HR Basics is a series of short courses, designed to highlight what you need to know about a particular human resource management topic. In today’s HR Basics, we explore the essentials of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and HR’s role in ensuring employee safety and health.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the federal agency responsible for protecting the health and safety of workers. OSHA makes sure that employers follow occupational safety and health regulations and keep the workplace safe.

Employers need to know their responsibilities, the standards, enforcement, consultation services, and complaint procedures through the occupational safety and health administration. So, What are employer responsibilities under OSHA? At the heart of safety management is an organizational commitment to a comprehensive safety effort that should be coordinated at the top level of management and include all members of the organization.

Standards (technically called “regulations”) describe what employers must do to protect workers from various workplace hazards. OSHA enforces job safety and health standards by conducting inspections and, in some cases, issuing citations and fines.

OSHA Consultation Service provides technical assistance to employers on health and safety issues. A complaint about a workplace hazard can be filed with OSHA by phone, fax, mail, or online.

Organizations should monitor and evaluate their safety efforts. Just as organizational accounting records are audited, a firm’s safety efforts should be audited.

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