1.1: Introduction

Until 1970, there were no national laws for safety and health hazards. In 1970, the United States Congress and President Richard Nixon created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a national public health agency dedicated to the basic proposition that no worker should have to choose between their life and their job. The creation of OSHA was a historic moment of cooperative national reform. Since OSHA’s first day on the job, the agency has delivered remarkable progress for our nation. Workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities have fallen dramatically. In 1970, an estimated 14,000 workers were killed on the job – about 38 every day. For 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports this number fell to about 5,190 or about 14 workers per day. Together with our state partners, OSHA has tackled fatal safety hazards and health risks. The rate of reported serious workplace injuries and illnesses has also dropped markedly, from 10.9 per 100 workers in 1972 to 2.7 per 100 workers in 2021.

OSHA has established common sense standards and enforced the law against those who put workers at risk. OSHA is committed to protecting workers from toxic chemicals and fatal safety hazards at work, ensuring that vulnerable workers in high-risk jobs have access to critical information and education about job hazards, and providing employers with vigorous compliance assistance to promote the best practices that can save lives.