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What Is OSHA?

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Imagine if you will, a factory full of machinery with no cover guards for the equipment. Imagine that factory being run by employees with no safety training and being managed by people with little to no regard for those employees’ health or well being. What you’re imagining isn’t too far off from what working conditions were like before the establishment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This paper will cover the history of OSHA, who and what is covered under its acts and standards, and the effect it has had over the health and safety of millions of workers in the United States.

On December 29, 1970 Richard Nixon signed into law the Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (U.S. Department of …show more content…

Department of Labor). They began with five main industries and five main health hazards. Some of these industries included roofing and sheet metal work, marine cargo handling, and lumber and wood products (U.S. Department of Labor). One of the safety hazards was asbestos. This hazard was recognized as such a threat that it led to the first standard that OSHA ever passed – The 1972 OSHA Standard for Exposure to Asbestos (U.S. Department of Labor). The administration quickly began regulating many facets of workplace safety. Today OSHA is responsible for the oversight of construction work, maritime operations, agriculture, and general industry. The department has put standards in place to prevent falls on construction sites, prevent exposure to infectious disease in a laboratory setting, and to provide training for dangerous jobs in a language workers can understand (U.S. Department of …show more content…

Since the formation of the agency OSHA has come under fire for having costs that far outweigh its benefits. Studies have found that those claims are baseless. A study done by Michael W. Toffel and David I. Levine found “companies subject to random inspections showed a 9.4 percent decrease in injury rates” (Blanding, 2012). This “decrease in injuries led to a 26 percent deduction in costs from medical expenses and lost wages” (Blanding, 2012). The facts are pretty clear, since the 1970’s worker deaths have dropped from 38 per day to 12 per day in 2014 (U.S. Department of Labor). And, work related illness and injury has decreased by 67 percent (U.S. Department of

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OSHA protects employees from dangerous situations. Under the OSH Act, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace. OSHA 's mission is to assure safe and healthful workplaces by setting and enforcing standards, and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. Employers must comply with all applicable OSHA standards. Employers must also comply with the General Duty Clause of the OSH Act, which requires employers to keep their workplace free of serious recognized hazards (osha.gov).

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Frances Perkins, a survivor from the Shirtwaist Factory Fire quotes “Moved by this sense of stricken guilt, we banded ourselves together to find a way by law to prevent this kind of disaster.” Frances Perkins became secretary of Labor under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and this quote said by Perkins “something must be done. We’ve got to turn this into some kind of victory, some kind of constructive action,” helped new workplace safety standards into law in the state of New York. The benefits that I would like the audience to see is how workplace safety is important by learning about the history of regulation, OSHA, and workers compensation.

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Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire The Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire that occurred in New York City on March 25, 1911, remains as one of the most important events in the history of United States due to the aftermath as well as being considered “the beginning of a modern safety movement.” This fire took the lives of 146 people, most of them being immigrant women, very few men, and young girls around the age of sixteen. The fire led to improvements, and a movement against unsafe working conditions in factories located in New York and in other factories throughout the United States.

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Because of the fire, many new safety regulations have been issued. “Every building has to have a enforced fire drill and fire alarms” to keep the workers safe (The Labor Law). In 1970, the government created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to make sure that the new safety regulations were being enforced. The girls in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire all died a horrific

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1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Nicole R. Ford Southern New Hampshire University One hundred and forty-five lives were lost on March 24th 1911 with one of the deadliest industrial disasters in U.S. history. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City caught fire taking the lives of 145 workers. The lack of proper fire prevention devices, and no fire safety education played a factor in a significant historical safety regulation reform. By learning from our mistakes in the past we as a nation have grown into who we are today the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire is the paragon for workplace reform.

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Reflective Journal entry Unit 4 In today’s society, one of the primary objectives is to ensure that staffs working in the various department of the health sector have maximum protection, inclusive of the environment in which they live dwell and play. Therefore, adequate measures must be implemented to extenuated environmental and occupational hazards. The occupational and environmental health takes a multidisciplinary approach as it relates to the correct identification of diseases from exposure hazardous agents in the community of in the workplace.

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OSHA obligations include other factors besides keeping your work site safe. A company must also meet certain reporting requirements, posting requirements, and recordkeeping requirements, and you must submit to OSHA inspections. For example, you must report fatal accidents to OSHA within eight hours of their occurrence. You must post an OSHA poster informing workers of their rights and obligations under the law. You must also keep records of your efforts to comply with the law and to prevent injuries and illnesses (OSHA).

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On December 31, 1970, President Nixon signed the Clean Air Act; this bill controls our air pollution. President Nixon signed the Marine Mammal Protection Act, or the Ocean Dumping Act, on October 21, 1972. This Act regulates the dumping of anything harmful towards marine animals. President Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act of 1973 on December 28, 1073; this strengthens the Act and protects many species. Lastly, Nixon proposed the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, which protects the nation’s lakes, streams, rivers, wetlands, and other bodies of water.

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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was an influential event in American history that caused workers and business owners all of the country to revisit their work-related regulations. Many dangers that occurred as a result of the factory owners’ actions caused the tragedy to be more harmful than necessary. Other preventable mistakes made by the firemen and their equipment added to the tragic nature of this event. America has learned that factories and businesses need safer rules and work environments to protect their employees. Because of this tragic event in the nation’s history, the government passed an abundance of laws to support the safety of workers and their work conditions.

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According to AF McEvoy, the fire was “the most dramatic example of industrial disaster in the annals of American labor history” (McEvoy, 1995). This tragedy sparked outrage among the public and drove a movement to improve workplace safety. As a result, the Factory Investigating Commission was established, which led to the passage of numerous labor laws that aimed to protect the rights of workers. These laws established standards for working hours, wages, and safety measures, and provided workers with the right to organize into unions.

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OSHA stands for Occupational Safety and Health Administrations. OSHA is responsible for setting safe standards and precautions to keep people safe in the work environment. President Richard Nixon signed the OSHA law in 1970. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration workers monitor work places to make sure the employees there are maintaining a safe and healthy environment on the job. OSHA encourages people of the working atmosphere to reduce workplace hazards by keeping their safety rules and procedures up to date with their standards.

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Health and safety at work act 1947 The health and safety at work is the legislation, which covers the employees’ health and safety in the UK. The law requires a high level of management that employers must follow, they must look at risks and assess them and take a sensible measure to prevent these risks from happening. This policy and procedures is for Risk assessments and the fire policy/procedure. This promotes safety because care organisations have to make sure that they are able to provided a safe environment in a health and social care setting.

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While the exact statistics of missed work days/hours for those not vaccinated is difficult to ascertain, studies have found that are 86% of healthcare professionals have reported leaving work if they have influenza and 59% recall cases in the past where they worked despite having influenza like symptoms (Dubov 2533). Effects of missed work days are financial and resource burden for the hospital due to personnel calling in sick which are then filled by registry staffing. Hospital policy often prohibits working without vaccinations which can cause shortfalls in staffing and requires healthcare workers to sign a vaccination declination form (Dubov

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They have also helped the UK become one the countries with the lowest accident rates in the world. However it hasn’t completely stopped the amount of workplace accidents. “Over 200 people are killed each year at work in the UK and over 150,000 are injured. Two million people suffer from illnesses that have been caused, or made worse, by their work” (Aldworth, 2010)

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Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 These Act inform practices that all staff the responsibility to keep themselves and other around them safe through their actions at work and they must to report any health and safety problems. Also, all staff must to follow policies and procedure when hand handing equipment and they should to work in way that puts other around them in danger. Control of substances and Hazardous to Health Regulations 1992 These regulations inform practices that cleaning materials must to be kept in a locked cupboard. Also, these regulation state that disposable gloves and aprons must to be provided for cleaning and handing chemicals.

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