DRAFT PROPOSED SAFETY AND HEALTH PROGRAM RULE
29 CFR 1900.1
Docket No. S&H-0027

What is the purpose of this rule? The purpose of this rule is to reduce the number of job-related fatalities, illnesses, and injuries. The rule will accomplish this by requiring employers to establish a workplace safety and health program to ensure compliance with OSHA standards and the General Duty Clause of the Act (Section 5(a)(1)).

(b)(1) What are the employer's basic obligations under the rule? Each employer must set up a safety and health program to manage workplace safety and health to reduce injuries, illnesses and fatalities by systematically achieving compliance with OSHA standards and the General Duty Clause. The program must be appropriate to conditions in the workplace, such as the hazards to which employees are exposed and the number of employees there.

(b)(2) What core elements must the program have? The program must have the following core elements:

(i) Management leadership and employee participation;

(A) Establish the program responsibilities of managers, supervisors, and employees for safety and health in the workplace and hold them accountable for carrying out those responsibilities;

(B) Provide managers, supervisors, and employees with the authority, access to relevant information, training, and resources they need to carry out their safety and health responsibilities; and

(C) Identify at least one manager, supervisor, or employee to receive and respond to reports about workplace safety and health conditions and, where appropriate, to initiate corrective action.

(ii) Hazard identification and assessment;

(i) Conduct inspections of the workplace;

(ii) Review safety and health information;

(iii) Evaluate new equipment, materials, and processes for hazards before they are introduced into the workplace; and

(iv) Assess the severity of identified hazards and rank those that cannot be corrected immediately according to their severity.

(iii) Hazard prevention and control;

(i) Conduct inspections of the workplace;

(ii) Review safety and health information;

(iii) Evaluate new equipment, materials, and processes for hazards before they are introduced into the workplace; and

(iv) Assess the severity of identified hazards and rank those that cannot be corrected immediately according to their severity.

(iv) Information and training; and

(i) The nature of the hazards to which the employee is exposed and how to recognize them;

(ii) What is being done to control these hazards;

(iii) What protective measures the employee must follow to prevent or minimize exposure to these hazards; and

(v) Evaluation of program effectiveness.

The employer must evaluate the effectiveness of the program:

(i) As often as necessary to ensure program effectiveness;

(ii) At least once within the 12 months following the final compliance date specified in paragraph (i); and

(iv) Thereafter at least once every two years.