As an electrical engineer, I know the importance of safety at workplace, And one of the common terms I learned through my work is OSHA, SO what is OSHA? The importance, Rights, Responsibilities, Standards, and rules. So let’s start in this article to answer this important question.
What is OSHA?
It is Operational Health and Safety Administration. It is the health and safety agency of the United States department of labor. The agency came into existence under the OSHA Act 1970.
When the U.S. Congress passed the law and established OSHA. The purpose of the law was “to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources.” Before the inception of OSHA, there was no national law for safety and hazards in the workplace.
What is OSHA responsible for?
The prime mission of is the protection of American worker’s health, prevent injuries and save lives at workplaces. Some other points of the mission policy are.
- Develop Standard rules and regulations for job safety & health standards. Ensure the enforcement of regulations through worksite inspections.
- Developing a database that maintains a record of job-related injuries and illness.
- Training and educating organization employees to increase the knowledge about occupational safety and health.
Why is OSHA important?
OSHA is an agency consisting of fourteen hundred states and one thousand federal inspectors. While as per previous statistics an average of 5600 American workers died from workplace accidents annually.
While more than four million non-fatal accidents, Injuries occur. Being a small agency focus on the training of employees of an organization rather than monitoring and inspections. The agency mission is to prevent injuries, save lives and protect America’s workers health.
Can OSHA shut down a company?
No it doesn’t have the authority to completely shutdown a worksite or a company, Only a court order can.
So, you may say, If it can’t close a workplace, then What power does it have? The main purpose of this agency is to assure healthful and safe workplace by enforcing standards and providing outreach, training and education assistance. Under the OSHA law, employers must provide their
workers with workplace free of serious hazards.
Which organizations do not come under the jurisdiction of OSHA?
Although OSHA is functional through all over the country. IT has both federal and states employees. Although there are some organizations that do not come under the coverage of it. Those are listed below.
- The self-employed People.
- The farming families’ immediate members who do not hire outside workers;
- Transportation workers and certain types of truckers because they are covered by the other federal agencies.
- Atomic energy workers and mine worker, they are also covered by other federal agencies;
- Local Government and state public employees. However alternate safety plans exist in some states for workers. Similarly, if the state and local government employees are working in the states that have an OSHA-approved state program. Then they are covered under Federal OSHA Coverage.
