Warning notices about worker health and safety at the Corlis Point lighthouse.
The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) is the national body in Ireland with responsibility for occupational health and safety. Its role is to secure health and safety at work. It is an Irish state-sponsored body, established under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989 and reports to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
The Authority consults widely with employers, employees and their respective organisations. To help develop sound policies and good workplace practices, the Authority works with various Advisory Committees and Task Forces etc. which focus on specific occupations and hazards.
The HSA has overall responsibility for the administration and enforcement of health and safety at work in Ireland. The HSA monitors compliance with legislation at the workplace and can take enforcement action (up to and including prosecutions).
The HSA is the national centre for information and advice to employers, employees and self-employed on all aspects of workplace health and safety. The Authority also promotes education, training and research in the field.
Occupational safety and health policy at national level is determined by a twelve-member, tripartite Board, with nominees from the social partners and other interests concerned with safety and health in the workplace. The appointment of the Board of the Authority is a function of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is a regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. The United States Congress established the agency under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which President Richard M. Nixon signed into law on December 29, 1970. OSHA's mission is to "assure safe and healthy working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education, and assistance." The agency is also charged with enforcing a variety of whistleblower statutes and regulations. OSHA's workplace safety inspections have been shown to reduce injury rates and injury costs without adverse effects on employment, sales, credit ratings, or firm survival.
Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her employer for the tort of negligence. The trade-off between assured, limited coverage and lack of recourse outside the worker compensation system is known as "the compensation bargain.” One of the problems that the compensation bargain solved is the problem of employers becoming insolvent as a result of high damage awards. The system of collective liability was created to prevent that and thus to ensure security of compensation to the workers.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is a UK public body responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in Great Britain. It is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom with its headquarters in Bootle, England. In Northern Ireland, these duties lie with the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland. The HSE was created by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and has since absorbed earlier regulatory bodies such as the Factory Inspectorate and the Railway Inspectorate though the Railway Inspectorate was transferred to the Office of Rail and Road in April 2006. The HSE is sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions. As part of its work, HSE investigates industrial accidents, small and large, including major incidents such as the explosion and fire at Buncefield in 2005. Though it formerly reported to the Health and Safety Commission, on 1 April 2008, the two bodies merged.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 is a US labor law governing the federal law of 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. 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) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Forfás was the national policy advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation in Ireland. The agency was established in January 1994 under the Industrial Development Act, 1993 and was run by a board appointed by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, to whom the agency was responsible. Forfás was dissolved on 1 August 2014 and its functions were transferred to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Enterprise Ireland, the Industrial Development Authority and the Health and Safety Authority.
The Canada Labour Code is an Act of the Parliament of Canada to consolidate certain statutes respecting labour. The objective of the Code is to facilitate production by controlling strikes & lockouts, occupational safety and health, and some employment standards.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is a department of the Government of Ireland. It is led by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that as of 2011 defines the fundamental structure and authority for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare within the United Kingdom.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment is the Dutch ministry responsible for social affairs, relations between employers and employees, social security, trade unions and emancipation. It was established in 1918 as the Ministry of Labour and had several name changes before it became the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment in 1981. The ministry is headed by the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, currently Karien van Gennip of the Christian Democratic Appeal.
Right to know is a human right enshrined in law in several countries. UNESCO defines it as the right for people to "participate in an informed way in decisions that affect them, while also holding governments and others accountable". It pursues universal access to information as essential foundation of inclusive knowledge societies. It is often defined in the context of the right for people to know about their potential exposure to environmental conditions or substances that may cause illness or injury, but it can also refer more generally to freedom of information or informed consent.
The Office of Congressional Workplace Rights was created through the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA) which applied workplace protection laws to approximately 30,000 employees of the legislative branch nationwide and established the Office of Compliance to administer and ensure the integrity of the Act through its programs of dispute resolution, education, and enforcement. The OCWR educates members of Congress, employing offices and employees, and the visiting public on their rights and responsibilities under workplace and accessibility laws. The OCWR also advises Congress on needed changes and amendments to the CAA; and the OCWR'sGeneral Counsel has independent investigatory and enforcement authority for certain violations of the CAA.
The WorkCover Authority of New South Wales was a New South Wales Government agency established in 1989. The agency created regulations to promote productive, healthy and safe workplaces for workers and employers in New South Wales. The agency formed part of the Safety, Return to Work and Support Division established pursuant to the Safety, Return to Work and Support Board Act, 2012 (NSW).
WorkSafe Victoria is the trading name of the Victorian WorkCover Authority, a statutory authority of the state government of Victoria, Australia.
The California Labor Code, more formally known as "the Labor Code", is a collection of civil law statutes for the State of California. The code is made up of statutes which govern the general obligations and rights of persons within the jurisdiction of the State of California. The stated goal of the Department of Industrial Relations is to promote and develop the welfare of the wage earners of California, to improve their working conditions and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment."
The Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia, operating as WorkSafeBC, is a statutory agency that came into existence in 1917, after the provincial legislature put into force legislation passed in 1902. This legislation is known as the Workers Compensation Act.
A lone worker (LW) is an employee who performs an activity that is carried out in isolation from other workers without close or direct supervision. Such staff may be exposed to risk because there is no-one to assist them and so a risk assessment may be required. Lone workers are now often supported by cloud-based automated monitoring systems and specialised monitoring call centres - often referred to as an 'Alarm Receiving Centre' or 'ARC' in the UK, or 'Emergency Dispatch Center' or 'EDC' in the US.
Occupational safety and health (OSH) or occupational health and safety (OHS) is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at work. OSH is related to the fields of occupational medicine and occupational hygiene and aligns with workplace health promotion initiatives. OSH also protects all the general public who may be affected by the occupational environment.
The Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Regulation of British Columbia is the primary source of law governing workplace health and safety, which was most recently amended in 2016. It sets the standard to which workplaces must attain when inspected by WorkSafeBC, unless they are exempt from inspection, e.g. mines.
The law for workplace bullying is given below for each country in detail. Further European countries with concrete antibullying legislation are Belgium, France, and The Netherlands.
The right to sit refers to laws or policies granting workers the right to be granted suitable seating at the workplace. Jurisdictions that have enshrined "right to sit" laws or policies include Mexico, France, Spain, Argentina, the United Kingdom, Jamaica, South Africa, Eswatini, Cameroon, Tanzania, Uganda, Lesotho, Malaysia, Brazil, Israel, Ireland, Zambia, Guyana, the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the British overseas territory of Gibraltar and Montserrat. Almost all states of the United States and Australia, as well as the majority of Canadian provinces passed right to sit legislation for women workers between 1881 and 1917. US states with current right to sit legislation include California, Florida, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. A right to sit provision is included in the International Labour Organization's Hygiene Convention, 1964; the international treaty being ratified by 52 countries as of 2023. EU-OSHA recommends suitable seating as a best practice. Local jurisdictions with right to sit laws include Portland, Oregon, St. Louis, Missouri, and London's Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
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