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August 11th through the 17th marks “Safe and Sound Week”, powered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA is a federal government agency that is responsible for certifying healthy and safe work environments across the country. It provides employers with resources like training, outreach, and education to prevent workplace accidents. OSHA sets and enforces specific standards like personal protective equipment (PPE) and hazard communication to ensure safety for employees throughout the United States.
The seven sectors of OSHA focus on agriculture, construction, federal agencies, healthcare, maritime, oil and gas, and warehousing. OSHA’s regulations apply to all companies, regardless of industry, and even plans like emergency evacuation routes are required by OSHA for every company. OSHA also requires employers to report workplace incidents, which are recorded to find possible trends and patterns across certain industries. According to the workplace deaths in America have decreased by half since OSHA was formed, from 38 worker deaths per day in 1970 to 13 a day in 2020. Worker injury and illnesses have also decreased from 10.9 per 100 workers in 1972 to 2.7 per 100 in 2020.
If a company has more than 10 employees, it is required to keep records and document plans used to minimize employee risk of injury and illness. Employers are responsible to inform employees of their safety and health standards and hazards, correct safety and health hazards, provide PPE at no cost, keep accurate records of work-related injuries and illnesses, and post OSHA citation, injury, and illness, and data.
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