Employment Law and Policies Research Paper:
OSHA Regulations in Construction
Brittany Howlett
June 19, 2011
Ottawa University
Employment Law and Policies
Monahan
Brief Background of OSHA Regulations
OSHA refers to the Occupational Safety and Health Act enacted by the United States Congress in 1970. It was signed into law by Richard Nixon, the then United States President in December of that same year. It is a federal law that oversees the adherence to and enforcement of health and safety within the workplace in both the federal government and the privates sector.
Its main objective is to make sure that employees are afforded a working environment that is free of hazards such as toxic chemical substances, noise pollution, dangers from
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The uptake of OSHA rules and regulations by an firm especially on within the construction industry would lead to reduced losses in form of compensation for workers due to accidents, law suits and costly settlements, cost of replacing machinery, the inconvenience of federal investigation and lost man hours which translates to forgone profits. Thus companies would rather comply with OSHA rules and regulations to offset threats on their possible future incomes.
For instance, within the construction industry where falling debris, fires and heavy equipment are the norm adhering to OSHA regulations of providing hard hats, fire extinguishers and proper training would save the company costs of providing compensation to injured workers and loss of equipment or heavy machinery.
* Lower Accident Rates:
OSHA rules and regulations offer guidance and policy measures which companies can take up as part of their employee corporate policies. These rules and regulations provide expert assistance to companies as to how they can reduce the rates of accidents within their company by simply instituting managerial measures that impact factory workers or construction workers on site. These may be as simply as putting up signposts, providing necessary equipments and putting up regulatory operational procedures in line with OSHA rules that protect the lives of workers.
Collaborations through seminars and conferences between OSHA and corporate bodies also help to iron out the
OSHA, or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, was created with the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 by Congress. The purpose of OSHA was to ensure that workers would have a safe work environment. This has been done by creating and enforcing safety laws and providing adequate training and education for the workers. It is important for an agency, like OSHA, to oversee these safety guidelines because it creates a standard for safety and health across all workplaces. OSHA requires employers (with more than 10 employees) to keep records of injuries, illnesses, and fatalities among their workers (other employers may also be required to keep records if requested by OSHA, the Bureau of Labour Statistics, or other state health
This case is followed by the laws and regulations of OSHA. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act) is an organization that has been put into place to ensure the safety of employees while on their jobs. These regulations are put into place to help reduce the number of on the job injuries and deaths.
R. Williams Construction Company v. OSHRC is a case regarding the rules and regulations of OSHA verse the practices of a construction company. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act) is a government regulated organization that was created to ensure the safety of employees while on the job. The regulations of OSHA have been put in place to eliminate and/or reduce the number of on the job injuries and deaths. Therefore, legal issue of this case is whether or not the courts should hold the construction company responsible for specific violations of OSHA standard regulations. Yet, in the case of Williams Construction the company was put under investigation by OSHA after a trench
The benefits that OSHA'S alliances provide to businesses and worksites in general industry is that it allows for businesses, trade, professional organizations, educational institutes and unions to collaborate to offer a large pool of resources and expertise that are used to develop compliance assistance tools, resources and shared information that focus on safety and health issues that relate to employers, employees, and the work environment. (OSHA, 2013) This give the worksites a great resources to help answer questions, solve problems and offer guidance through the collaboration. These program participants do not recieve exemptions from OSHA inspections or other enforcement benefits. (OSHA, 2013) Some participant benefits include increased
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) was developed and approved because of the escalating costs of accidents and illnesses in the workplace. According to Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, and Cardy (2010), OSHA is a national law that requires organizations to offer a safe and healthy workplace, to conform with particular occupational and health standards, and to document job-related injuries and diseases.
The employer also has to comply with all standards, rules, and regulations that are set forth by OSHA and the OSH Act. Employers are required to inspect the workplace to insure they are up to OSHA standards. Insure that employees are only using safe tools and equipment that are in their proper condition. It should be easy for the employees to be aware of potential hazards by the employer posting signs, using color codes, labels, or signs to convey warning. Employees must be trained in a language that they understand. Operating procedures must be in place and properly communicated to the employees to assure the employees follow safety and health standards. Employers that house or use hazardous chemicals will be required to have hazardous communication program and for that all the employees to be trained on exposure and precautions. Employers are to fund medical exams if required by OSHA standards. The OSHA poster must placed in a prominent location at the workplace. Records need to be kept of work-related injuries and illnesses. The log of these injuries and illnesses need to made available on February 1st for three months. Assure employees have access to medical and exposure records. Provide a workplace free of discrimination. OSHA citations must be posted at or near the work area where the infraction occurred. The citation must be in place for three working days or until the
priority attention as part of OSHA's efforts to target those industries having the highest rates of
It is important it have a written work Health and Safety Policy for the organizations and businesses which have management systems. The Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 addresses Major Hazard Facilities in Regulation 558 and Schedule 17(1.2) and requires that the Safety Management System includes a Safety Policy, including the operator’s broad aims in relation to the safe operation of the major hazard facility, and that the safety policy must include and express commitment to ongoing improvement of all aspects of the safety management system. A Work Health and Safety Policy is an explicit statement of business commitment to work health and safety. It will include a statement outlining the importance which is placed on work health and safety and how it is to be implemented.
To accomplish these purposes, the OSH Act established a framework of regulatory standards and specific enforcement authority under the Act which were calculated to reform unsafe work place practices and reduce the number of health and safety hazards. This, in turn, would also reduce the total number of work place accidents.
Osha was created to assure safe and healthful working conditions during construction. Osha is part of the United States Department of Labor. Congress created OSHA to assure safe and healthful conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and providing training, outreach, education and compliance assistance. Under the OSHA law, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their workers. Richard M. Nixon in December 29, 1970. Osha covers most private sector employers and workers.
In 1970 OSHA was designed to set in place guidelines to organize and regulate practices to reduce the injuries and accidents in the work place. These guidelines are there to both protect the worker and the employer. If the health care worker follows these important guidelines and is injured, the employer is responsible. However, if the injury or accident is a result to the worker’s negligence or disrespect to the procedure and guidelines, then the worker is at fault.
The Occupational Safety and health Act known as OSHA was legislated to authorize the federal government to establish and enforce occupational safety and health standards for all places of
Due to the governments inattentiveness to OSHA, many working people suffered with their physical well-being eventually costing their lives (Shichor et al., 2002). For instance, A work place becomes accident prone when standard safety procedures are ignored. OSHA officials are legally entrusted to be the “bodyguards of the workplace” (Shichor et al., 2002, p.296) but it was later discovered that much effort has not been put into preventing life threatening circumstances, the safety of the work place and the integrity of OSHA officials were
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), often referred to as the "OSH Act," was enacted in 1970 by President Richard M. Nixon. Its purpose is to assure safe and healthful working conditions for men and women (EPA, 2006). The Act is administered and enforced at the national level by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a division of the US Department of Labor. The application of the OSH Act in the current employment climate will be discussed as it applies to a variety of industries; considerations that are most applicable to the specific type of industry will be discussed initially, and those that are equally important regardless of the type of business will complete the section. Finally, this paper will discuss how the
Construction involves being really high off the ground, foundation trench collapses and equipment malfunctions. From building little house to building towers and skyscrapers takes hard work form hundreds of construction workers. Construction workers make sure everything will turn out perfect and try to avoid any complications by following the building plans. In the year 2016 a little more than 5,190 workers were killed on the job of construction. A estimate of ninety nine on average a week and more than fourteen deaths a day occurred on the job. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration also known as “OSHA” is a small Federal agency, that is responsible for the health and safety of employees lifes. For over four decades OSHA has come together with many organization to find different ways to have a more safe environment for workers, not only in construction but other careers that are just as dangerous. Construction involves so many tiny things that cause injury to many workers. Especially when dealing with electricity. Electricity in in the top eight percent for deaths in the United States. The highest percentage in construction is falls with thirty eight percent give or take. When individuals choose the career of construction they need to be aware of the risk that they will be experiencing; From falling objects,