50 Fun Facts About OSHA

OSHA is an agency within which part of the US federal government?

OSHA is part of the US Department of Labor, created by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to set and enforce workplace safety standards.

Which president signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act into law on December 29, 1970?

Richard Nixon signed the law, often called the Williams-Steiger Act after its congressional sponsors Harrison Williams and William Steiger.

Which OSH Act provision requires employers to keep workplaces free of recognised hazards even without a specific rule?

The General Duty Clause, Section 5(a)(1) of the act, is what OSHA cites for hazards such as heat stress or workplace violence that have no dedicated standard.

Which of these groups is NOT covered by the OSH Act?

The self-employed are outside the act, as are immediate family members of farm employers and hazards regulated by another federal agency, such as mines.

How many US states and territories run OSHA-approved plans covering private workplaces?

22 OSHA-approved plans, including California, Michigan, Oregon and Washington, cover private workplaces; a further handful of states run plans covering only public employees.

Under OSHA's accident-prevention sign rules, which color is reserved for 'Danger' signs?

Red is the Danger color: 29 CFR 1910.145 specifies red, black and white for danger signs, while caution signs use yellow with black lettering.

OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program recognises employers whose injury and illness rates are what?

VPP Star sites must keep injury and illness rates below their industry's national average; in return they are exempt from programmed inspections and may fly the Star flag.

OSHA's Forms 300, 300A and 301 are used for what?

Recording work-related injuries and illnesses is their job: the 300 is the log, the 301 the incident report and the 300A the annual summary, required of most employers with more than ten workers.

The annual OSHA 300A injury summary must be posted in the workplace from February 1 until which date?

The 300A must stay posted through April 30 under 29 CFR 1904.32(b)(6), and a company executive must certify it before it goes up.

How quickly must employers report a work-related death to OSHA?

A fatality must be reported within 8 hours; in-patient hospitalisations, amputations and losses of an eye get 24 hours, by phone or online.

How long does a worker punished for complaining to OSHA have to file a whistleblower claim?

Section 11(c) of the OSH Act gives a worker 30 days to file; several of the 20-plus other whistleblower statutes OSHA enforces allow longer, such as 180 days under Sarbanes-Oxley.

According to OSHA, workers have the right to receive safety and health training in what?

OSHA's worker-rights list says training must come in a language they understand, with vocabulary to match; workers can also file confidential complaints and request an inspection.

According to OSHA, daily US worker deaths fell from about 38 in 1970 to how many in 2023?

OSHA's statistics page puts the 2023 figure at 15 deaths a day; injury and illness rates fell too, from 10.9 per 100 workers in 1972 to 2.4 per 100 in 2023.

In the hierarchy of hazard controls OSHA promotes, which control is ranked most effective?

Elimination sits at the top of the hierarchy of controls, above substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls and personal protective equipment, which is the last resort.

Which standard topped OSHA's list of most frequently cited violations for fiscal year 2024?

Fall Protection topped the FY2024 list, as it has every year since 2011, with Hazard Communication second and Ladders third.

OSHA says the leading cause of death in construction is what?

Falls are the leading cause, accounting for roughly a third of construction deaths in most years, which is why OSHA runs an annual National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls.

At what height above a lower level does OSHA require fall protection for construction workers on an unprotected edge?

Construction's trigger height is 6 feet under 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(1); scaffolds (10 feet) and steel erection (15 feet) have their own, higher thresholds.

In US general industry (not construction), fall protection is required at edges how far above a lower level?

General industry's threshold is 4 feet under 29 CFR 1910.28(b)(1), lower than construction's, which is why both figures are a staple of toolbox talks.

OSHA requires the top rail of a guardrail system to be how high above the walking surface?

Top rails sit at 42 inches, plus or minus 3, with midrails halfway; the system must withstand 200 pounds of force applied downward or outward at the top edge.

When a portable ladder is used to reach an upper landing, how far must its side rails extend above the landing?

Side rails must extend at least 3 feet above the upper landing surface; where that is impossible the ladder must be secured at the top and a grab device provided.

Under OSHA's ladder rule, the base-to-support distance should be what fraction of the ladder's working length?

One-quarter is the '4 to 1' rule: for every four feet of working length, the base sits one foot out, giving an angle of about 75 degrees.

OSHA's permissible exposure limit for workplace noise over an 8-hour day is what?

The permissible exposure limit is 90 dBA as an 8-hour time-weighted average under 29 CFR 1910.95, with allowed exposure time halving for every 5-decibel increase.

At what 8-hour average noise level must a general-industry employer start a hearing conservation program?

The action level is 85 dBA as an 8-hour average; above it the program requires noise monitoring, annual audiograms, training and hearing protection at no cost.

Under the Hazard Communication Standard, Safety Data Sheets must follow a format with how many sections?

Safety Data Sheets use a fixed 16-section layout; the 2012 update replaced free-form Material Safety Data Sheets and added standardised pictograms and signal words on labels.

OSHA's Hazard Communication Standard was aligned in 2012 with which international chemical labelling scheme?

The GHS, the UN's Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals, brought its diamond pictograms and the signal words 'Danger' and 'Warning' onto US chemical labels.

OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.147, better known as lockout/tagout, deals with what?

Lockout/tagout covers controlling hazardous energy during servicing: electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical and thermal energy all count, and the standard is a perennial top-ten citation.

By OSHA's definition, a confined space has limited means of entry or exit and is not designed for what?

Continuous occupancy is the key phrase in 29 CFR 1910.146: tanks, silos, manholes, pits and ductwork all qualify as confined spaces when entry and exit are limited.

Which of these would make a confined space 'permit-required' under OSHA rules?

A space that could contain a hazardous atmosphere is permit-required; engulfment hazards, inward-converging walls and any other recognised serious hazard also trigger the permit.

OSHA requires no trench protective system in stable rock or when a trench is shallower than what depth?

At 5 feet and deeper, employers must slope, bench, shore or shield; OSHA notes that one cubic yard of soil can weigh as much as a car.

OSHA requires excavated soil and equipment to be kept at least how far back from the edge of a trench?

Spoil piles and equipment must stay at least 2 feet from the edge under 29 CFR 1926.651(j)(2), or a retaining device must keep them from rolling in.

In a trench 4 ft or deeper, OSHA says no worker may be more than what distance from an exit?

A ladder, stairway or ramp must be within 25 ft of lateral travel under 29 CFR 1926.651(c)(2); cave-ins happen in seconds, so the rule is about getting out before the wall lets go.

Under OSHA rules, how often must an employer evaluate each forklift operator's performance?

Every three years at least, under 29 CFR 1910.178(l)(4)(iii); refresher training is also required after an accident or near-miss, an unsafe-driving observation or a change of truck type.

OSHA caps an employee's travel distance to a Class A fire extinguisher at what?

Class A extinguishers must be within 75 feet of travel and Class B (flammable liquid) within 50 feet under 29 CFR 1910.157; all are visually inspected monthly and maintenance-checked annually.

OSHA's exit-route standard says a workplace normally needs at least how many exit routes?

Two exit routes is the normal minimum under 29 CFR 1910.36(b)(1); doors must open from inside without keys, tools or special knowledge, and exit access must be at least 28 inches wide.

Who is OSHA's 30-hour Outreach Training course intended for, as opposed to the 10-hour?

The 30-hour class is for supervisors and safety leads, the 10-hour for entry-level workers; neither card is a certification or satisfies a specific OSHA training standard.

What does OSHA charge employers for its mandatory 'Job Safety and Health: It's the Law' poster?

Nothing: the poster is free from OSHA, which warns employers not to pay third-party vendors for it, and it is available in many languages, Spanish and Tagalog among them.

What is an employer's right when an OSHA compliance officer arrives unannounced?

Employers may require an inspection warrant, a right the Supreme Court confirmed in Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc. in 1978; imminent-danger reports top OSHA's inspection priority list.

OSHA must issue a citation and proposed penalty within how long of a violation's occurrence?

Six months is the limit under Section 9(c) of the act; employers then have 15 working days to contest, and violations are classed as willful, serious, other-than-serious, de minimis, failure to abate or repeated.

NIOSH, the research agency created by the same 1970 act as OSHA, is part of which organisation?

NIOSH sits inside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within Health and Human Services; it recommends and researches, while OSHA regulates and enforces.

Which federal agency, not OSHA, enforces safety and health standards in mines under a 1977 act?

The Mine Safety and Health Administration is a Department of Labor agency that inspects every underground mine four times a year; OSHA steps aside where another federal agency regulates the hazard.

What is the 1911 New York blaze that killed 146 garment workers and drove early safety laws called?

The Triangle Shirtwaist fire on March 25, 1911, killed 146 mostly young immigrant women; exit doors had been locked, and the Factory Investigating Commission that followed rewrote New York's workplace laws.

The first commercial hard hat, patented in 1919 by E. W. Bullard, was made of what?

Bullard's 'Hard Boiled hat' was steamed canvas, glue and paint, inspired by WWI doughboy helmets; the Hoover Dam project made hard hats mandatory in 1931.

On what date did OSHA come into being, the day the OSH Act took effect?

OSHA opened on April 28, 1971, the 120th day after the act was signed, as the statute required; the date is marked each year as Workers' Memorial Day.

Who was OSHA's first director, appointed by Labor Secretary James D. Hodgson?

George Guenther was OSHA's first Assistant Secretary, serving from 1971 to 1973; later heads included Eula Bingham under Carter and Thorne Auchter under Reagan.

OSHA's grant program to train workers in hazard reduction, begun in 1978, is named after whom?

Susan Harwood, who spent 17 years at OSHA working on standards for benzene, formaldehyde and bloodborne pathogens, gives the grants her name; they began in 1978 as the New Directions program.

A 1998 amendment brought which federal body under the OSH Act like a private employer?

The US Postal Service has been treated like a private employer, fines included, since the Postal Employees Safety Enhancement Act of 1998; other federal agencies cannot be fined by OSHA.

Which OSHA standard, issued in 2000, did Congress repeal in 2001 via the Congressional Review Act?

The ergonomics standard, issued in November 2000, was the first rule ever overturned under the Congressional Review Act, signed away by George W. Bush in March 2001.

OSHA's 2016 rule cutting the exposure limit to 50 micrograms per cubic metre targets which hazard?

Respirable crystalline silica got a 2016 standard setting the limit at 50 micrograms per cubic metre as an 8-hour average, half the old general-industry limit and a fifth of construction's.

Which independent body hears appeals of OSHA citations?

OSHRC, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, is an independent three-member body that hears contested citations; its judges and commissioners are separate from OSHA.

A 2012 study in Science found OSHA's random inspections cut injury rates at inspected firms by how much?

The Levine, Toffel and Johnson study found a 9.4 percent drop in injury rates at randomly inspected California firms, a 26 percent fall in injury costs, and no harm to employment or sales.