Essay - Employee Safety, Health, and Welfare Law Paper: Occupational Safety and...

Employee Safety, Health, and Welfare Law Paper: Occupational ***** ***** Health Act (OSHA)—Overview and History

The ***** Safety and Health ***** of 1970 (OSH ACT) covers all American employers and their employees in occupations spanning the range from agriculture to manufacturing. (The act does not, however, cover self-employed persons or persons w*****king on family farms.) OSHA has two primary regula*****ry functions. It sets standards and conducts inspections to ensure that employers are providing safe and healthy workplaces for *****ir employees. *****se inspections are ***** ensure ***** the workplaces adhere to the current legal regulations regarding federal safety standards.

Depending on the nature ***** the industry, ***** ***** may require that employers adopt a variety of practices, means, methods, or processes ***** are deemed reas*****ably necessary and appropriate to protect workers on the job. These ***** include, but are not limited to, employee education as well as fire regulations, maintenance of workplace equipment, and proper monitoring ***** workplace safety and procedures. Even when certain requirements ***** not specifically outlined regarding areas of employee *****, ***** law specifies that employers must strive to create a reasonably safe workplace. This is noted in a comprehensive or general duty clause that ***** that each employer "shall furn*****h... a place of employment which is free ***** recognized hazards that are caus*****g or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his *****." ("Occupation ***** and *****,"2006, Employment *****)

For example, compliance with safety standards may include ensuring that *****s have been provided with, have been effectively trained on, and use personal protective equipment ***** required for safety or health. Whenever an employee must wear fire-retardant clothing or secure long hair when working over a kitchen grill, the employer is ***** that he or she ***** compliant with OSHA. It is not only employees who are bound by OSHA—employees ***** also comply ***** all rules and regulations ***** apply to *****ir own actions and conduct ***** ensure their ***** safety. An employee that refuses to secure his or her hair when working on a machine press is violating the law just as much as an employer that requires his or her *****s to wear potentially dangerous clothing. ("***** Safety ***** Health,"2006, Employment Law)

***** the law, ***** standards are grouped into four maj***** categories: general industry, construction, maritime employment, and agriculture. The act also gives OSHA access to relevant employee medical records, including ***** related ***** that *****'s exposure to toxic substances, requires employers to provide employees with personal ***** designed to protect them against certain hazards, ***** requires manufacturers and importers of hazardous materials or potentially hazardous machinery to conduct regular hazard evaluations of the products and *****. ***** also requires employers ***** ten or more employees in hazardous industries ***** keep records about employee exposure to chemicals.

***** history of ***** act, according to its wording, states: "The Congress finds that personal injuries and illnesses arising out of work situations impose a substantial burden upon, and are a hindr*****nce *****, interstate commerce