Occupational safety and health programs

Before 1970, there were no regulations for safety hazards in the workplace, and no accountability for accidents which occurred on the job. Companies controlled the workforce and the environment. The passing of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) changed the future for employees. The law gave protection to workforce and forced employers to provide a safe and healthy workplace, plus created accountability (Roughton 2002).

Most employers are mandated by OSHA regulations. Today, safety is a serious concern, and most companies have developed a safety and health program with guidelines for the employees and employers to follow. The following is a variety of four companies with a brief description of their safety and health programs for comparison to determine their effectiveness and uniqueness:

I. Verizon Communications is a multi-billion dollar corporation and is one of the leading providers of telecommunication service. Verizon considers safety very seriously because they are heavily regulated by OSHA. An intra-company web-site is available to all employees for matters concerning safety. The safety program consists of the following:

A. Verizon safety creed: The demands of the service are never so great that we cannot take the time to perform our work safely.

B. Accountability: Supervisors are accountable for preparing employees to fulfill their safety and occupational health responsibilities. Each Verizon employee is accountable for understanding and implementing the safety and occupational health requirements for their job.

C. Verizon Safety Management Organization: The management safety team provides subject matter on al issues such as: Occupational safety and health matters, safety and health regulatory compliance with OSHA, illness/injury/vehicle collision prevention and hazard identification and control.

D.Safety Program Components: Verizon safety management develops and distributes safety and health policies, procedures, incident-related safety alerts, safety lesson plans, quarterly national safety awareness bulletins, and updates in the HR Weekly newsletter (Ladou 2006).

E. Tools: ...