 Hello. This is a program about OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the United States Department of Labor. OSHA is the federal agency charged with assuring safe and healthful working conditions for America's working men and women. We're going to take a look at OSHA, how it functions, its priorities, and first of all, how it came to exist. As this century began, a national safety and health program for workers did not exist. But America's workforce was growing, and so was the number and complexity of potential threats to this great resource. Some of the very first job safety and health regulations came in New York in response to the tragic Triangle Shirt Waste Factory fire in 1911. Scores of young women employees were killed in the fire, or when they jumped 12 stories to the ground below. The public outcry led to state safety regulation developed by Frances Perkins, who was serving under then New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. A few years later, Perkins became the first woman cabinet member when President Roosevelt named her Secretary of Labor. Other states also began to develop job safety and health programs, but these were spotty, some good, some not. The first national job safety and health regulation came in the form of the Walsh Healy Public Service Contracts Act in 1938. Walsh Healy required that all who did a certain dollar volume of business with the federal government had to observe certain safety and health rules. Later came the mine, maritime, and construction safety legislation. By the late 1960s, job-related accidents accounted for more than 14,000 worker deaths annually. In addition, nearly two and a half million workers were disabled every year. Congress recognized that safety and health conditions needed improvement, so on December 29, 1970, the Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed. The Act was the culmination of years of evolution. It was to establish a federal program with an opportunity for state participation to assure a level of safety and health for all employees. In passing the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Congress created three new agencies. First, it established OSHA itself, within the Department of Labor, to set and enforce job safety and health standards. Second, the OSHA Act created NIOSH, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, to conduct occupational safety and health research. NIOSH, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, also is mandated to do long-term safety and health educational programs. The third and last organization established by the OSHA Act was the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The Commission is an independent quasi-judicial agency that reviews employers' contests of OSHA enforcement actions. This video is about OSHA, so let's take a closer look at that agency's two principal functions, standard setting and enforcement. Standards are mandatory federal rules that prescribe conditions, practices or controls designed to protect employees against safety or health hazards and thus against job-related injury or illness. To ensure both effectiveness and fairness, the setting of standards is very comprehensive. It all starts with an initiative from one of five sources, starting with OSHA itself, public petition, referral from other federal agencies, recommendations from a standing advisory committee, or finally OSHA standards may originate with recommendations from an ad hoc advisory committee appointed for a special purpose. There are two standing committees, the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health and the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health. OSHA has had ad hoc committees on topics such as agriculture, skin hazards and on the chemical methylene-dianoline, MDA. Both types of committees, standing and ad hoc, include representation from affected groups, including industry, labor, the public and state agencies. Once a standard has been initiated, OSHA gathers information from various sources, including the public. Options to get input include appointing an advisory committee hearing to study the issues or publishing an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking. Next, the proposed rule is issued for public comment in the Federal Register, the government's daily newspaper of official notices. The public has a set time limit, usually 30 days, to provide any information about the proposed rule to OSHA. That information can be presented as part of the next optional step in the setting of standards. A public hearing on the proposed rule presided over by an impartial administrative law judge. I'm here to conduct these hearings in an orderly and fair manner in the rulemaking process. As part of that commitment, FMI members are prepared to identify hazards that affect our workforce, to educate employees about such hazards and to train employees to deal with them. To the extent that the hazard communication standard accomplishes these goals, we support it. All of the information gathered becomes what is known as the public record. On the basis of substantial evidence in that public record, the agency develops the final rule, which is also published in the Federal Register. Typically, OSHA provides a period of time for the public to become familiar with the requirements of a new standard, before it becomes effective. This can be anywhere from 60 days to 2 or 3 years, depending on the difficulty the agency expects employers to have in meeting the new requirements. The Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal are responsible for hearing challenges to OSHA standards. Anyone adversely affected by a new rule or standard may appeal within 60 days after the final rule is issued. On occasion, OSHA may determine that employees require immediate protection from a grave danger. OSHA then issues an emergency temporary standard, ETS, which takes effect immediately. The ETS may also serve as a proposed standard, subject to the regular comment review and hearing process. Employers must be familiar with any standards and record keeping requirements that apply to their workplace, and employees must comply with rules and regulations that apply to their work. Even if a specific standard for a work practice does not exist, employers are responsible for complying with the Acts General Duty Clause, which requires employers to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm. As part of its safety and health regulations, OSHA also requires some record keeping by covered employers. Most establishments must keep a log, a supplementary record, and an annual summary of occupational injuries and illnesses. Some industries with very low injury and illness rates are exempt from the duty of record keeping. Also, some specific OSHA standards, such as asbestos, have additional record keeping requirements. Workplace accidents resulting in death or at least five hospitalizations must be reported to OSHA within 48 hours. OSHA also has several posting requirements for job safety and health information. First, every workplace must display the General OSHA Information Poster, which tells employees about OSHA and about their rights and responsibilities under this Act. Employers also must post during February, the Injury and Illness Log Summary for the previous year. Summaries or copies of other OSHA notices such as citations or variances also must be posted. OSHA requirements allow employees access to several company records, including those covering exposure to hazardous materials, medical surveillance, and information gathered for NIOSH-related studies. Finally, the Hazard Communication Rule requires that employers inform employees about hazardous chemicals in their workplace and the proper precautions to take. This far-reaching rule requires training programs, proper container labeling, and the availability of material safety data sheets which provide details about each hazardous chemical product handled or used by the employer. In addition to setting standards and rules, OSHA also is charged with enforcing them through workplace inspections. Workplace compliance visits are conducted by highly trained federal or state safety and health officers. In nearly all cases, inspections are conducted without prior notice. At an opening conference, the compliance officer explains to the manager the purpose of the visit, the scope of the inspection, and presents employee complaints if any are involved. Employees making complaints can remain anonymous if they request this. An authorized employee representative is invited to the opening conference and may also accompany the inspector and a management representative on the actual inspection. During a walk around, the compliance officer observes work conditions, consult with employees privately if needed, takes photos and instrument readings for the record, and examines other written records, postings, and required logs. If the compliance officer is an industrial hygienist, he or she takes air samples, scrapings, or other samples. These samples are then properly packaged and sent to OSHA's analytical laboratory in Salt Lake City for the most accurate measurement possible. During the walk around, hazardous working conditions are identified and corrective action is discussed. Some corrections may be made immediately, and that will be noted in the compliance officer's report. However, even if a violation is corrected during the inspection, it may be cited. At a closing conference, the compliance officer discusses general working conditions, notes probable citations, and discusses the time needed to correct hazards. This includes violation of record-keeping requirements as well as violations at workstations. The taking of samples can be listed, but results of analysis are not yet known. The appeal process is described and the possibility of penalties is discussed. However, the amount of any proposed penalties is not discussed. Only the OSHA Area Director has the authority to propose penalties, and only after he or she has received a full report. Citations issued by the Area Director detail violations and propose dates for hazard abatement. Any proposed fines are based on OSHA's categories for standards violations. Types of violations include the other-than-serious category, followed by serious, willful, repeated, and failure to abate. Proposed fines, which are based on the severity of the violations, can range from a few dollars for other-than-serious violations up to $70,000 for willful or repeated violations. Failure to correct prior violations may bring a civil penalty of up to $7,000 for each calendar day the violation continues beyond the abatement date. The proposed penalties are based on the gravity of the violation, good faith of the employer, the size of the establishment, and on previous OSHA inspection history. Employers may meet with the OSHA Area Director to discuss citations and proposed penalties. Citations and proposed penalties can be revised through settlement agreements, thereby avoiding prolonged legal actions and gaining speedier correction of violations. If an employer needs more time to remove a cited hazard, the company may file a petition for modification of abatement, which details steps underway to complete the abatement. When a settlement can't be reached, the employer may contest, filing a formal written notice of contest with OSHA within 15 working days after receiving the citation and notice of penalty. When a review commission judge holds a hearing on the contested citation, both employers and employees have the right to participate. Parties to the case who are still not satisfied after a review commission judge's ruling may appeal to the three commissioners themselves and then to the appropriate Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. OSHA will entertain requests for temporary variance from a standard. These can be issued when an employer cannot fully comply due to shortage or unavailability of materials, equipment, or technical personnel. A permanent variance can be granted when an employer provides protection as effective as OSHA's specific requirements. Since there are about 2,300 federal and state inspectors total who can conduct only about 160,000 inspections per year among the 6 million companies covered, OSHA has developed an inspection priority system to assure that inspectors visit workplaces with the greatest hazards. The top priority goes to imminent dangers. Those workplace conditions so serious they cannot wait for normal enforcement proceedings. Second priority goes to investigation of catastrophes, accidents that result in one or more fatalities or hospitalized five or more employees. Third priority is given to worker complaints of workplace safety and health conditions and employee right granted under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Fourth priority is conducting scheduled workplace inspections. More on that in a minute. Finally, there's the scheduling of follow-up inspections to see whether previously cited hazards have been corrected. Scheduled inspections are directed to those industries where the greatest hazards exist, manufacturing and construction. Each industry receives about half of the agency's scheduled inspection activity. Federal OSHA does not do inspections alone, however. 25 states and territories now operate their own OSHA approved safety and health programs. 21 states and two territories programs cover both private and state and local government public employment. Two states cover only the public sector. Each of these state plan states sets its own standards, has its own force of inspectors, conducts its own inspections, and has its own system for review of enforcement actions. When a state plan is approved, OSHA closely monitors the program, making sure its structure and performance provide protection that is as effective as federal OSHAs. OSHA may enter into voluntary agreements with state plan states to limit its enforcement activities to areas not covered by the state. When a state receives final approval that its program in actual operation is as effective as OSHAs, federal enforcement authority is relinquished in areas covered under the state plan. Working conditions in mines, airlines, interstate trucking, and nuclear power facilities are to a large extent covered by the regulations of other federal agencies. Public employees in state and local governments also are not covered by federal OSHA. Where state plans exist however, public employees in those states must be covered for the plan to be approved. Federal government workers also are not protected in the same way as private sector workers. They are covered by safety and health programs of their respective federal agencies which are required by presidential order to adopt standards consistent with OSHAs. OSHA closely monitors the quality of other federal agencies' safety and health programs. OSHA goes beyond setting and enforcing standards with a wide variety of programs that help employers and employees help themselves in providing safe and helpful workplaces. OSHA's consultation program provides a free confidential service mainly to small businesses that can't afford equivalent commercial services. OSHA provides funds to states to pay for professional safety and health consultants to make worksite hazard surveys that allow small business employers to identify and eliminate or control hazards. The requesting employer must correct any serious hazards or situations of imminent danger that are found as a result of this consultation. Companies can also participate in OSHA's voluntary protection programs, VPP, which are based on the cooperative and effective use of comprehensive safety and health programs. Upon OSHA approval, VPP participants are removed from routine scheduled inspections but are still subject to complaint and serious accident investigations and periodic VPP onsite visits. There are three VPP programs. An entry-level program called Merit allows a company to work with OSHA to improve its existing safety and health plan. With success, Merit companies can join the elite participants of VPP at the STAR level. STAR is the most demanding of all OSHA voluntary efforts and assures full employee protection. A VPP demonstration program allows an employer to explore VPP activities and industries for which STAR requirements may not be appropriate. OSHA also supports training and education programs through New Directions funding grants to a wide variety of employee and employer groups. The private sector programs seated by these grants outlive their OSHA funding, spreading the word about occupational safety and health in their own industries. The agency also provides vital information on eliminating specific hazards through press releases, easy-to-understand pamphlets, audio-visual materials, and detailed technical publications. OSHA operates its own institution of higher learning. The OSHA Training Institute in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines, Illinois. The institute trains and educates safety and health professionals from federal, state, and local governments, as well as from management and labor in the private sector. All of the OSHA programs we've seen in this program are designed to achieve the goal of worker protection through safe and healthful workplaces. But it's going to take a lot more than these efforts to achieve that admirable goal. Clearly, a cooperative effort involving industry, labor, and government is a prerequisite for success. That cooperation is essential for the effective protection of the nation's 72 million workers. They deserve no less.