The Occupational Safety and Health Act | Health and Safety

The main federal law covering threats to workplace safety is the Occupational Safety and Health Act, or OSHA. (29 U.S.C. §§ 651 to 678.) That law created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (also called OSHA) under the U.S. Department of Labor to enforce workplace safety. And it created the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to research ways to increase workplace safety.

OSHA broadly requires employers to provide a safe workplace for employees—one that is free of dangers that could physically harm those who work there. The law implements this directive by requiring employers to inform employees about potential hazards, to train them in how to deal with hazards, and to keep records of workplace injuries.

Sometimes, workplace dangers are caught and corrected during unannounced inspections by OSHA. But the vast majority of OSHA’s actions against workplace hazards are initiated by complaints from employees or labor unions representing them.

Still more reform is needed. According to recent estimates, six million Americans are injured at work each year, and more than 5,000 workers actually die as a result of their injuries. In addition, 50,000 Americans die each year from illnesses caused by chemicals they were exposed to while on the job.

Caution

States have OSHA laws, too. About half the states now have their own OSHA laws. The legal requirements for workplace health and safety in the state laws are generally similar to the federal law. In some cases, the state laws are more strict.

1. Who Is Covered

Unlike many other laws which cover only companies with a minimum number of employees, OSHA covers nearly all private employers engaged in interstate commerce. That includes nearly every employer that uses the U.S. Postal Service to send mail to other states or makes telephone calls to other states. Independent contractors are not specifically covered by the law.

OSHA does not apply to state and local governments. However, these employees have some protection if their state or local government has a safety plan. As an incentive to these employers, OSHA will fund half the cost of operating such a plan. Farms owned and operated by a family are the only significant private employers exempted from OSHA coverage.

Note

For more information on the basics of the law, see “All About OSHA,” a free pamphlet. You can download it from the agency’s website at www.osha.gov. You can also order it by calling OSHA Publications at 202-693-1888.

2. OSHA Requirements

The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires all private employers to maintain a workplace that is as safe and healthy for employees as is reasonably possible. Under OSHA, all employers are charged with this general safety duty. In addition, the law sets specific workplace safety standards for four major categories of work: General Industry, Maritime, Construction, and Agriculture.

Safety regulations are usually concerned with preventing a one-time injury—falling from an unsafe ladder or tripping on an irregular walkway, for example.

The Act’s health concerns are in preventing employee illnesses related to potential health dangers in the workplace—exposure to toxic fumes or asbestos, for example—and cumulative trauma such as Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

The law quite simply, but frustratingly, requires employers to protect workers from “recognized hazards.” It does not specify or limit the types of dangers covered, so hazards ranging from things that cause simple cuts and bruises, to the unhealthy effects of longterm exposure to some types of radiation, are all arguably covered.

But proving the law was violated is not easy. To prove an OSHA violation, you must produce evidence of both of the following:

• Your employer failed to keep the workplace free of a hazard.

• The particular hazard was recognized as being likely to cause death or serious physical injury.

Under OSHA, the definition of a workplace is not limited to the inside of an office or factory. The Act requires that work conditions be safe no matter where the work is performed—even where the workplace is an open field or a moving vehicle.

In addition to the general duty to maintain a safe workplace, employers are required to meet OSHA’s safety standards for their specific industries. Depending on the types of hazards and workplaces involved, the employer’s responsibility for creating and maintaining a healthy and safe workplace can include such diverse things as informing workers about potentially hazardous substances and labeling them, upgrading or removing machinery that poses a danger, providing employees with special breathing apparatus to keep dust created by a manufacturing process from entering workers’ lungs, improving lighting above work areas, providing emergency exits and fire protection systems, vaccinating against diseases that can be contracted at work, or even tracking the effects of workplace conditions on employees’ health through periodic medical examinations.

Finally, OSHA requires employers to display a poster explaining workers’ rights to a safe workplace in a conspicuous spot. If the workplace is outdoors, the poster must be displayed where employees are most likely to see it—such as in a trailer at a construction site where workers use a time clock to punch in and out.

These posters are supplied to employers by OSHA and commercial publishers. An employer’s failure to display such posters is itself a violation of OSHA rules.

3. Injury and Illness Reports

Within eight hours of any workplace accident that results in the death of a worker or requires hospitalization of four or more workers, employers must report complete details to OSHA, including names of injured workers, time and place of the accident, nature of the injuries, and any type of machinery involved in the accident. All employees and former employees must be given access to this report upon request.

Companies employing ten or more people must also keep records of workers’ work-related injuries and illnesses that have caused death or days off work and post a report on those injuries and illnesses.