ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the organizations and systems that have been designed to protect the health of workers. In 1970, the United States Congress passed and President Nixon signed into law the most comprehensive worker protection package ever developed. This law required that the Secretary of Labor promulgate “as soon as possible” as a federal standard any national consensus standard for the protection of the safety and health of employees unless such a standard would not result in improved safety or health. In order to implement the Act, the Department of Labor established the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to decide upon safety and health standards and to enforce those standards. In order to arrive at a standard for comparison of worker exposure to whatever amount might be harmful, OSHA assembles a committee of interested parties representing employers, employees, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and state officials.
