What is oc­cu­pa­tion­al health and safety?

In 2018, over 5,000 people died in a workplace related incident, and workers in private industry reported 2.8 million injuries or illnesses in the same year. These figures remain largely un­chang­ing but are still too high on the whole. Employers have a duty to keep their employees safe and enforce high standards of oc­cu­pa­tion­al health and safety. But what exactly is oc­cu­pa­tion­al health and safety?

Oc­cu­pa­tion­al or workplace health and safety describes services and reg­u­la­tions put in place by employers as regulated by gov­ern­ment agencies to ensure that employees can remain safe and healthy whilst working. In the US, a law was passed in 1970 called the Oc­cu­pa­tion­al Safety and Health Act of 1970 which aimed to protect employees at work. Things listed as part of the act were pro­tect­ing employees from exposure to toxic chemicals, excessive noise levels, me­chan­i­cal dangers, heat or cold stress, and/or un­san­i­tary con­di­tions. The complete act can be found at the US De­part­ment of Labor’s website.

To fully un­der­stand the reg­u­la­tions for workplace health and safety, you will need to check the spec­i­fi­ca­tions for your industry as well as the federal and local laws which control these reg­u­la­tions. An overview of the reg­u­la­tions is freely available at on the OSHA website – the most essential in­for­ma­tion can be looked up online in OSHA standard 29 CFR Part 1910. However, some of the most common vi­o­la­tions of the oc­cu­pa­tion­al health and safety reg­u­la­tions show what they are, as well as which ones employers often miss, but really shouldn’t.

A list from Health and Safety Magazine shows that the highest violation of the OSHA is fall pro­tec­tion, both in terms of generally im­ple­ment­ing workplace health and safety when it comes to fall pro­tec­tion, and also when it comes to training employees in fall pro­tec­tion. The combined total of vi­o­la­tions for fall pro­tec­tion alone comes to 7,783 incidents. This is far too high, es­pe­cial­ly con­sid­er­ing how many injuries a year occur at the workplace.

The full list from the Fiscal Year 2019 shows that a lot of the vi­o­la­tions occurred in work­places where physical work is the norm, although hazard com­mu­ni­ca­tion could occur in any workplace:

1. Fall Pro­tec­tion – General Re­quire­ments 6,010 vi­o­la­tions
2. Hazard Com­mu­ni­ca­tion:3,671
3. Scaf­fold­ing :2,813
4. Lockout/Tagout: 2,606
5. Res­pi­ra­to­ry Pro­tec­tion: 2,450
6. Ladders: 2,345
7. Powered In­dus­tri­al Trucks: 2,093
8. Fall Pro­tec­tion – Training Re­quire­ments: 1,773
9. Machine Guarding: 1,743
10. Personal Pro­tec­tive and Life­sav­ing Equipment – Eye and Face Pro­tec­tion: 1,411

It is important to note that the OSHA only covers the private sector, and that there are some ex­emp­tions to where it applies. Those who are self-employed or are covered under other federal programs are exempt as well as public employees for state and local gov­ern­ments. That is not to say that these work­places are not protected, or even dangerous, though. Often these work­places will have their own form of worker oc­cu­pa­tion­al health and safety schemes.

As mentioned above, there are some ex­emp­tions when it comes to OSHA’s coverage. However, it is generally un­der­stood that all private employers must comply with OSHA’s reg­u­la­tions in the same way as they do other statutory re­quire­ments. Not doing so can result in heavy con­se­quences, which we will go into later. Even though federal in­sti­tu­tions are exempt from the 1970’s health and safety law, the Pres­i­den­tial Executive Order 12196 means that these in­sti­tu­tions must meet in­spec­tion re­quire­ments for federal OSH schemes. Employees employed by the state should therefore also be covered by oc­cu­pa­tion­al health and safety pro­tec­tion.

As day-to-day work is always changing, there is no hard-and-fast rule or procedure which applies to any and every case if OSHA reg­u­la­tions are breached. In­spec­tions are spon­ta­neous, and in­spec­tors may give an employer time to correct errors. However, if deemed ap­pro­pri­ate, breaches may incur an on-the-spot $7,000 fine. Not something anyone takes lightly. This number is dwarfed if the violation is not corrected or deemed to be willful, however: The fine can be mul­ti­plied tenfold and reach a stag­ger­ing $70,000 for a repeated violation.

However, fines are not the only thing on the table for those who violate OSHA’s pro­tec­tive health and safety laws. Those who endanger their employees can be faced with 6 months in jail, plus a $10,000 fine. If an employer has not learned from previous pun­ish­ment, this sentence can be hiked to a year and a $20,000 fine. The take-away? Treat oc­cu­pa­tion­al safety with respect and comply, not only because it can land you in hot water if you don’t, but because the wellbeing of others is at stake, too.

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