Osha

Legal and Regulatory Factors of Security

Of Personnel in the Workplace,

According to the OSH Act

Christi Kerbs

Administrative and Personnel Law

ELA2603

Prof. Ackerman

April 24, 2011

The Occupational Safety and Health Act, otherwise known as OSHA, was established by the federal government in an effort to promote and regulate safety in the workplace. Before its existence, workplace injuries were much more prevalent and employees did not have a federal entity to report workplace hazards to. The primary reason of OSHA’s success has been reports from employees and union workers of unsafe or hazardous workplace conditions. OSHA required employers to maintain and safe workplace environment for its employees as well as informing employees of hazardous conditions and training them in the safest manner hazardous work can be performed. Employers must also keep records of workplace accidents and injuries. The act also requires that employers do not retaliate if an employee reports workplace hazards to OSHA. While OSHA performs unannounced workplace inspections, it receives the majority of its information on unsafe workplaces from employee reports.

“According to OSHA, each year an estimated 5,200 Americans die from workplace injuries, 50,000 employees die from work-related illnesses, 4.3 million people suffer nonfatal workplace injuries and illness, and $156 billion is spend on occupational injuries and illnesses.” (Repa, 215) While these numbers appear high, OSHA states that the numbers have been declining since 1992 because of its regulations and improvements in health and safety in the workplace. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has stated that those numbers may be skewed and accurate numbers should be much higher. They believe this could be due to inaccurate reporting by employers as well as a lack of reporting from employees and union workers. Over 40% of employees have reported that they feel pressured from...