OSHA is an acronym for Occupational
Safety and Health Administration. OSHA was created by the Department of Labor
in 1970 by passing of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. OSHA has many
standards that have been created and passed by the Administration. These rules
follow a broad category of areas, such as: construction work, Agriculture,
Maritime operations, and General Industry. These standards keep the employees
safe by making various rules and regulations that the employers must follow to
protect their employees from hazards. These standards cover various aspects of
hazards, such as: electrical safety, confined space, fire safety, noise,
forklift and other heavy machinery handling, work surfaces, machine guarding, biosafety,
welding, cutting, brazing, trenching and shoring, excavations, and fall
protection.
These standards are in place to
make sure a work site is in compliance with the current safety regulations and
to prevent any future injuries or patterns of workplace carelessness with
increased training. If a work site is not in compliance, they will be given a
written report on all of the areas that are in violation after the OSHA
inspector has looked at the work site completely. They will also be issued fees
for having violations in some cases, which will increase if they have not been
fixed by the set date. Many of these standards are in place to prevent
injuries: either from adding protection, informing the workers on the proper
personal protective equipment to use for a certain task, or to reduce the risk
of the workers by making physical barriers.
Any hazard that is not under a
specific OSHA standard would lie under the General Duty Clause 5A, which states
that employers are required to supply a workplace that is free from all
recognized hazards. An example of this would be if there was glass on the
ground, it is a dangerous hazard to anyone walking in that path. OSHA is
extremely important because many of these standards are not common knowledge to
the workers at the company so they could be exposed to many more hazards then
they are fully aware of. The inspectors that go around to companies are few in
number but they are vital to many companies increases their safety practices
and decreasing the amount of serious injuries.
OSHA 1910 also covers laboratory safety
standards. These standards are non-mandatory for companies to follow. These
standards include occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals in the lab,
hazard communication, air contaminants, blood borne pathogens, lockout and tag out,
and personal protective equipment. The standard lists specific levels of
certain chemicals that require the use of PPE and the dangers associated with
them. Hazcom insures that employers are providing their employees with the
correct information, such as container labeling, training, and safety data
sheets. Air contaminants list standards for how long and at what concentration
a worker can be exposed. Blood borne pathogen section lists various
microorganisms found commonly in human blood and how to prevent their
spreading. Lock out tag out covers the maintenance of equipment and machines
and is used when the sudden turning on of a machine could harm the employee.
