OSHA is the abbreviation for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA was instituted under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. OSHA’s mission is to ensure workers’ safety and healthful working conditions by setting and enforcing standards and providing training, outreach, education, and assistance. Simply stated, OSHA is the federal agency responsible for worker safety and health protection.
How did OSHA come about?
Since 1922 the Labor Department Bureau of Labor Standards has been responsible for worker safety issues. There were increased workplace injuries during the economic boom and associated labor shortages during World War II. Increasing economic expansion in the 1960s again led to increased workplace injuries. The resulting political pressures led Congress to establish the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1970. President Richard Nixon signed the bipartisan act into law that same year. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was formed on April 28, 1971, the date that the law went into effect.
What does the OSH Act cover?
The OSH Act covers most private sector employers and some public sector employers in the 50 states and certain territories and jurisdictions under federal authority. Those jurisdictions include the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Wake Island, Johnston Island, and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands as defined in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.
What private-sector employers are covered under the act?
The OSHA Act covers most private sector employers directly through federal OSHA or an OSHA-approved state plan. State plans are OSHA-approved plans operated by individual states instead of the federal government. Federal OSHA authorizes and monitors all state-run plans. State-run safety and health programs are required to be at least as effective as federal OSHA standards. Twenty-two states and territories have OSHA-approved state programs. Including Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.
Are state and local governments covered under the OSH Act?
Federal OSHA does not cover workers at state and local government agencies. Still, they have OSH Act protections if they work in those states that have OSHA-approved state plans. The OSH Act also permits states and territories to develop plans covering only public sector workers. In these cases, private-sector workers and employers remain under federal OSHA jurisdiction.
Are federal government agencies covered under the OSH Act?
OSHA’s protection applies to all federal agencies. Section 19 of the OSH Act makes federal agency leaders responsible for providing their workers with safe and healthful working conditions. OSHA conducts inspections of federal facilities in response to workers’ reports of hazards and under programs that target high hazard federal workplaces. Federal agencies must have a safety and health program that meets the same standards as private employers. Under a 1998 amendment, the OSHA Act covers the U.S. Postal Service the same as any private-sector employer.
What’s not covered under the OSH Act?
The OSH Act does not cover the self-employed, immediate family members of farm employers, or workplace hazards regulated by other federal agencies such as the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Energy, and the Coast Guard.
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