OSHA Turns 40

OSHA has had an enormous positive impact on the working community since the program began in 1971. Countless lives have been saved thanks to their efforts, but more needs be done. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health David Michaels sent a letter to OSHA staff outlining strategies to protect worker health and safety in the years to come.

Michaels discusses new, as well as reinventing old, ideas to work with OSHA's limited resources. These are some of the areas the agency will focus on:

1. Stronger Enforcement: Some Employers Need Incentives to Do the Right Thing
2. Ensure Workers Have a Voice
3. Refocus and Strengthen Our Compliance Assistance Programs
4. Change Workplace Culture: Employers Must "Find and Fix" Workplace Hazards
5. Develop lnnovative Approaches to Addressing New (and Old) Hazards: Improve Intra-Agency Collaboration
6. Improve and Modernize Workplace Injury and Illness Tracking: Strengthen our Focus on Accurate Recordkeeping
7. Strengthen OSHA's Use of Science
8. Strengthen State OSHA Plans
9. Conduct Our Work with Transparency, Openness, Integrity and Humility

Read the original article at ScienceBlogs for an in depth look at OSHA's future goals.