Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission

Pages487-489

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION

1120 Twentieth Street NW., Washington, DC 20036-3457

Phone, 202-606-5050. Fax, 202-418-3017. Internet, www.oshrc.gov.

Chairman Horace A. Thompson

Commissioners Thomasina V. Rogers,

(vacancy)

General Counsel Alexander Fernandez

Chief Administrative Law Judge Irving Sommer

Director, Office of Administration Richard C. Loeb

Executive Secretary Ray H. Darling, Jr.

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The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission ensures the timely and fair resolution of cases involving the alleged exposure of American workers to unsafe or unhealthy working conditions.

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission is an independent, quasi-judicial agency established by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651-678).

The Commission rules on cases when disagreements arise over the results of safety and health inspections performed by the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Employers have the right to dispute any alleged job safety or health violation found during the inspection by OSHA, the penalties it proposes, and the time given to correct any hazardous situation.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act covers virtually every employer in the country. Its purpose is to reduce the incidence of personal injuries, illness, and deaths among working men and women in the United States that result from their employment. It requires employers to provide a working environment free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to the employees and to comply with occupational safety and health standards promulgated under the act.

Activities

The Commission was created to adjudicate enforcement actions initiated under the act when they are contested by employers, employees, or representatives of employees. A case arises when a citation, issued to an employer as the result of an OSHA

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inspection, is contested within 15 working days of receipt of the report.

There are two levels of adjudication within the Commission. All cases are first assigned to an administrative law judge. A hearing is generally held in the community or as close as possible to where the alleged violation occurred. After the hearing, the judge issues a decision, based on findings of fact and conclusions of law.

A substantial number of the judge's decisions become...

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