Industrial Safety and

Environmental Management
23MECH40H

Prof. Tamer A. Mohamed

Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department
The British University of Egypt
The OSH Act, Standards, and Liability
 The OSH Act

• One of the most important legislation concerning workplace

safety and health is the Occupational Safety and health Act
(OSH Act) in 1970.

• Knowledge about the OSH Act and the Occupational Safety

and Health Administration (OSHA) is important for safety and
health professionals.
 Rationale for the OSH Act

• A work related accident or illness affects its victim, the

victim’s fellow workers and also the victims’ employer.
• In 1970, Congress passed the OSH Act with the following
stated purpose: “to assure so far as possible every working
man and woman in the nation safe and healthful working
conditions and to preserve our human resources”
• The act established the OSHA which is part of the U.S.
Department of Labor and is responsible for administering the
OSH Act.
 OSHA’s Mission and Purpose
• The Department of Labor summarizes the OSHA’s
mission and purpose in the following:
– Encourage employers and employees to reduce workplace
hazards.
– Implement new safety and health programs.
– Improve existing safety and health programs.
– Encourage research that will lead to innovative ways of
dealing with workplace safety and health programs.
– Establish the rights of employers regarding the improvement
of workplace safety and health
 OSHA’s Mission and Purpose
(continued)
– Establish the rights of employees regarding the
improvement of workplace safety and health.
– Monitor job-related illnesses and injuries through a system
of reporting and record keeping.
– Establish training programs to increase the number of
safety and health professionals and to improve their
competence continually.
– Establish mandatory workplace safety and health standards
and enforce those standards.
– Provide for the development and approval of state-level
workplace safety and health programs.
– Monitor, analyze, and evaluate state-level safety and health
programs.
 OSH Act Coverage
• The OSH Act applies to most employers.
• An employer is defined if an organization has even one
employee.
• However, there is exemption for small businesses, employers
with ten or fewer employees are exempted from OSHA
inspections and the requirement to maintain injury and illness
records.
 Exempted Employers
• The OSH Act covers employers in all 50 states,
Puerto Rico, and all other territories that fall under
the jurisdiction of the U.S. government with the
following exceptions:
– Persons who are self-employed.
– Family farms that employ only immediate family members.
– Federal agencies covered by other federal statutes.
– State and local governments.
– Coal mines (coal mines are regulated by mining-specific
laws)
 OSHA requirements
• Employers must adhere to OSHA requirements. Not all
requirements apply to all employers, some of them are specific
to certain types of employers.
• OSHA requirements cover areas of concern such as the
following:
– Fire protection
– Electricity
– Sanitation
– Air quality
– Machine use, maintenance, and repair
– Posting of notices and warnings
– Reporting of accidents and illnesses
– Maintaining written compliance programs
– Employee training
 OSHA Standards

• The general duty clause of the OSH Act requires that

employers provide a workplace that is free from hazards that
are likely to harm employees.
• The importance of this clause is that it applies when there is no
OSHA standard for a given situation.
• On the other hand, when there are OSHA standards, employers
are required to comply with them as written.
 How standards are developed

• OSHA developed standards based on its perception of need at

the request of other federal agencies, state and local
governments, other standard-setting agencies, labor
organizations, or even individual private citizens.
• OSHA uses the committee approach for developing standards
 Effective Date and Appeals

• Once the standard has been passed, it becomes effective on the

date prescribed.
• However, a person who is opposed to a standard may file an
appeal in the court of appeals serving the geographical region
in which the complainant lives or does business.
• Appeal paperwork must be initiated within 60 days of a
standard’s approval
 Requesting a Variance: Temporary
Variance
• When an employer is unable to comply with a new standard
immediately but may be able to if given time, a temporary
variance may be requested.
• OSHA will grant such a variance up to a maximum of one
year. Employers must demonstrate that they are making a
effort to comply and must take the steps necessary to protect
employees while working toward compliance.
 Typical OSHA Standard Example:
Confined Space Standard
Its motivation:
– In response to the approximately 300 work-related deaths that
occur in confined spaces each year.

Coverage:
– A broad cross section of industries that have employees
working in spaces with the following characteristics: limited
openings for entry or exit, poor natural ventilation, and a
design not intended to accommodate continuous human
occupancy. Such spaces as storage tanks, pipelines …etc.
 Typical OSHA Standard Example:
Confined Space Standard continued
• Key component is the permit requirement: Employers are
required to develop an in-house program under which
employees must have a permit to enter confined spaces.
• Through such programs, employers must do the following:
– Identify spaces that can be entered only by permit
– Restrict access to identified spaces to ensure that only authorized
personnel may enter
– Control hazards in the identified spaces through engineering, revised
work practices, and other methods
– Continually monitor the identified spaces to ensure that any know
hazards remain under control.
OSHA’s Record Keeping and Reporting

• OSHA provides for the centralization and systematization of

record-keeping and reporting requirements of the OSH Act to
employers of 11 or more workers.
• Both exempt and nonexempt employers must report the
following types of accidents within eight hours:
– Those that result in deaths
– Those that result in the hospitalization of three or more employees
 Reporting Requirements
• All occupational illnesses and injuries must be
reported if they result in one or more of the
following:
– Death to one or more workers
– One or more days away from work for the employee
– Restricted motion or restrictions to the work an employee
can do
– Loss of consciousness to one or more workers
– Transfer of an employee to another job
– Medical treatment needed beyond in-house first aid
– A significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or
other licensed health care professional.
 Record-keeping Requirements

• Employers are required to keep injury and illness records for

each location where they do business.
• Records must be maintained on an annual basing using special
OSHA forms.
• Records must be maintained for a minimum of 3 years and
must be available for inspection by OSHA at any time.
• Injuries that don’t require more than first-aid procedures don’t
have to be recorded.
 Record-keeping OSHA Forms

• All records required by OSHA can be maintained using the

following forms:
– OSHA Form 300
– OSHA Form 301
– OSHA Form 300A
 OSHA 301
• OSHA Form 301 is used for every incidence of a
recordable injury or illness.
– Must be completed within seven calendar days.
 OSHA 300 A
• Employers must complete and post an annual
summary (OSHA Form 300A) of all recordable
illnesses and injuries.
 Example
A metal products fabrication and assembly plant employs 250 workers and has
the following injury-illness experience for the year (workers are employed on
a regular 40-hr-workweek basis):
File 1 January 31: Press-blanking operator cut his hand on strip stock scrap
from punch press; first aid received, no medical treatment; worker remains
on the job.
File 2 February 19: Maintenance worker, not wearing eye protection,
operating grinding machine in tool room, incurs eye injury from flying
chip; medical treatment required; injury occurs on Tuesday, employee
returns to regular job at regular time on Thursday.
File 3 February 27: Assembly worker becomes “ill” owing to noxious odors
from remodeling operation in the assembly area; receives permission from
supervisor to take the rest of the day off; does not go to a doctor or clinic;
reports to regular work on time next day.
File 4 March 2: Sewing machine operator’s right ring finger pulled into
unguarded drive belt pulley on sewing machine; small fracture revealed by
X-ray; splint applied; worker returns to regular work at regular time the
next day.
 Example continued

File 5 March 19: Dockworker sprains ankle on loading dock; moved to office
job for two workweeks.
File 6 May 2: Maintenance worker entangles finger in rope as winch is released;
taken to clinic for X-ray; no fractures found; no treatment; worker returns to
regular work the next day.
File 7 June 7: Yard worker exposed to poison while clearing weeds in tank-farm
area behind plant; rash develops; treated with drug prescription; no time lost.
File 8 July 6: Assembly worker loses two workdays getting better from severe
allergic reaction to wasp sting incurred while cleaning out his attic at home;
medical treatment with prescription drugs.
File 9 August 4: Maintenance worker using ungrounded portable electric drill to
repair equipment in assembly area is electrocuted. Date of death: August 4.
 Example continued
File 10 August 7: Loaded pallet in loading dock area falls from forklift on
dock-worker’s left foot; worker was not wearing steel-toed shoes; worker
examined in hospital emergency room and X ray revealed no fractures or
other injuries; worker receives whirlpool therapy and goes home; worker
reports back to his regular job on time the next day and wears his
company-issued safety shoes.
File 11 August 9: Maintenance worker in the tool room incurs injury from
foreign object in the eye; irrigation method used to remove foreign object,
which was not embedded in the eye; worker returns to regular job.
File 12 September 11: Worker in final assembly diagnosed with carpal tunnel
syndrome (CTS) from repetitive work; surgery prescribed; worker misses 3
weeks of work before returning to regular job with engineering
improvements to the work stations
Fill in the OSHA’s Form 300 and calculate TRC, DART, DAFWII, LWDI,
Injury incidence rate, illness incidence rate, fatality incidence rate, number
of lost workdays rate, specific hazard incidence rate
Example continued
 Incidence Rates

• Two concepts can be important when completing

OSHA 300 forms: incidence rates and severity rates.
𝐼 𝑅= 𝑁/𝑇𝑥 200,000
IR = Total injury and illness incidence rate
N = Number of injuries, illnesses, and fatalities
T = Total hours worked by all employees during the period in
question
 Example
• For example, a company has 17 full-time employees and 3
part-time employees that each work 20 hours per week.
This equates to 37,000 labor hours each year. If the
company experienced 2 recordable injuries, then the
formula works like this:
• 2 x 200,000 400,000
• IR = --------------- IR = ---------- IR = 10.81
37,000 37,000
• What is now known is that for every 100 employees, 10.81
employees have been involved in a recordable injury or
illness.
 Lost Time Case
• The Lost Time Case Rate (LTC) is a similar calculation,
only it uses the number of cases that contained lost
work days.
• The calculation is made by multiplying the number of
incidents that were lost time cases by 200,000 and
then dividing that by the employee labor hours at the
company.
Number of Lost Time Cases x 200,000
LTC Rate = ----------------------------------------------------
Number of Employee Labor Hours Worked
 Example
• Using the previous company example, assume that
one of the two recordable cases had lost work days
associated with the incident. The calculations would
look like this:
1 x 200,000 200,000
• LTC Rate = ---------------- LTC Rate = ----------
37,000 37,000
• LTC Rate = 5.405
• What is now known is that for every 100 employees,
5.405 employees have suffered lost time because of
a work related injury or illness.
 Lost Work Day Rate (LWD)
• The Lost Work Day rate is primarily used only at
larger companies. This does not prevent a small
business from using this calculation in their
performance system.
• The LWD rate is calculated by multiplying the total
number of lost work days for the year by 200,000,
then dividing that number by the number of
employee labor hours at the company.
Total Number of Lost Days x 200,000
LWD Rate = ----------------------------------------------
Number of Employee Labor Hours Worked
 Example
• Using the previous company example, there were 5 lost days
due to the injury. The calculations would look like this:

5 x 200,000 1,000,000
• LWD Rate = ---------------- LWD Rate = -------------

37,000 37,000

• LWD Rate = 27.027

• What is now known is that for every 100 employees, 27.027
days were lost from work due to work related injuries or
illnesses.
 DART Rate (Days Away/Restricted or Job
Transfer Rate)
• The DART rate is relatively new to industry. This rate is
calculated by adding up the number of incidents that had
one or more Lost Days, one or more Restricted Days or
that resulted in an employee transferring to a different job
within the company, and multiplying that number by
200,000, then dividing that number by the number of
employee labor hours at the company.

Total Number of DART incidents x 200,000

DART Rate = -----------------------------------------------------
Number of Employee Labor Hours Worked
 Example
• Using the previous company examples, assume that the second
recordable incident resulted in limited or restricted work
activity that necessitated a job transfer to a different position in
the company. The first was a broken leg that had only lost time
associated with it (no restriction or transfer). The calculations
would look like this:
2 x 200,000 400,000
• DART Rate = ---------------- DART Rate = -------------
37,000 37,000
• DART Rate = 10.81
• What is now known is that for every 100 employees, 10.81
incidents resulted in lost or restricted days or job transfer due
to work related injuries or illnesses.
 Severity Rate
• The severity rate is a calculation that gives a company an
average of the number of lost days per recordable incident.
• Please note, that very few companies use the severity rate
as a calculation, as it only provides an average.
• The calculation is made by dividing the total number of lost
work days by the total number of recordable incidents.
Total number lost work days
• SR = ---------------------------------------------
Total number of recordable incidents
 Example
• Again, using our previous company as an example, there
were 5 lost work days and two recordable incidents. So,
the severity rate calculation would look like this:
5
• SR = -------- SR = 2.5
2
• What is now known is that for every recordable incident
at the company, an average of 2.5 days will be lost due
to those work related injuries and illnesses.
 Incidence Rates continued
The term incidence rate is really a general term and includes the
following:
1. Total Recordable-Cases (TRC)
Counts all recordable injury and illness cases, except fatalities
2. Lost-Work-Day-cases Incidence rate (LWDI)
Counts injury (excludes illness) cases involving lost work days,
fatalities are not included
3. Days Away, Restricted, or Transferred rate (DART)
Counts injury and illness cases involving days away from work,
restricted work activity, and transfer to another job. Fatalities are
not included
4. Days Away From Work Injury and Illness case rate (DAFWII)
Counts injury and illness cases involving days away from work.
Fatalities are not included
 Incidence Rates continued
5. Number-of-Lost Workdays rate
Counts number of lost workdays including restricted work
activity days. Fatalities are not included.
6. Injury incidence rate
Counts total number of injury cases
7. Illness incidence rate
Counts total number of illness
8. Fatality incidence rate
Counts total number of fatality
9. Specific-hazard incidence rate
Counts cases in which only a specific hazard results in injury
or illness