Enhancing Partnerships between OSHA and State Public Health Agencies with the passage of the OSHAct in 1970, the lead responsibility for regulating workplace health and safety conditions was entrusted to federal OSHA and state labor departments. While regulatory agencies have the central role in protecting workers’ health, the enforcement of workplace health and safety regulations, compliance assistance, and worker training are only several components of a comprehensive approach to workplace health and safety. State public health agencies have critical and complementary roles to play in using data sources for surveillance of work-related diseases and injuries, applying epidemiologic skills to investigate occupational health problems in the community, working with the medical community to increase their involvement in workplace health and safety, and integrating worker health into other public health-based prevention activities. Public health agencies may play a particularly important role in addressing the occupational health needs of underserved worker populations, such as immigrant and minority workers, who comprise a significant proportion of our increasingly diverse workforce.

For more information about partnerships, please contact Cailyn Lingwall.