Safety in American Workplaces

OSHA and EPA are the only federal agencies protecting the safety and health of the U.S. public. While, OSHA concentrates on issues of workplace safety, EPA on the other hand, has a wider scope. The two have different legal authority: EPA applies to offsite effects while OSHA is for on-site effects. In the aviation industry, the hazard evaluation team is obliged to assess the hazards, likely to affect the environment or public offsite. Suitable employee protection measures are likely to imperil the public (Smith & Kriebel, 2010).

In the aviation sector, the joint OSHA team identifies various hazards expected to be addressed by the hazard communication standards of OSHA. They entail hazards posed by jet fuel vapors, commercial cleaning agents and combustion de-icing chemicals, bi-products, medication and compressed oxygen present in emergency medical kits. Workers are likely to be exposed to cleaning agents as they are used by airline cleaning staff between flights. In addition, this will also be possible following a passenger emergency or a spill during a flight requiring the immediate attention of an employee. Vapors released by de-icing chemicals and jet fuel may enter an aircraft cabin, posing a potential health threat to people inside the cabin. Employees are subject to encounter medication and compressed oxygen following an emergency. Therefore, the aviation industry would not compromise safety if it complies with the hazard communication standard introduced by OSHA. Under the above circumstances that this paper has considered, employees would adhere to the requirements of the standard, at the same time remaining sensitive to safety concerns of flights (Robson & Toscano, 2007).

OSHA has provisions of noise standards like those for testing and training. These are applied to workers on aircraft operating without following the aviation safety rules. The standard's provisions related to abatement methods like administrative and engineering controls and the use of hearing equipment are implicating aviation safety. Thus, the use of these abatement approaches requires OSHA approval. Some administrative controls, like rotating employees from different areas within the aircraft with high levels of noise compromises aviation safety. This is because they violate OSHA requirements concerning crew staff on aircraft in operation. For instance, during takeoff, taxi and landing of the craft, OSHA demands that flight attendants stick at their duty stations with safety belts and fasten their shoulder harnesses. In addition, it requires that they should be uniformly distributed throughout the aircraft to offer the best exit of passengers following an emergency evacuation. Therefore, OSHA argues that employee rotation throughout the aircraft to minimize exposure to hazardous levels of noise compromises aviation safety (Smith & Kriebel, 2010).

While OSHA focuses on employee and passenger safety, EPA enables airlines and airports to design useful environmental protection approaches for the communities that prioritizes safety. EPA sets technology-based guidelines aimed at reducing discharges associated with aircraft deicing and pavement deicing at new airports constructed after the implementation of the rule. Further, EPA supports the voluntary pollution reduction strategy of the aviation industry. It heralds its potential to s minimize discharges of aircraft deicing in a safe manner. In this light, EPA argues that application of its guidelines to aircraft deicing at current airports will deliver minimal benefits, as it would be impracticable (Breyer, 2014).