ASSE Wants OSHA to Improve Workplace Safety

The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) has proposed a new "safety blueprint" to help the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) further protect workers from injury and illness.

Founded in the wake of a massive factory fire that left 146 workers dead, the ASSE is one of the country's oldest worker safety organizations. Its motto is "Protecting People, Property and the Environment since 1911." Today, the ASSE operates with 151 chapters throughout 75 countries.

According to the ASSE's new blueprint, OSHA needs to focus risk management, while also improving its productive policies and legislation to better protect workers. News of the ASSE's blueprint comes just in time for the North American Occupational Safety and Health Week, which runs annually from May 7 to 13.

Within this blueprint, there's recommendations by some of the world's most esteemed safety professionals covering a broad range of industries. ASSE believes that OSHA should shift its mission focus away from strictly compliance to other, more effective strategies to reduce rates of worker injury and illness. If implemented, these changes would align the American workforce with global trends in other leading countries, all while encouraging employers to promote safety and health in their own respective companies and organizations.

Not surprisingly, the blueprint also addresses OSHA's record-keeping system, which has come under fire in recent months. As we discussed in a previous blog post, OSHA has postponed the final rule for electronic reporting of work-related injuries and illnesses. The ASSE wants to collaborate with OSHA to improve the administration's record-keeping abilities, while also supporting policy changes of employers' records.

Furthermore, the ASSE says employers who emphasize the importance of worker safety should be rewarded and acknowledged for their efforts. There's really no incentive for employers to take worker safety seriously. The ASSE wants to change this -- and it believes this could have a positive impact on lower rates of worker injury and illness.

"Every change in our nation’s leadership provides an opportunity to consider better ways of protecting American workers,” said ASSE President Thomas Cecich, CSP, CIH. “With more than 100 years of experience in safety leadership, ASSE is proposing innovative approaches to improve how occupational safety and health is practiced and regulated in the United States."

This blueprint was developed by a working group convened by the ASSE Board of Directors. It features policies and recommendations created by the ASSE's Governmental Affairs Committee and the ASSE's Council on Professional Affairs.

You can access the ASSE's proposed OSHA blueprint by clicking here.