Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)

What is the Occupational Health and Safety Act Canada and the United States?

The United States:

The Occupational Health and Safety Act covers most private sector employers and their workers and some public sector employers and workers in the 50 states and certain territories and jurisdictions under federal authority. Those jurisdictions established by Occupational Health and Safety Act include the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Wake Island, Johnston Island, and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands as defined in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Canada:

The purpose of Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) legislation is to protect workers against hazards on the job. Occupational Health and Safety Act or legislation outlines the general rights and responsibilities of the employer, the supervisor, and the worker. The law makes both the employee and the employer jointly responsible for workplace health and safety. Each of the Canadian provinces and the federal government have their own OH&S legislation. The details of the OH&S legislation vary slightly from one jurisdiction to another, but the essential elements are the same. There are 14 jurisdictions in Canada – one federal, ten provincial, and three territorial, each having its own occupational health and safety legislation.

About the OSHA Act of 1970 US

In the year 1970, an estimated 14,000 workers were killed on the job or about 38 workers every day. That year, the United States Congress and President Richard Nixon created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a national public health agency dedicated to the basic belief that no worker should have to battle between their life and their job. On December 29, 1970, President Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act) into law, bringing OSHA into effect. Coupled with the efforts of employers, workers, safety and health professionals, unions and advocates, OSHA and its state partners have dramatically improved workplace safety, reducing work-related fatalities by almost 63 percent. The OSHA law makes it clear that the right to a safe workplace is a fundamental human right. The rate of reported serious workplace injuries and illnesses has also dropped markedly, from 10.9 per 100 workers in 1972 to 2.8 per 100 workers in 2018.