All About OSHA

By Rose Kreller of Medi-Waste Disposal

The Occupational Safety and HealthAdministration (OSHA) is an agency of the US Department of Labor that was created by Congress in 1970.

OSHA’s mission is to assure the safety and health of America’s workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health. The bill was initially proposed in 1968 by President Lyndon B. Johnson and was signed on December 29, 1970 by President Richard Nixon.

OSHA is headed by the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health. This position is appointed by the President. OSHA’s statutory authority extends to most nongovernmental workplaces where there are employees. Workers at state and local government agencies are not covered by OSHA, but have OSH Act protections if they work in those states that have an OSHA-approved State Plan. State Plans are OSHA-approved job safety and health programs operated by individual states instead of federal OSHA.

OSHA also created the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as a research agency whose purpose is to determine the major types of hazards in the workplace and ways of controlling them.

Since the agency was established in 1971, workplace fatalities have been cut by 62% and occupational injury and illness rates have declined 40%. At the same time, the US employment has nearly doubled.

OSHA and its state partners have over 2,000 inspectors, plus complaint discrimination investigators, engineers, physicians, educators, standards writers, and other technical and support personnel spread over more than 200 offices throughout the country.

www.osha.gov is the official website of OSHA. There, you will find numerous resources for employers. Many training and reference materials are available.

The OSHA Outreach Training Program provides training for workers and employers on the recognition, avoidance, abatement and prevention of safety and health hazards in workplaces. The OSHA Training Institute provides training and education in occupational safety and health for federal and state compliance officers, state consultants, other federal agency personnel and the private sector. OSHA's Hazard Identification Training Tool is an interactive, online, game-based training tool for small business owners, workers and others interested in learning the core concepts of hazard identification.

OSHA offers cooperative programs under which businesses, labor groups, and other organizations can work cooperatively with the Agency to help prevent fatalities, injuries and illnesses in the workplace.

Midwest Medical Waste, Inc.

PO Box 416
Manhattan, KS 66505
medimidwest.com
Office: 785-539-MEDI (6334)
Toll Free: 855-631-MEDI (6334)
info@medimidwest.com