Occupational Safety and Health Administration
As a division of the United States Department of Labor, the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was signed into law by President
Nixon in 1971. The goal of this administration was to regulate the workplace
around the country to promote the safe and well-being of all workers by
helping to reduce the amount of work-related illnesses, as well as helping
prevent against injuries and even fatalities occurring from conditions
in the job.
How has OSHA helped the workplace?
One of the primary functions of the OSHA is to provide regulations that
will help promote the safety of workers in industries of every kind. Over
the years, they have been successful in this pursuit and have created
regulations that have helped reduce
industrial accidents and injuries.
Some of the pieces of regulations that they have helped enforce:
- Expand the use of guards to cover moving parts in all machinery;
- Standard to keep healthcare workers from being exposed to dangerous pathogens;
- Energy sources must be turned "off" during repair and maintenance;
- When handling chemicals, protective equipment must be utilized; and
- Currently, workers in 7 states must have official OSHA safety training.
This is just a brief sampling of the different work-related regulations
that have been put into place through the efforts of the OSHA. Currently
the organization has over 2,000 inspectors who make it their duty to ensure
that these regulations are enforced and that employees are properly protected.
In 2010 alone, there are over 40,000 inspections that took place on a
federal level and over 55,000 state plan inspections. Since 1970, with
help from their efforts, there has been more than a 65% reduction in fatalities
in the workplace and a 67% decrease in the injuries and illness.
Contact an industrial lawyer from our firm!
If you have a recently been involved in an industrial accident, it is in
your best interests to consult with an
industrial injury lawyer from our legal team from Arnold & Itkin LLP as soon as possible. Over
the years, we have been successful in providing our clients with the high-quality
legal representation that they deserve. We know the efforts of the OSHA
have been successful in providing a much higher level of safety in the
workplace, however, this does not mean that there is no accidents that
occur. Negligence still runs rampant and if you have been the victim,
then it is in your best interests to get the involvement of an attorney
that you can trust.
So don't wait,
call us today to request a free consultation.