Outcome Goal 2.1: High-Risk Industries
Secure safe and healthy workplaces, particularly in high-risk industries. Other Information:
All workers have a right to a safe and healthful work environment. No one should have to be injured or killed for a paycheck.
DOL enforcement strategies recognize that some workers are more vulnerable than others and that some workplaces are more hazardous
than others. By targeting both inspections and outreach in those areas, DOL expects to have the greatest effect on overall
compliance. By improving compliance, more workplaces will be safe and healthy. With more employers in compliance, workplace
injuries, fatalities, and illnesses should decline – the ultimate outcome for DOL and American workers and a critical component
of good jobs for everyone.
Stakeholder(s):
- High-Risk Industries
- Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA): The DOL agencies working toward safe and healthy workplaces are the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Wage and Hour Division (WHD). The safety and health missions of MSHA and
OSHA are clear; however, WHD also enforces key safety and health provisions in certain statutes. For example, the Fair Labor
Standards Act ensures the safe employment of young workers, encourages their educational endeavors, and provides a path to
future employment. The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA)
H-2A Programs, and the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act’s field sanitation provisions, protect: agricultural workers
by providing standards regulating the safe transportation of migrant and seasonal workers; farmworkers by ensuring safe and
healthy housing; and field workers by establishing standards for drinking water, toilets, and hand-washing. Enforcement of
the worker protection provisions of the H-2A program assures working conditions intended both to protect the wages and the
safety and health of vulnerable workers, and to ensure that the local labor force is not displaced by lower paid foreign or
migrant labor.
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
Indicator(s):
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