OSHA Facts -- August 2007
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration aims to ensure employee 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 increased from 56 million employees at 3.5 million worksites to more than 135 million employees at 8.9 million sites.
In Fiscal Year 2007, OSHA has 2,150 employees, including 1,100 inspectors. The agency's appropriation is $486.9 million.
Under the current 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 working men and women. 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. Less than 1 percent of inspections -- about 467 (FY 2006) -- came under the agency's Enhanced Enforcement Program, designed to address employers who repeatedly and willfully violate the law. At the same time, injuries and illnesses continue to decline.
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 Web site 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. In FY 2006, 80 million visitors logged onto OSHA's Web site.
The agency provides a variety of publications in print and online. In addition, workplace safety and health information or assistance for employees is available during business hours 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 Web page, 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 more than 70 Compliance Assistance Specialists in local offices available to provide employers and employees with tailored information and training.
Cooperative Programs
OSHA's Alliance Program enables employers, labor unions, trade or professional groups, government agencies, and educational institutions 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.
The Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP), OSHA's premier partnership, continues to pay big dividends by recognizing safety and health excellence. Today VPP worksites save millions each year because their injury and illness rates are more than 50 percent below the averages for their industries.
OSHA Statistics
Employee Injuries/Illnesses/Fatalities for 2005 and 2006
In 2005, occupational injury and illness rates declined again to 4.6 cases per 100 employees, with 4.2 million injuries and illnesses among private sector firms. Approximately 33 percent of work-related injuries occurred in goods-producing industries and 67 percent in services.
There were 5,703 employee deaths in 2006, a slight decrease from the 2005 total of 5,734. The fatality rate of 3.9 deaths per 100,000 employees was down slightly from a rate of 4.0 in 2005. Fatalities related to highway incidents and homicides increased, while deaths related to falls decreased.
Federal Inspections - Fiscal Year 2006
38,579 Inspections
| Number |
Percent |
Reason for Inspection |
| 7,376 |
(19.1%) |
Complaint/accident related |
| 21,504 |
(55.7%) |
High hazard targeted |
| 9,699 |
(25.1%) |
Referrals, follow-ups, etc. |
| Number |
Percent |
Industry Sector |
| 22,891 |
(59.3%) |
Construction |
| 7,689 |
(19.9%) |
Manufacturing |
| 403 |
(1%) |
Maritime |
| 7,596 |
(19.7%) |
Other industries |
In the inspections categorized above, OSHA identified the following violations:
| Violations |
Percent |
Type |
Current Penalties |
| 479 |
(0.5%) |
Willfuli |
$16,009,045 |
| 61,337 |
(73.1%) |
Seriousii |
54,139,361 |
| 2,551 |
(3.0%) |
Repeatiii |
9,688,804 |
| 288 |
(0.3%) |
Failure to Abateiv |
1,044,925 |
| 19,246 |
(23%) |
Otherv |
3,098,221 |
| 12 |
(0.01%) |
Unclassified |
1,044,925 |
| 83,913 |
TOTAL
|
$84,413,006 |
Statevi Inspections - FY 2006
58,058 Inspections
| Number |
Percent |
Reason for Inspection |
| 13,657 |
(23%) |
Complaint/accident-related |
| 35,393 |
(60%) |
High hazard targeted |
| 9,008 |
(15%) |
Referrals, follow-ups, etc. |
| Number |
Percent |
Industry Sector |
| 27,672 |
(47%) |
Construction |
| 9,964 |
(17%) |
Manufacturing |
| 41 |
(0%) |
Maritime |
| 20,381 |
(35%) |
Other industries |
In the inspections categorized above, state job safety and health plans identified the following violations:
| Violations |
Percent |
Type |
Current Penalties |
| 160 |
(0.1%) |
Willful |
$3,789,675 |
| 57,722 |
(45.3%) |
Serious |
52,390,366 |
| 2,497 |
(1.9%) |
Repeat |
4,880,817 |
| 409 |
(0.3%) |
Failure to Abate |
2,025,296 |
| 66,456 |
(52.2%) |
Other |
7,891,373 |
| 40 |
(0%) |
Unclassified |
59,829 |
| 127,284 |
TOTAL |
$71,037,356 |
OSHA Consultations - FY 2007 (Through June 30, 2007)
24,051
Training - FY 2006
- 2,013 students at the OSHA Training Institute
- 20,015 students at 20 OSHA Education Centers
- 9,735 students under OSHA training grants
- 443,469 students trained through the OSHA outreach training program
Cooperative Programs - As of June 30, 2007
- Alliance Program: 66 national alliances; 402 regional and area alliances
- Strategic Partnership Program: 165 open partnerships; more than 33,000 employers; more than 1.2 million employees
- Voluntary Protection Programs: 1,793 sites; more than 180 industries; 784,262 employees
iFootnote (1) A violation that the employer intentionally and knowingly commits. Willful violations carry penalties of $5,000 to $70,000. (Back to text)
iiFootnote (2) A violation where there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result and that the employer knew, or should have known, of the hazard. A penalty must be proposed and can range up to $7,000 per serious violation. (Back to text)
iiiFootnote (3) A violation of any standard, regulation, rule or order where, upon reinspection, a substantially similar violation is found. Repeated violations can bring penalties of up to $70,000. (Back to text)
ivFootnote (4) Failure to correct a prior violation may result in civil penalties of up to $7,000 per day for each day the violation continues beyond the prescribed abatement date. (Back to text)
vFootnote (5) A violation that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm. Penalties are discretionary, but may range up to $7,000. (Back to text)
viFootnote (6) Twenty-six states/territories conduct workplace inspections as part of their OSHA-approved safety and health programs. (Back to text) |
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