As Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) chair Dr. David Michaels revealed in an online chat earlier this year, OSHA’s top priority for 2011 will be publishing and enforcing a new, nationwide Injury and Illness Prevention Program (I2P2). The scope of the planned regulation is sweeping: it will likely affect every employer in every industry, coast-to-coast, and Michaels himself has called it the most significant change in workplace safety culture since OSHA’s inception 40 years ago.

While the organization continues to finalize the rule before its expected publication by the end of the year, it is worth evaluating what we do know about the proposed initiative. We know a few details about what OSHA will likely include in the final rule, plus thousands of American employers have already implemented injury and illness prevention programs based on elements of California’s own program (called IIPP and in existence since 1991). OSHA will … Read more...