Occupational Safety and Health: Improvements Needed in OSHA's Monitoring of Federal Agencies' Programs
HRD-92-97
Published: Aug 28, 1992. Publicly Released: Aug 28, 1992.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) monitoring of federal agencies' safety and health programs and implementation of the Hazard Communication Standard.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Labor | To strengthen OSHA monitoring of federal agencies' safety and health programs, the Secretary of Labor should direct OSHA to analyze agencies' annual reports to identify indicators of program implementation problems. |
In April 1993, OSHA established a task group to identify the information OSHA should collect from federal agencies on their safety and health programs and develop a means for agencies to report this information to OSHA. Beginning with their FY 1993 annual reports, which are due to OSHA in January 1994, federal agencies are required to report baseline program performance indicators.
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| Department of Labor | To strengthen OSHA monitoring of federal agencies' safety and health programs, the Secretary of Labor should direct OSHA to include monitoring for compliance with program requirements in inspections it makes at agencies' work places. |
OSHA revised its instructions to inspectors to have them monitor federal agencies' safety and health programs for compliance with applicable program requirements during inspections they conduct at agency workplaces.
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| Department of Labor | To strengthen OSHA monitoring of federal agencies' safety and health programs, the Secretary of Labor should direct OSHA to use the results of work-place compliance inspections to identify potential systemic weaknesses in agencies' programs. |
OSHA revised its procedures for conducting federal agency safety and health evaluations. The results of agency work-place compliance inspections will now be used as part of OSHA's assessment of the agencies' programs.
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Topics
Federal agenciesHealth hazardsInspectionMonitoringOccupational health and safety programsOccupational safetySafety standardsWorking conditionsHealth programsHealth standards