Employer General Responsibilities
Your employer must provide a workplace free from recognized hazards and comply with OSHA standards. Establishing a safe and healthful workplace requires every employer to make safety and health a core value.
Management is obligated to make the workplace safe.
In general, OSHA requires employers to:
- Maintain conditions and adopt practices reasonably necessary to protect you on the job. The first and best strategy is to control the hazard at its source. Engineering controls do this, unlike other controls that generally focus on the worker who is exposed to the hazard. The basic concept behind engineering controls is that, to the extent feasible, the work environment and the job itself should be designed to eliminate hazards or reduce exposure to hazards.
- Be familiar with the standards that apply to their workplaces, and comply with these standards.
- Ensure that you are provided with, and use, personal protective equipment (PPE), when needed. PPE is needed when exposure to hazards cannot be engineered completely out of normal operations or maintenance work, and when safe work practices and other forms of administrative controls cannot provide sufficient additional protection. PPE may also be appropriate for controlling hazards while engineering and work practice controls are being installed, and
- Comply with the OSHA's General Duty Clause where no specific standards apply. The general duty clause, or Section 5(a)(1) of the Act requires each employer to "furnish a place of employment which is free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees."
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
3-2. Establishing a safe and healthful workplace requires every employer to make safety and health _____.
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