April 17, 2004        

OSHA Facts

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration aims to ensure worker safety and health in the United States by working with employers and employees to create better working environments. Since its inception in 1971, OSHA has helped to cut workplace fatalities by more than 60 percent and occupational injury and illness rates by 40 percent. At the same time, U.S. employment has doubled from 56 million workers at 3.5 million worksites to more than 115 million workers at 7.1 million sites.

In Fiscal Year 2004, OSHA has an authorized staff of 2,220, including 1,123 inspectors. The agency's appropriation is $457.5 million.

Under the Bush Administration, OSHA is focusing on three strategies: 1) strong, fair and effective enforcement; 2) outreach, education and compliance assistance; and 3) partnerships and cooperative programs.

Strong, Fair, and Effective Enforcement
A strong, fair and effective enforcement program establishes the foundation for OSHA's efforts to protect the safety and health of the nation's workers. OSHA seeks to assist the majority of employers who want to do the right thing while focusing its enforcement resources on sites in more hazardous industries - especially those with high injury and illness rates. Strong enforcement has helped to increase reported violations by nearly 8 percent while helping to drop the number of injuries and fatalities in the workplace to its lowest point ever in 2002.

Outreach, Education, and Compliance Assistance
Outreach, education and compliance assistance enable OSHA to play a vital role in preventing on-the-job injuries and illnesses. OSHA offers an extensive website at www.osha.gov that includes a special section devoted to small businesses as well as interactive eTools to help employers and employees address specific hazards and prevent injuries. For example, the agency provides employers the opportunity to personalize the information they receive through the MyOSHA page on the agency's website and provides ergonomic information including guidelines for specific industries. In 2003, OSHA's website received 570 million hits from 44.1 million visitors.

The agency provides a variety of publications in print and on CD-ROM that are available from OSHA's regional or national offices or the Government Printing Office at http://bookstore.gpo.gov. Workplace safety and health information or assistance for workers is available during business hours - 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. - through OSHA's call center at 1-800-321-OSHA. The hotline remains open 24 hours a day for fatality and accident reporting during non-business hours.

OSHA strives to reach all employers and employees, including those who do not speak English as a first language. The agency maintains a Spanish webpage, and Spanish-speaking operators can be reached at the OSHA national call center during business hours. Various publications, training materials and videos are available in Spanish, and OSHA continues to issue new publications. Many regional and area offices also offer information in other languages such as Japanese, Korean and Polish.

Free workplace consultations are available in every state to small businesses that want on-site help establishing safety and health programs and identifying and correcting workplace hazards. In addition, OSHA has a network of 73 Compliance Assistance Specialists in local offices available to provide employers and employees with tailored information and training.

Cooperative Programs
OSHA's Alliance Program enables trade and professional organizations, businesses, labor groups, educational institutions and government agencies that share an interest in workplace safety and health to collaborate with OSHA to prevent injuries and illnesses in the workplace. A signed formal agreement between OSHA and the organization provides goals addressing training and education, outreach and communication and promoting the national dialogue on workplace safety and health.

In the Strategic Partnership Program, OSHA enters into long-term cooperative relationships with groups of employers, employees, employee representatives and, at times, other stakeholders to improve workplace safety and health. These partnerships focus on safety and health programs and include enforcement and outreach and training components. Written agreements outline efforts to eliminate serious hazards and provide ways to measure the effectiveness of a safety and health program.

The Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program is designed to provide incentives and support to employers to develop, implement and continuously improve effective safety and health programs at their worksite(s). SHARP provides recognition for employers who demonstrate exemplary achievements in workplace safety and health.

OSHA Statistics

Worker Injuries/Illnesses/Fatalities for 2002

In 2002, occupational injury and illness rates were 5.3 cases per 100 workers, with 4.7 million injuries and illnesses among private sector firms. Work-related injuries and illnesses in the manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, and services sectors accounted for about 78 percent of this 4.7 million.

There were 5,524 worker deaths in 2002, a 6.6 percent drop from 2001. Fatal work incidents occurred at a rate of 4.0 fatalities per 100,000 workers. Fatalities related to highway incidents, fires and explosions, and contact with objects or equipment all declined. Deaths from job-related falls dropped 12 percent - the first decrease since 1998 - while the number of homicides decreased to its lowest level - 609, a 5-percent drop - since the fatality census was first conducted in 1992. Exposure to harmful substances or environments was the only grouping that increased in 2002.

Federal Inspections - Fiscal Year 2003
39,798 Inspections

• Alliance Program: 37 national alliances; 76 regional and area alliances
• Strategic Partnership Program: 206 open partnerships; 4,983 employers; 223,275 employees
• Voluntary Protection Programs (federal): 732 sites; more than 180 industries; 437,515 employees
• Voluntary Protection Programs (state): 287 sites; 147,366 employees