|
U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 651. Congressional statement of findings and declaration of purpose and policy
(a) The Congress finds that personal injuries and illnesses
arising out of work situations impose a substantial burden upon,
and are a hindrance to, interstate commerce in terms of lost
production, wage loss, medical expenses, and disability
compensation payments.
(b) The Congress declares it to be its purpose and policy,
through the exercise of its powers to regulate commerce among the
several States and with foreign nations and to provide for the
general welfare, 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 -
(1) by encouraging employers and employees in their efforts to
reduce the number of occupational safety and health hazards at
their places of employment, and to stimulate employers and
employees to institute new and to perfect existing programs for
providing safe and healthful working conditions;
(2) by providing that employers and employees have separate but
dependent responsibilities and rights with respect to achieving
safe and healthful working conditions;
(3) by authorizing the Secretary of Labor to set mandatory
occupational safety and health standards applicable to businesses
affecting interstate commerce, and by creating an Occupational
Safety and Health Review Commission for carrying out adjudicatory
functions under this chapter;
(4) by building upon advances already made through employer and
employee initiative for providing safe and healthful working
conditions;
(5) by providing for research in the field of occupational
safety and health, including the psychological factors involved,
and by developing innovative methods, techniques, and approaches
for dealing with occupational safety and health problems;
(6) by exploring ways to discover latent diseases, establishing
causal connections between diseases and work in environmental
conditions, and conducting other research relating to health
problems, in recognition of the fact that occupational health
standards present problems often different from those involved in
occupational safety;
(7) by providing medical criteria which will assure insofar as
practicable that no employee will suffer diminished health,
functional capacity, or life expectancy as a result of his work
experience;
(8) by providing for training programs to increase the number
and competence of personnel engaged in the field of occupational
safety and health;
(9) by providing for the development and promulgation of
occupational safety and health standards;
(10) by providing an effective enforcement program which shall
include a prohibition against giving advance notice of any
inspection and sanctions for any individual violating this
prohibition;
(11) by encouraging the States to assume the fullest
responsibility for the administration and enforcement of their
occupational safety and health laws by providing grants to the
States to assist in identifying their needs and responsibilities
in the area of occupational safety and health, to develop plans
in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, to improve the
administration and enforcement of State occupational safety and
health laws, and to conduct experimental and demonstration
projects in connection therewith;
(12) by providing for appropriate reporting procedures with
respect to occupational safety and health which procedures will
help achieve the objectives of this chapter and accurately
describe the nature of the occupational safety and health
problem;
(13) by encouraging joint labor-management efforts to reduce
injuries and disease arising out of employment.
|
|