Political Science
OSHA
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHAct) of 1970 was passed by Congress in order to make sure that every working person in the country had safe and healthful working circumstances and to preserve human resources. Under the OSHAct, OSHA was put into place within the Department of Labor and was sanctioned to control health and safety conditions for all employers with very few exceptions. OSHA was created in order to:
persuade employers and workers to decrease workplace dangers and to put into practice new or advance existing safety and health principles make available research in occupational safety and health and build up innovative ways of dealing with occupational safety and health problems set up separate but dependent tasks and rights for employers and workers for the attainment of better safety and health circumstances uphold a reporting and recordkeeping system to watch job-related injuries and illnesses found training programs to augment the amount and competence of occupational safety and health personnel expand obligatory job safety and health standards and put them in force efficiently (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2010).
Under the OSH Act, employers are accountable for supplying a secure and healthful workplace. OSHA's mission is to guarantee safe and healthful workplaces by setting and implementing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is dedicated to strong, reasonable and effective enforcement of safety and health necessities in the workplace. OSHA inspectors which are known as compliance safety and health officers, are knowledgeable, well-trained industrial hygienists and safety professionals whose objective is to guarantee observance of OSHA requirements and aid employers and workers decrease on-the-job dangers and avert injuries, illnesses and deaths in the workplace. Usually, OSHA carries out inspections with no advance warning. Employers have the right to call for compliance officers to get an inspection warrant before go into the worksite (OSHA Inspections, n.d.).
Since OSHA is not required to wait until a worker is injured before inspecting a particular workplace, some people have argued that OSHA inspectors should be required to have probable cause based on evidence that a particular workplace has become dangerous before the inspector can enter the premises to conduct a safety inspection. The questions being looked at in this paper is how would OSHA's effectiveness be impacted if the courts held that inspectors must have probable cause based on evidence of dangerousness before being allowed to inspect?
For over forty years, OSHA has been working to look after America's workforce as required by the OSH Act of 1970. The prime purpose has been to guarantee safe and healthy working circumstances for working men and women by sanctioning enforcement of the principles developed under the act; by supporting and supporting the states in their labors to guarantee safe and healthful working circumstances by supplying research, information, education, and training in the field of occupational safety and health (Coniglio, 2010).
In the act there is a section that deals specifically with the topics of inspections, investigations and recordkeeping. It states that in order to perform the reasons of this act, the Secretary, upon providing suitable qualifications to the owner, operator, or agent in charge, is certified:
1) to go into the business without holdup and at rational times any factory, plant, establishment, construction site, or other area, workplace or environment where work is performed by a worker of an employer
2) to examine and inspect throughout regular working hours and at other rational times, and within practical limits and in a sensible manner, any such place of employment and all relevant conditions, structures, machines, equipment, devices, apparatus, and materials therein, and to question confidentially any employer, owner, operator or worker (Coniglio, 2010).
It is obvious that not all the workplaces that are part of the Act can be examined right away. The philosophy is that the worst situations would get attention first. Thus, OSHA has put into place a system of inspection priorities. Imminent danger circumstances are given top concern. An imminent danger is any situation where there is rational confidence that a hazard exists that can be anticipated to cause death or serious bodily injury right away, or before the hazard can be eradicated through usual enforcement measures. Serious physical injury is any type of damage that could cause lasting or extended harm to the body or which, while not hurtful to the body on a long-drawn-out basis, could cause such...
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now