The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) promulgates safety and

Question

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) promulgates safety and health standards.
These standards typically apply to machinery (capital), which is required to be equipped with guards,
shields, and the like. An alternative to these standards is to require the employer to furnish personal
protective devices to employees (labor) such as earplugs, hard hats, and safety shoes. Analyze the
possible employment effects of the second alternative approach if the OSHA believes that it offers greater
protection from injury for the workers.

Explanation / Answer

OSHA'S PURPOSE Under the Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created within the Department of Labor to: Encourage employers and employees to reduce workplace hazards and to implement new or improve existing safety and health programs; Provide for research in occupational safety and health to develop innovative ways of dealing with occupational safety and health problems; Establish "separate but dependent responsibilities and rights" for employers and employees for the achievement of better safety and health conditions. Maintain a reporting and recordkeeping system to monitor job-related injuries and illnesses; Establish training programs to increase the number and competence of occupational safety and health personnel; Develop mandatory job safety and health standards and enforce them effectively; and Provide for the development, analysis, evaluation and approval of state occupational safety and health programs. While OSHA continually reviews and redefines specific standards and practices, its basic purposes remain constant. OSHA strives to implement its mandate fully and firmly with fairness to all concerned. In all its procedures, from standards development through implementation and enforcement, OSHA guarantees employers and employees the right to be fully informed, to participate actively and to appeal actions. THE ACT'S COVERAGE In general, coverage of the Act extends to all employers and their employees in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and all other territories under Federal Government jurisdiction. Coverage is provided either directly by federal OSHA or through an OSHA-approved state program (see section on OSHA-Approved State Programs). As defined by the Act, an employer is any "person engaged in a business affecting commerce who has employees, but does not include the United States or any State or political subdivision of a State." Therefore, the Act applies to employers and employees in such varied fields as manufacturing, construction, longshoring, agriculture, law and medicine, charity and disaster relief, organized labor and private education. Such coverage includes religious groups to the extent that they employ workers for secular purposes. The following are not covered under the Act: Self-employed persons; Farms at which only immediate members of the farm employer's family are employed; and Working conditions regulated by other federal agencies under other federal statutes. But even when another federal agency is authorized to regulate safety and health working conditions in a particular industry, if it does not do so in specific areas, then OSHA standards apply. As OSHA develops effective safety and health standards of its own, standards issued under the following laws administered by the Department of Labor are superseded: the Walsh-Healey Act, the Service Contract Act, the Construction Safety Act, the Arts and Humanities Act and the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act.

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