Question

Explain your thoughts on OSHA's use of incorporation by reference and whether you believe it improves safety and health in the workplace.

Answer 1

Incorporation by reference is the process of adopting national consensus standards by industry experts into the occupational safety and health act which give them the same legal authority as the act itself.

Industry standards often address the hazards which are not under the scope of OSHA regulation. IBR is that privately developed standards which become a part of OSHA code and can be enforced equally with OSHA standards.

IBR standards add an extensive amount of information and safety requirements to the code that lay out more far reaching and industry specific guidelines.

IBR also allows OSHA to hold employees accountable to industry standards created by industry experts with federal authority.

standards can be issued faster with IBR , than can be created by OSHA.

Standards that are incorporated by reference play an important role in eliminating hazards as much as possible

Incorporation by reference allows all the industry expert to share their respective expertise to build a fully comprehensive federal safety program.