This article original appeared on our sister site BUILDER.
OSHA has updated the guidelines it first released 30 years ago to reflect changes in the economy, workplaces, and evolving safety and health issues. The Recommended Practices present a step-by-step approach to implementing a safety and health program, built around seven core elements that make up a successful program.
At the same time, OSHA has also launched the Safe + Sound Campaign, which is designed to promote the adoption of a Safety and Health Program in all workplaces.
“I invite you to join us in helping every workplace develop a Safety and Health Program that contains the core principles of management leadership, worker participation, and a proactive approach for finding and fixing workplace hazards,” OSHA Assistant Secretary David Michaels said in an e-mail.
Michael Johnston, NECA Executive Director of Standards and Safety, stated: “OSHA’s new safety and health program campaign demonstrates the agency’s continued progression to advance employee safety in the workplace. The campaign includes more quality support through management leadership, effective worker participation, as well as establishing reasonable methods to foster proactive reporting of issues, including near misses, and fixing identified hazards before they result in injuries or worse. The new recommended practices for safety and health programs brings the guidelines current to assist employers and employees in achieving safety in the workplace, their shared responsibility.”