What you’ll learn to do: Describe the legal obligations for workplace safety and health

Workplace safety isn’t just a business best practice, it is, as OSHA posters declare, the law. Passed by Congress in 1970, the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), whose mission is “to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.”^[1] In this section, we’ll discuss employer requirements and employee rights under the OSH Act and associated state plans.