In Wisconsin, the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration is operated through the
federal government. OSHA's mission is to ensure safe and
healthful workplaces in America. Since the agency was created
in 1971, workplace fatalities have been cut in half and
occupational injury and illness rates have declined 40
percent. At the same time, U.S. employment has doubled from 56
million workers at 3.5 million worksites to 111 million
workers at 7 million sites.
OSHA and its state partners
have approximately 2100 inspectors, plus complaint
discrimination investigators, engineers, physicians,
educators, standards writers, and other technical and support
personnel spread over more than 200 offices throughout the
country. This staff establishes protective standards,
enforces those standards, and reaches out to employers and
employees through technical assistance and consultation
programs.
Under the Bush Administration,
OSHA is focusing on three strategies: 1) strong, fair, and
effective enforcement; 2) outreach, education, and compliance
assistance; and 3) partnerships and voluntary programs.
Strong, Fair, and Effective
Enforcement
OSHA's efforts to protect workers' safety and health are built
on the foundation of a strong, fair, and effective enforcement
program. OSHA seeks to assist the majority of employers who
want to do the right thing while focusing its enforcement
resources on sites in high hazard industries -- especially
those with high injury and illness rates.
Outreach, Education, and
Compliance Assistance
OSHA plays a vital role in preventing on-the-job injuries and
illnesses through outreach, education, and
compliance
assistance OSHA offers an extensive website at
www.osha.gov.
It includes a special section devoted to assisting small
business as well as interactive
eTools to help employers and
employees. For example, the agency provides a broad array of
training and information materials on its
recordkeeping
standard as well as materials to assist employers and workers
in understanding and complying with its current steel erection
standard.
OSHA provides a variety of
publications in print and on CD Rom, which are available from
OSHA's regional or national offices or the Government Printing
Office at http://bookstore.gpo.gov. Employers and employees
can call 1-800-321-OSHA for workplace safety and health
information or assistance 24 hours a day.
OSHA strives to reach all
employers and employees, including those who do not speak
English as a first language. OSHA maintains a
Spanish Webpage,
and Spanish-speaking operators can be reached at the OSHA
national hotline between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Additionally,
OSHA has established a clearinghouse for various publications,
training materials, and videos that are available in Spanish
and continues to issue new publications, such as the pamphlet
entitled, All About OSHA, in Spanish. Many regional and area
offices offer information in other languages such as Japanese,
Korean, and Polish.
Free workplace
consultations
are available in every state to
small businesses that want
onsite help in establishing safety and health programs and
identifying and correcting workplace hazards. In addition,
OSHA has a network of 73 Compliance Assistance Specialists in
local offices available to provide tailored information and
training to employers and employees.
