Explain how the Occupational Safety and Health Administration sets safety standards and enforces them

What will be an ideal response?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets the standards for occupational health and safety in the United States. These standards are frequently opposed by labor and management but for different reasons. In general, labor organizations criticize them for insufficiently protecting employees' health and safety, whereas employer groups claim they are unnecessarily stringent and too costly.

In establishing health standards, OSHA has used the following four-step process since 1981:
a. The agency asks whether the hazard presents a "significant risk" that warrants intervention.
b. If it does, OSHA decides whether regulatory action can reduce the risk.
c. If it can, the agency establishes a standard to reduce the risk "to the extent feasible," taking into account both technological and economic feasibility.
d. OSHA then analyzes the cost-effectiveness of various implementation options to determine which will achieve its goals most efficiently.

OSHA is charged with enforcing the OSH Act through unannounced inspections and the levying of fines against violators. The goals of OSHA inspections are to find and correct existing hazards and to encourage employers to eliminate hazards before inspection.
OSHA conducts several different types of inspections. In order of priority, these are: imminent danger inspections, when OSHA learns of a hazard that can be expected to cause physical harm or death; catastrophe and fatality investigations, whenever an accident hospitalizes five or more workers or causes a death; employee complaints, when an employee alleges a violation and requests an inspection; special inspection programs, including those aimed at certain hazards or industries; and, finally, programmed or random inspections. Follow-up inspections may also be conducted at any time.