Overview of OSH Legislation

OVERVIEW OF OSH LEGISLATION

1) Occupational Safety & Health Act 1994, Regulations & Orders

Objectives of the act:
·         to secure the safety, health and welfare of persons at work against risks to safety or health arising out of the activities of persons at work
·         to protect persons at place of work other than persons at work against risks to safety or health arising out of the activities of persons at work
·         to promote an occupational environment for persons at work which is adapted to their physiological and psychological needs
·         to provide the means whereby the associated occupational safety and health legislations may be progressively replaced by a system of regulations and approved industry codes of practice operating in combination with the provisions of this Act designed to maintain or improve the standards of safety and health.

-       Involve all industries, excluding armed forces and any jobs on merchant ship

-       Provides for general duties of employers and self employed persons to their employees and to the persons other than the employees

-       Agencies that responsible to enforce this act

·         Department of Safety & Health (DOSH)

·         SOCSO

·         NIOSH

- additional information can be obtained from DOSH [click for more information]

-       If there is any accidents happened, the victims must send quickly to the nearest hospital and needs to inform to the employer. However, if there are fatalities, within 8 hours the employer must report to OSHA. Below is the table of some fatalities occurred in the end of year 2010 investigate by OSHA

FATALITIES
Date of Incident	Company and Location	Preliminary Description of Incident
12/2/2010	LMS Intellibound, Inc., Dunn, NC 28334	Worker was operating a stand-up type, reach-rider, high-lift truck in reverse when he struck an empty wooden pallet positioned on the forks of an unmanned reach-rider truck.  The worker contacted the pallet with his upper chest and the force lifted him off the deck of the operator's position and crushed him against the vertical boom of the lift.  Worker was operating both forklifts in performance of his job.
12/2/2010	Professional Metal Roofs, Huntsville, AL  35805	Worker was pulling the rubber roofing and fell 15 to 20 feet through a skylight.
12/2/2010	Sharps Mill Forest Products, Inc., Palmyra, TN 37142	Worker was felling trees in a tract with vines intertwined among the trees when one tree uprooted another, which struck and killed the worker.
12/2/2010	State Armory NYS Div Military & Naval Affairs New York, NY 11433	Worker was putting a tarp on a leaky roof when he lost his footing, falling about 60 feet through a glass skylight.
12/3/2010	Air Control, LLC., Andalosia, AL  36421	Worker was installing heating and cooling equipment and fell from a ladder.

reference from OSHA Weekly Fatality Reports