If a small employer with just a handful of employees intends to designate one of those employees as a competent person on each job site, does the standard require the employer to hire an additional competent person to conduct frequent and regular inspections of its jobsites?

No. The standard requires employers to designate a competent person to make frequent and regular inspections of job sites, materials, and equipment to implement the written exposure control plan, but it does not obligate employers to hire a new employee to carry out these tasks. Employers may designate an existing employee as the competent person provided that employee qualifies as a competent person under the standard. See 29 C.F.R. § 1926.1153(b) (competent person is an individual with the knowledge and ability necessary to fulfill the role who is capable of identifying existing and foreseeable silica hazards and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate or minimize them).