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Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA, as it is popularly known, are a set of regulations set up for most firms of the united states to provide for it workers, both men and women, a hazard free work environment. It has clear and strict rules and thus it is considered to be one of the most useful management systems for both the employees and the employers. OSHA’s policies are followed by most firms in most American states. However, the OSHA regulations followed by California are a little different from what is followed by the rest of American states. California has tweaked the rules and regulations of OSHA a little, in accordance with its needs. Their policies related to OSHA are also known as Cal/OSHA. Cal/OSHA, though, is based entirely on federal OSHA but it has added some extra features and standards and even modified the guidelines put forward by federal OSHA. In fact, it has stricter penalties. The differences between Cal/ OSHA and Federal OSHA are as follows: The differences are mainly in the fields of; •Standard structure •Injury and Illness Prevention Programs •Recordkeeping •Hazardous chemicals •Ergonomics The requirements of the general industry, construction industry and certain others of Federal OSHA are included in the Code of Federal Regulations at 29 CFR 1910, 29 CFR 1904 and some other parts of federal standards respectively. These are some of the specifications of Federal OSHA but on the whole, any firm which comes under Federal OSHA is entirely covered by the rules and regulations put forward by them. Rules and regulations for firms coming under Cal/ OSHA are however a little different. Employers who follow Cal/ OSHA have to comply with different set of rules for different industries. In other words rules are somewhat different and they are not consolidated as is the case in Federal OSHA. •Federal OSHA has something called the “General Duty Clause”. Under this clause, each employer will have to furnish its employees with a place which would be free from hazards. ‘Hazards’ have been defined by the federal system as something which might cause death, physical harm or may cause health issues to the employee. California on the other hand does not have the “General Duty Clause”. This is because the state has a stringent administrative procedure. As a result, a law which encompasses too many sub rules and regulations cannot be applied in California. •Cal/OSHA however allows initiating new rulemaking, and they even consider new requests for new standards and special action which generally leads to rule making. •Rules and regulations also differ on the subject of injury and illness between Cal/ OSHA and Fed/ OSHA. Firms which fall under the regulations of Fed/OSHA need to report a death or any three serious injuries from the same accident to the authorities. But Cal/ OSHA implements standard rules and expands the limits of the federal rules. •Penalties for violation under Fed/ OSHA range from $500 to $1500, though the maximum limit goes up till $7000 in rare cases. Cal/OSHA, however, is stricter in this matter. The penalty amount ranges between $18,000 and $25,000. •In California, organizations must record the injuries and illnesses of their employees that were caused due to his/ her occupation. Fed/OSHA does not demand such recording from the firms which come under their banner. •Unlike Fed/OSHA, Cal/ OSHA requires more MSDS labeling and also demands that employees must be warned, especially if their work demands that they would be exposed to those chemicals which could cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. •The Ergo guidelines laid down by Cal/ OSHA is mandatory, especially for those employers in whose firm two or more repetitive motion injuries to workers has been caused. But the same is not mandatory from organizations falling under Fed/ OSHA.
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