Chapter 24: Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Copyright © 2017, Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The Occupational Safety
and Health Administration
Chapter 24
1

Learning Objectives
Lesson 24.1: The Occupational
Safety and Health Administration
1. Describe the mission statement of the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) and list the seven reasons (purposes)
why OSHA was formed.
2. List what persons OSHA standards cover.
3. Define an OSHA standard and describe how
standards are developed.
4. Discuss state OSHA plans.
5. List the five major points of the OSHA 2014 to
2018 Strategic Management Plan and discuss
the strategic challenges OSHA faces.
2

Mission of OSHA
 The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration conducts a broad range of
programs and activities to promote a safe and
healthy workplace and to protect the nation’s
workers
 Congress passed the OSHA Act of 1970 that
became effective in 1971 in response to
workplace accidents and fatalities.
 Based on three strategies:
 Strong, fair, and effective enforcements
 Outreach, education, and compliance assistance
 Partnerships and other cooperative programs 3

Reasons OSHA Was Formed
1. Encourage employers and employees to
reduce workplace hazards and to implement
new or existing safety programs
2. Provide research in occupational safety and
health problems
3. Establish “separate but dependent
responsibilities and rights” for employees
and employers to help achieve better
working conditions
4

Reasons OSHA Was Formed (Cont.)
4. Maintain a reporting and record keeping
system to monitor injuries and illnesses
5. Establish training programs to increase
competence of occupational safety and
health personnel
6. Develop and enforce mandatory job safety
and health standards
7. Provide for the development, analysis,
evaluation, and approval of state
occupational safety and health programs
5

Reasons OSHA Was Formed
 Just 30 years ago, more than 14,000 workers
died annually because of work-related
injuries.
 OSHA has helped cut workplace fatalities by
more than 60% and injuries by 40%.
6

Coverage of the OSHA Act
 Covers almost all employers/employees in
the United States
 Does not cover:
 Self-employed persons
 Farms worked by family members
 Working environments controlled by other federal
agencies
 States and territories that have approved
local plans for private sector occupational
safety and health programs must also have a
similar program for state and local
government employees.
7

Standards
 OSHA performs its duties by proclaiming
legally enforceable standards
 Standards may describe conditions or use of
practices, methods, or processes that are
reasonably necessary and appropriate to
protect employees on the job
 Standards are often performance standards or
performance achievements.
8

Standards
 In general, standards require the employers
to do the following:
 Maintain conditions or adopt practices
reasonably necessary and appropriate to
protect workers on the job.
 Be familiar with and comply with standards
applicable to their establishments.
 Ensure that employees have and use
personal protective equipment when required
for safety and health.
9

Standards
 What types of workplace hazards do the
OSHA standards cover?
 Toxic substances, harmful physical agents,
electric hazards, fall hazards, trenching hazards,
hazardous waste, infectious diseases, fire and
explosion hazards, dangerous atmospheres,
machine hazards
 Refer to Table 24.1 to view several standards
that apply to dentistry.
10

OSHA General Duty Clause
 When a specific standard does not exist for a
situation, the OSHA General Duty Clause applies
 It states that employers “shall furnish a place of
employment which is free from recognized hazards
that are causing or are likely to cause death or
serious physical harm to their employers”
 Employers must be aware of all standards
applicable to their work environments and ensure
that employees are informed.
 State plans must set standards that are at least as
demanding as the federal standards.
11

Office of the Federal Register
 All formative stages of standards, as well as
amendments, corrections, insertions, or deletions,
appear in the Federal Register
 Materials published in the Federal Register since
1994 are available electronically at
www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html
 The Office of the Federal Register annually
publishes all current regulations and standards in
the Code for Federal Regulations, which is
available in many libraries.
12

OSHA’s Standard Development
 The process of making a standard can be in
response to petitions from other parties or
OSHA can do it on its own
 If OSHA determines that a specific standard
is needed, it establishes advisory committees
13

 Committees are composed of governmental
workers and members from management,
labor, and local agencies.
 Recommendations also may come from the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH), which conducts research on
safety and health issues and provides
technical assistance to OSHA.
 The NIOSH is a division of the CDC.
14

 If OSHA wants to propose, amend, or revoke
a standard, it publishes its intention in the
Federal Register as an “Advanced Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking” or as a “Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking.”
 OSHA can authorize an emergency
temporary standard, but it can be challenged
in court.
15

State Safety and Health Programs
 State plans are OSHA-approved job safety
and health programs operated by individual
states instead of the federal OSHA
 State plans covering the private sector also
must cover state and local government
employees
16

 The Occupational Safety and Health Act of
1970 encourages states to develop and
operate their own job safety and health plans
and precludes state enforcement of OSHA
standards unless the state has an approved
plan.
 OSHA approves and monitors all state plans.
17

 Once a state plan is approved under Section
18(b) of the act, OSHA funds up to 50% of
the operating costs of the program.
 State plans must provide standards and
enforcement programs and voluntary
compliance activities that are at least as
effective as the federal program.
 25 states plus Puerto Rico and the Virgin
Islands operate approved plans with six plans
covering only the public sector.
18

Department of Labor
2014-2018 Strategic Plan
 Periodically, the DOL undertakes a strategic
planning effort focused on developing
performance measures and strategies to
support a vision of good jobs for everyone
 Five strategic goals of current plan:
 Prepare workers for better jobs
 Improve workplace safety and health
 Promote fair and high quality work environments
 Secure retirement health and other employee benefits
and, for those not working, provide income security
 Produce timely and accurate data on economic
conditions of works and their families
19

Strategic Challenges
 Since OSHA was created, 60% decrease in fatalities
and 40% decrease in injuries and illnesses
 However, there were 4,679 fatal work injuries in the United
States in 2014
 Safety and health hazards exist in varying degrees
and forms throughout the population.
 Some occupations, such as construction and
manufacturing, are inherently more hazardous than
others.
 However, less obvious hazards, such as injuries
caused by ergonomic factors and exposure to
dangerous substances, pose subtle yet serious
threats in a wider cross-section of occupations and
industries.
20

Chapter 24: Occupational Safety and Health Administration

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