consultant sells you hours and leaves. A fractional team carries the training calendar, the inspection cadence, the program updates when Cal/OSHA moves a standard, and the phone call at 6am when something has gone wrong on a site, which in California can mean an 8 hour report to Cal/OSHA.

Pricing

Retainers are scoped to the hours your operation needs, against one benchmark: the roughly $100,000 a year in pay alone that an in-house safety specialist earns in Southern California. Most clients pay a fraction of that. Book a call and we will scope the number with you.

Frequently asked questions

What is Fractional EHS?

Fractional EHS, meaning environmental health and safety, is a retainer arrangement where an outside team runs part or all of a company's safety function. You get the capability of a safety department without creating the position, the way a fractional CFO gives you finance leadership without the executive salary.

How is Fractional EHS different from hiring a safety consultant?

A consultant sells you hours against a defined scope and then the engagement ends. Fractional EHS carries ongoing responsibility: the training calendar, the inspection cadence, the program updates when a standard changes, and the call when something goes wrong.

What does a fractional safety officer do?

The same job as a fractional safety manager under a different title: an outside safety professional on retainer who carries your training calendar, your inspection cadence and your written programs, and takes the call when something goes wrong. For a California contractor that starts with the IIPP under 8 CCR 3203 and the Code of Safe Practices under 8 CCR 1509.

Do you replace our safety person?

Only if you want that. Supplemental mode exists because plenty of clients have a capable internal owner who needs backup rather than replacement.

What does Fractional EHS cost?

Retainers are scoped to the hours your operation needs. The benchmark is an in-house hire: a full-time occupational health and safety specialist in Southern California earns about $100,000 a year in pay alone, before benefits and payroll taxes (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025). Most clients pay a fraction of that.

Who is Fractional EHS for?

Southern California construction and general industry firms with field crews and real Cal/OSHA exposure. Usually concrete, steel, roofing, framing and general contractors that are too big to ignore safety and too small to justify a standing department.

Where we work

Southern California, from Ventura County down to the Mexico border. Orange County, Los Angeles County, San Diego County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County and Ventura County. The footprint is deliberate: this model depends on us being able to get to your sites. See the full service area.

Book a call or phone 949-954-6581.