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The Occupational Safety and Health Act is the primary federal law which governs occupational health and safety in the private sector and federal government in the United States. It was enacted by Congress in 1970 and was signed by President Richard Nixon on December 29, 1970.〔http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/dpt.htm〕 Its main goal is to ensure that employers provide employees with an environment free from recognized hazards, such as exposure to toxic chemicals, excessive noise levels, mechanical dangers, heat or cold stress, or unsanitary conditions. The Act created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The Act can be found in the United States Code at title 29, chapter 15. ==History of federal workplace safety legislation== Efforts by the federal government to ensure workplace health and safety were minimal until the passage of OSHA. The American system of mass production encouraged the use of machinery, while the statutory regime did nothing to protect workplace safety. For most employers, it was cheaper to replace a dead or injured worker than it was to introduce safety measures.〔Hounshell, David. ''From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932: The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States.'' Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984. ISBN 0-8018-3158-X〕〔Rosenberg, Nathan. ''Technology and American Economic Growth.'' Paperback ed. New York: Harper and Row, 1972. ISBN 0-87332-104-9〕〔Aldrich, Mark. ''Safety First: Technology, Labor and Business in the Building of Work Safety, 1870-1939.'' Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8018-5405-9〕 Tort law provided little recourse for relief for the survivors of dead workers or for injured employees.〔Fishback, Price and Shawn Kantor. ''A Prelude to the Welfare State: The Origins of Workers' Compensation.'' New ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. ISBN 0-226-24984-0〕 After the Civil War, some improvements were made through the establishment of state railroad and factory commissions, the adoption of new technology (such as the railway air brake), and more widespread availability of life insurance. But the overall impact of these improvements was minimal.〔 The first federal safety legislation was enacted in the Progressive period. In 1893, Congress passed the Safety Appliance Act, the first federal statute to require safety equipment in the workplace (the law applied only to railroad equipment, however).〔 In 1910, in response to a series of highly publicized and deadly mine explosions and collapses, Congress established the United States Bureau of Mines to conduct research into mine safety (although the Bureau had no authority to regulate mine safety).〔Graebner, William. ''Coal Mining Safety in the Progressive Period.'' Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1976. ISBN 0-8131-1339-3〕 Backed by trade unions, many states also enacted workers' compensation laws which discouraged employers from permitting unsafe workplaces.〔 These laws, as well as the growing power of labor unions and public anger toward poor workplace safety, led to significant reductions in worker accidents for a time.〔 Industrial production increased significantly in the United States during World War II, and industrial accidents soared. Winning the war took precedence over safety, and most labor unions were more concerned with maintaining wages in the face of severe inflation than with workplace health and safety.〔Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee. ''Job Safety and Health Act of 1970.'' Committee Report No. 91-1282 on S. 2193. 91st Congress, 2d Session (October 6, 1970).〕 After the war ended, however, workplace accident rates remained high and began to rise. In the two years preceding OSHA's enactment, 14,000 workers died each year from workplace hazards, and another 2 million were disabled or harmed.〔Stender, John H. "Enforcing the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The Federal Government as a Catalyst." ''Law and Contemporary Problems.'' 38:4 (Summer/Autumn 1974).〕 Additionally, the "chemical revolution" introduced a vast array of new chemical compounds to the manufacturing environment. The health effects of these chemicals were poorly understood, and workers received few protections against prolonged or high levels of exposure.〔Ashford, Nicholas A. ''Crisis in the Workplace: Occupational Disease and Injury.'' Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1976. ISBN 0-262-01045-3〕〔Mendeloff, John. ''Regulating Safety: An Economic and Political Analysis of Occupational Safety and Health Policy.'' Cambridge: MIT Press, 1979. ISBN 0-262-13148-X〕 While a few states, such as California and New York, had enacted workplace safety as well as workplace health legislation, most states had not changed their workplace protection laws since the turn of the century.〔Hosey, Andrew D. and Ede, Louise. ''A Review of State Occupational Health Legislation.'' Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Occupational Safety and Health, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, January 1970.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Occupational Safety and Health Act (United States)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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