Standard “OSHA
Standard “Osha, the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act is administered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Health and safety conditions in most private industries are regulated by standard “OSHA or OSHA-approved state programs, which cover public sector employers. Employers covered by the OSH Act must comply with the regulations and the health and safety standards promulgated by standard “OSHA. Employers also have a general duty under the OSH Act to provide employees with work and a workplace free from serious hazards. Standard “OSHA enforces the Act through workplace investigations and inspections. Compliance assistance and other cooperative programs are also available.
Standard “OSHA’s purpose is to reduce workplace injuries, fatalities, and illnesses by promoting workplace health and safety. Although standard “OSHA must continually respond to challenges from new technologies, new industries, and an ever-changing workforce, the mission remains the same. Strategic mechanisms such as National Emphasis Programs (NEPs), Site Specific Targeting (SST), Local Emphasis Programs (LEPs), and the Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP) have been designed to help OSHA in fulfilling that purpose.
OSHA’s enforcement programs are focused and efficient. Although there are many components to OSHA’s efforts, and many intermediate measures of standard “OSHA’s effectiveness, the most meaningful indicator of OSHA’s success is the number of employees who can go home every day uninjured and healthy.
The continuing decline in the total recorded lost workday case rates indicate that fewer and fewer U.S. employees encountered health or safety hazards resulting in serious illness or injuries. The rates for 2006, reported on October 16, 2007, were the lowest that the BLS has ever reported. Not only have the rates at which employees experienced a recordable injury decreased by 12.0 percent since 2003, but the lost workday case rate, the measure of cases in which employees were restricted from work, absent, or transferred as a result of a workplace illness or injury, has also declined by 11.5 percent over the same period of time.
Standard “OSHA’s enforcement efforts are critical to workplace health and safety by targeting the most hazardous workplaces, and the employers that have the highest illness and injury rates. Innovative approaches such as the NEPs, EEP, and LEPs enable OSHA to effectively identify serious health and safety hazards, to address recalcitrant employers, and to effectively use its resources. OSHA’s continuing focus on its bottom line, reducing workplace illness, injuries, and fatalities, add value to the workplace for both employees and employers.