Human Resource Management

HRM Evaluate three programs related to OSHA and employers' obligation to follow or participate in them. The Occupational Safety & Health Administration has a mission to "assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance" (OSHA, 2014). One of the outreach programs is with the construction industry, an industry that has a history of being one of the more dangerous businesses for worker safety.

There are 10-hour and 30-hour classes that OSHA runs for its authorized trainers in the industry. The ten-hour class is "intended for entry level workers," while the 30-hour class is intended for "supervisors or workers with some safety responsibility." The program includes tips on the "recognition, avoidance, abatement and prevention of safety and health hazards" (OSHA, 2014). There is also information about workers' rights and filing complaints. This program is strictly educational in nature.

It applies only to companies in the construction industry -- there are similar programs for several other industries -- and participation in the program is voluntary. OSHA has enforcement mechanisms for companies and job sites that do not follow its rules, but it is not compulsory that anybody from the site takes these courses. It is, however, valuable for them to do so. Another OSHA program is recordkeeping.

One of the areas where companies run into trouble with OSHA is when they do not keep proper records of incidents at their work sites. There are some exceptions to the rules outlined, but most companies must abide by OSHA rules with respect to recordkeeping, because they could be found in violation of some aspect of OSHA rules, as a company doing business in the United States. Employers are obligated to record and report work-related injuries, illnesses and fatalities.

For this type of recordkeeping, compliance is compulsory for all companies over which OSHA has enforcement authority. There are limited exemptions for small companies with fewer than 10 employees, and for partially-exempt industries, which include retail, services, finance, insurance and real estate. Other industries receive no such partial exemption, by the nature of their work -- transportation, manufacturing, communication, electricity, oil and gas, mining, agriculture and wholesale trade. A third OSHA program is the statistics program.

One of the ways that OSHA tracks safety and workplace health in the United States is by gathering statistics on incidents that have been reported to OSHA. Reporting, as noted, is mandatory for many firms and industries. This program therefore allows users in the general public as well as in the industry to track industry-level statistics and sometimes firm-level statistics. For this program, firm participation is limited to the degree that the firm's participation in reporting statistics is compulsory, so for many firms this is compulsory.

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