1. Introduction to OSHA and The General Duty Clause
Today, we’re going to talk about the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA. We’ll tell you how OSHA develops and enforces safety standards, how it determines which workplaces to inspect, and other important issues so that you can have a better understanding of how this federal government agency impacts our workplace and employee safety.
We’ll also talk about the General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The General Duty Clause is a key part of the foundation that OSHA has built to guarantee a safe and healthful workplace for all workers nationwide.
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2. Session Objectives
Understand the purpose of OSHA Identify OSHA’s strategies for improving workplace safety Recognize the impact of the General Duty Clause Know employee OSHA rights and responsibilities
The main objective of this session is to familiarize you with how OSHA and the General Duty Clause affect your job and our workplace. By the time the session is over, you should be able to:
Understand the purpose of OSHA;
Identify OSHA’s strategies for improving workplace safety;
Recognize the impact of the General Duty Clause; and
Know employee OSHA rights and responsibilities.

3. Prequiz: How Much Do You Know?
OSHA’s main purpose is to fine employers for safety violations.
OSHA has had little impact on workplace safety.
Compliance with OSHA standards is voluntary.
OSHA standards and the General Duty Clause apply only to employers, not to employees.
Before we begin the session, let’s take a few minutes to see how much you already know about OSHA and the General Duty Clause. Decide whether each statement on the screen is True or False.
True or False—OSHA’s main purpose is to fine employers for safety violations.
True or False—OSHA has had little impact on workplace safety.
True or False—Compliance with OSHA standards is voluntary.
True or False—OSHA standards and the General Duty Clause apply only to employers, not to employees.
How did you do? Did you get all the answers right?
If not, don’t worry. You’ll learn all about these issues and a lot more during the session.

4. Occupational Safety And Health Act
The Occupational Safety and Health Act was enacted in Known initially as the “safety bill of rights,” the law established three government agencies that were charged with ensuring safe and healthful working conditions for American workers.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, was established with the U.S. Labor Department and was charged with setting and enforcing workplace safety and health standards.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, was established as a part of the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct research on occupational safety and health.
And the last agency in this alphabet soup is OSHRC, or the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. OSHRC was established as an independent agency to act as a judge when enforcement actions by OSHA are challenged by employers.

5. OSHA’s Mission
To save lives, prevent injuries and illness, and protect the safety and health of America’s workers
OSHA was created because of public outcry against rising injury and death rates on the job. Therefore, OSHA’s mission was, and is, to counteract this trend and make workplaces safer.
OSHA exists to save lives, prevent injuries and illness, and protect the safety and health of America’s workers.
Think about how OSHA’s mission coincides with the organization’s safety program and policies. The purpose of our efforts is also to prevent accidents and protect our employees.

6. What OSHA Has Achieved INJURIES FATALITIES 60% 60% 8 million
Since OSHA was created, fatalities in U.S. workplaces have been reduced by over 60 percent.
OSHA has also worked with employers and employees to reduce workplace injuries and illness by more than 60 percent. Work-related injuries and illnesses nationwide run about 3 million annually. That’s still high, but it’s much better than it was before OSHA came along.
These reductions in occupational deaths, injuries, and illness have occurred despite dramatic increases in the number of workers and workplaces covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Today, there are more than 8 million workplaces and well over 130 million workers covered by the Act.
You can find out about the injuries and work-related illnesses that occur in our workplace by reading the annual summary of injuries and illnesses that is posted every February. Or, you can ask to see a copy of our OSHA 300 log of workplace injuries and illnesses.
60%
60%
8 million
130 million

7. OSHA Strategies Enforcement Partnerships Rulemaking Outreach
OSHA has developed a number of strategies to help further reduce workplace injuries, illness, and death.
Enforcement remains a high priority. OSHA conducts inspections and issues citations and penalties to employers that do not follow OSHA regulations or lack adequate safety and health programs.
OSHA also partners with employers to help them focus on and improve their safety and health programs.
OSHA continues to develop safety rules that are designed to protect workers from today’s workplace hazards.
The agency has also developed outreach programs that include compliance assistance, consultation programs, training grants, and small business assistance.
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8. OSHA Inspections
Although it is impossible for OSHA to inspect every workplace, the agency does conduct inspections in thousands of workplaces from coast to coast every year. The goal of these inspections is to help employers and employees identify and reduce on-the-job hazards. There are several possible reasons for an OSHA inspection:
A report of an imminent danger;
A fatality;
A serious injury or illness that results in amputation, inpatient hospitalization, or the loss if an eye;
A complaint filed by an employee, former employee, or concerned citizen;
A regularly scheduled inspection;
A follow-up visit, perhaps to determine if prior violations have been corrected.
Inspections can be comprehensive or focused.
Comprehensive inspections cover nearly the whole facility.
Focused inspections are limited to certain areas, operations, conditions, or practices.
In addition, OSHA will sometimes require an employer to conduct its own root cause analysis and submit the results to OSHA following an incident instead of performing an on-site inspection itself. This process is known as a Rapid-Response Investigation, or RRI.
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9. Citations and Penalties
Willful: Over $100,000 Serious: Over $10,000 Repeat: Over $100,000 Failure to correct: Over $10,000 Other: Over $10,000
When an inspection uncovers violations of safety and health standards, OSHA can issue a citation and impose a penalty. The amount of the penalty depends on the type of violation.
A willful violation occurs when an employer intentionally and knowingly commits a safety violation. The penalty can be over $100,000.
A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result and the employer knew or should have known about the hazard. The penalty can be over $10,000.
A repeat violation occurs when the same or a very similar violation to a previous violation is found by an OSHA inspector on a subsequent or follow-up inspection. The penalty can be over $100,000.
A failure to correct a violation occurs when a violation cited by an OSHA inspector is not corrected and continues past the designated date for correction. This penalty can be over $10,000 each day until the problem is fixed.
Violations termed “other” have a direct relationship to job safety and health, but are generally not so serious and would most likely not cause death or serious physical harm. These penalties can be over $10,000.
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10. OSHA Standards
Safety and health rules for general industry, construction, and maritime industry Justified through research Easy to understand and implement
One of OSHA’s main jobs is to develop and implement standards that provide safety and health rules for workplaces in general industry, construction, and maritime industry. The intent of these standards is to protect workers from specific hazards identified in the workplace.
OSHA standards must be justified through sound science and research to prove that there is a problem in the first place and then to demonstrate that the safety standard will effectively reduce workplace injuries, illness, and deaths. Cost analyses are conducted on the standard to demonstrate the costs of compliance as well as how much money will be saved by employers that comply with the standard.
OSHA standards must be written in a simple format that is easy to understand and easy to implement.
Think about the various OSHA standards that affect your job. The personal protective equipment standard is a good example.

11. Which statements are True?
Since OSHA was created, workplace injuries have decreased by 25%.
OSHA is an agency of the federal government.
OSHA can fine employers for safety violations.
OSHA does not help employers comply with safety standards.
OSHA inspects every workplace annually.
Let’s take a few minutes now for an exercise to test your knowledge of the information we’ve just been discussing. On the screen you’ll see several statements about OSHA. Some are true, and some aren’t. Your job is to pick out the true statements.
Now let’s look at the answers. Did you figure out that only the 2nd and 3rd statements are true?

12. Review Do you understand: Occupational Safety and Health Act?
OSHA’s mission and impact?
OSHA enforcement and inspections?
OSHA standards?
Now it’s time to ask yourself if you understand the information about OSHA presented so far. For example, do you understand what we’ve said about:
Occupational Safety and Health Act?
OSHA’s mission and impact?
OSHA enforcement and inspections?
OSHA standards and regulations?
It’s important to understand all this information so that you can appreciate the important influence OSHA has in workplace safety.
Let’s continue now to the next slide and talk about the General Duty Clause.

13. General Duty Clause Section of OSH ACT
Requires employers to provide a workplace free of hazards
OSHA Standards are built on GDC
If there are no specific standards, the GDC applies
OSHA’s General Duty Clause (GDC) is not a safety standard. It is a section of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
The General Duty Clause is the foundation of all current and future safety standards. It requires employers to provide workers with a workplace that is free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees.
OSHA standards are built on the General Duty Clause and focus on specific workplace hazards and protections.
If there is no specific standard that covers a workplace hazard, then the General Duty Clause applies. For example, an OSHA inspector could issue a citation and penalty under the General Duty Clause for failure to provide a workplace that is free from recognized hazards. And, in fact, inspectors frequently rely on the General Duty Clause when there is no standard for an unsafe condition.
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14. Employer Duties
Evaluating for hazards Eliminating or reducing hazards Training employees
In addition to providing a workplace free of recognized hazards, the General Duty Clause requires employers to comply with OSHA standards. Compliance generally means:
Inspecting and evaluating the workplace for potential hazards;
Taking effective steps to eliminate or minimize hazards; and
Training employees to work safely to prevent accidents.
Think about the steps the organization takes to comply with OSHA standards, including safety inspections, job hazard analysis, training, and so on.

15. Employee Responsibilities
Comply with Requirements
Report Injuries
Obey
Safety Rules
EMPLOYEE RESPONSIBILITIES
The General Duty Clause states that employees must comply with all OSHA standards as well as any other rules, regulations, or orders under the Occupational Safety and Health Act that apply to their own actions and conduct on the job.
This means that employees share responsibility for workplace safety. Specifically, employees are responsible under the General Duty Clause for:
Understanding and complying with the requirements of OSHA regulations that apply to their work and work area;
Obeying the safety rules the company develops in response to the requirements of OSHA regulations or the General Duty Clause;
Using personal protective equipment required by OSHA regulations and company safety rules;
Reporting any safety or health hazards they discover on the job—whether they apply to their work and work area or someone else’s; and
Reporting any job-related injuries and illness so that the company can record the incident, investigate, and take steps to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
Report Hazards
Use PPE

16. Employee Rights OSHA regulations Safety-related records
Safety programs
Monitoring and testing results
Chemical safety information
Based on the provisions of the General Duty Clause, employees have the right to review information about workplace safety and health such as:
Copies of OSHA regulations, especially those that apply to their jobs;
Certain safety- and health-related company records, including the OSHA 300 log, which records all workplace injuries and illness that result in lost workdays, medical treatment, restricted work duties, or other specific outcomes;
Written company safety and health programs developed in response to specific OSHA standards;
Results of workplace monitoring and testing; and
Information regarding hazardous chemicals, including safety data sheets, or SDSs.
If you wish to see any of this information, talk to your supervisor.
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17. Whistleblower Protections
Report an injury, illness, or incident
Report hazardous conditions
Request safety training
Discuss safety with coworkers
File an OSHA complaint
Talk with OSHA inspectors
OSHA also protects employees in another way—through its whistleblower protection programs. Whistleblower protections mean that employees are protected from being threatened, harassed, fired, or otherwise punished for taking certain actions related to workplace safety. Protected employee activities under the whistleblower provisions include:
Reporting a work-related injury, illness, near miss, or other safety incident;
Reporting hazardous conditions in the workplace and/or asking an employer to fix these conditions;
Requesting additional safety training;
Discussing safety issues with coworkers or union officials;
Filing a complaint with OSHA or talking to OSHA about safety concerns; and
Talking to OSHA inspectors who come to the facility and participating in OSHA inspections.
If employees believe that they have been retaliated against or punished for engaging in protected activities related to safety, they should file a complaint with OSHA within 30 days. Whistleblower complaints can be filed online, by filling out a form and faxing or mailing it back to your local OSHA office, by calling the local OSHA office, or by sending a letter describing the complaint to the local OSHA office.

18. The General Duty Clause says employees must:
A. Wear required PPE B. Not participate in OSHA inspections C. Report hazards D. Evaluate the workplace for hazards E. Follow OSHA standards and safety rules F. Not discuss safety problems with coworkers
Here’s an exercise on employee responsibilities under the General Duty Clause. Decide which of these items correctly identifies some employees’ OSHA responsibilities.
Another OSHA responsibility is to report work-related injuries and illness.

19. Review Do you understand: General Duty Clause requirements?
Employer duties?
Employee responsibilities?
Employee rights?
Let’s take a moment now to review what we’ve just said about the General Duty Clause. For example, do you understand what we’ve said about:
General Duty Clause requirements?
Employer duties?
Employee responsibilities?
Employee rights?
The General Duty Clause plays a very important role in workplace safety. You need to understand your OSHA rights and responsibilities, which arise from the General Duty Clause.
Continue now to the final slide and some key points to remember.

20. Key Points to Remember
OSHA exists to save lives and prevent injuries. OSHA uses enforcement, partnerships, outreach, and rulemaking. The General Duty Clause requires employers to provide a workplace free of recognized hazards. Employees must follow OSHA regulations and employer safety rules.
Here are the main points to remember from this session on OSHA and the General Duty Clause:
OSHA exists to save lives and prevent injuries.
OSHA uses enforcement, partnerships, outreach, and rulemaking to achieve its mission.
The General Duty Clause requires employers to provide a workplace free of recognized hazards.
Employees must follow OSHA regulations and employer safety rules.
This concludes the Introduction to OSHA and the General Duty Clause training session.