The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

by Casey Williams

P.1 Draft Year: 1970

Amendment Years: N/A National Law/Organization

To help assure a safe and healthful workplace, OSHA also provides workers with the right to:

Receive information and training about hazards, methods to prevent harm, and the OSHA standards that apply to their workplace. The training must be in a language you can understand;

Observe testing that is done to find hazards in the workplace and get test results; Review records of work-related injuries and illnesses; Get copies of their medical records; Request OSHA to inspect their workplace; and Use their rights under the law free from retaliation and discrimination.

OSHA can be credited with preventing injury of shipyard workers from faulty rigging (4/20/11), handling radiation dispersal in Japan to protect US workers (4/4/11), citing cleaning product hazards in factories (4/19/11), and raising alert to beauty salon owners on formaldehyde-containing straightening products (4/11/11) – just to name a few.

With the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.

Employers are responsible for the regulation and enforcement of the standards outlined in the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 but the OSH Administration is controlled by the US Labor Department and is a government-backed organization that is ultimately responsible for setting and enforcing standards and providing training, outreach, education and assistance to the employers and their workers.

Agency/Group Responsible for Regulation and Enforcement