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Concept
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Summary
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA ˈoʊʃə) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. The United States Congress established the agency under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act), which President Richard M. Nixon signed into law on December 29, 1970. OSHA's mission is to "assure safe and healthy working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education, and assistance." The agency is also charged with enforcing a variety of whistleblower statutes and regulations. OSHA's workplace safety inspections have been shown to reduce injury rates and injury costs without adverse effects on employment, sales, credit ratings, or firm survival.
The Bureau of Labor Standards of the Department of Labor has worked on some work safety issues since its creation in 1922. Economic boom and associated labor turnover during World War II worsened work safety in nearly all areas of the United States economy,but after 1945 accidents again declined as long-term forces reasserted themselves. Additionally, new and powerful labor unions played an increasingly important role in worker safety post-World War II. In the 1960s, increasing economic expansion again led to rising injury rates, and the resulting political pressures led Congress to establish the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on April 28, 1971, the date that the Occupational Health and Safety Act became effective. The new agency incorporated much of what had been the original Bureau of Labor Standards. George Guenther was appointed by Labor Secretary James D. Hodgson as the agency's first director.
OSHA has run a number of training, compliance assistance, and health and safety recognition programs throughout its history. The OSHA Training Institute, which trains government and private sector health and safety personnel, began in 1972.
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