29 U.S.C. § 651 — Congressional statement of findings and

Page 164 TITLE 29—LABOR § 651 Editorial Notes AMENDMENTS 1978—Pub. L. 95–256 struck out ‘‘, not in excess of $5,000,000 for any fiscal year,’’ after ‘‘sums’’. 1974—Pub. L. 93–259, § 28(a)(5), increased appropria- tions authorization to $5,000,000 from $3,000,000. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1974 AMENDMENT Amendment by Pub. L. 93–259 effective May 1, 1974, see section 29(a) of Pub. L. 93–259, set out as a note under section 202 of this title. Executive Documents TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS Functions relating to age discrimination administra- tion and enforcement vested by this section in Sec- retary of Labor or Civil Service Commission trans- ferred to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1978, § 2, 43 F.R. 19807, 92 Stat. 3781, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Or- ganization and Employees, effective Jan. 1, 1979, as pro- vided by section 1–101 of Ex. Ord. No. 12106, Dec. 28, 1978, 44 F.R. 1053. CHAPTER 15—OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH Sec. 651. Congressional statement of findings and dec- laration of purpose and policy. 652. Definitions. 653. Geographic applicability; judicial enforce- ment; applicability to existing standards; report to Congress on duplication and co- ordination of Federal laws; workmen’s com- pensation law or common law or statutory rights, duties, or liabilities of employers and employees unaffected. 654. Duties of employers and employees. 655. Standards. 656. Administration. 657. Inspections, investigations, and record- keeping. 658. Citations. 659. Enforcement procedures. 660. Judicial review. 661. Occupational Safety and Health Review Com- mission. 662. Injunction proceedings. 663. Representation in civil litigation. 664. Disclosure of trade secrets; protective orders. 665. Variations, tolerances, and exemptions from required provisions; procedure; duration. 666. Civil and criminal penalties. 667. State jurisdiction and plans. 668. Programs of Federal agencies. 669. Research and related activities. 669a. Expanded research on worker health and safe- ty. 670. Training and employee education. 671. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. 671a. Workers’ family protection. 672. Grants to States. 673. Statistics. 674. Audit of grant recipient; maintenance of rec- ords; contents of records; access to books, etc. 675. Annual reports by Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Health and Human Services; contents. 676. Omitted. 677. Separability. 678. Authorization of appropriations. § 651. Congressional statement of findings and declaration of purpose and policy (a) The Congress finds that personal injuries and illnesses arising out of work situations im- pose a substantial burden upon, and are a hin- drance to, interstate commerce in terms of lost production, wage loss, medical expenses, and disability compensation payments. (b) The Congress declares it to be its purpose and policy, through the exercise of its powers to regulate commerce among the several States and with foreign nations and to provide for the general welfare, to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources— (1) by encouraging employers and employees in their efforts to reduce the number of occu- pational safety and health hazards at their places of employment, and to stimulate em- ployers and employees to institute new and to perfect existing programs for providing safe and healthful working conditions; (2) by providing that employers and employ- ees have separate but dependent responsibil- ities and rights with respect to achieving safe and healthful working conditions; (3) by authorizing the Secretary of Labor to set mandatory occupational safety and health standards applicable to businesses affecting interstate commerce, and by creating an Occu- pational Safety and Health Review Commis- sion for carrying out adjudicatory functions under this chapter; (4) by building upon advances already made through employer and employee initiative for providing safe and healthful working condi- tions; (5) by providing for research in the field of occupational safety and health, including the psychological factors involved, and by devel- oping innovative methods, techniques, and ap- proaches for dealing with occupational safety and health problems; (6) by exploring ways to discover latent dis- eases, establishing causal connections between diseases and work in environmental condi- tions, and conducting other research relating to health problems, in recognition of the fact that occupational health standards present problems often different from those involved in occupational safety; (7) by providing medical criteria which will assure insofar as practicable that no employee will suffer diminished health, functional ca- pacity, or life expectancy as a result of his work experience; (8) by providing for training programs to in- crease the number and competence of per- sonnel engaged in the field of occupational safety and health; (9) by providing for the development and promulgation of occupational safety and health standards; (10) by providing an effective enforcement program which shall include a prohibition against giving advance notice of any inspec- tion and sanctions for any individual violating this prohibition; (11) by encouraging the States to assume the fullest responsibility for the administration Page 165 TITLE 29—LABOR § 652 1 So in original. Probably should be ‘‘means’’. 2 So in original. The comma probably should not appear. and enforcement of their occupational safety and health laws by providing grants to the States to assist in identifying their needs and responsibilities in the area of occupational safety and health, to develop plans in accord- ance with the provisions of this chapter, to improve the administration and enforcement of State occupational safety and health laws, and to conduct experimental and demonstra- tion projects in connection therewith; (12) by providing for appropriate reporting procedures with respect to occupational safety and health which procedures will help achieve the objectives of this chapter and accurately describe the nature of the occupational safety and health problem; (13) by encouraging joint labor-management efforts to reduce injuries and disease arising out of employment. (Pub. L. 91–596, § 2, Dec. 29, 1970, 84 Stat. 1590.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT This chapter, referred to in subsec. (b)(3), (11), and (12), was in the original ‘‘this Act’’, meaning Pub. L. 91–596, Dec. 29, 1970, 84 Stat. 1590. For complete classi- fication of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under this section and Tables. Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries EFFECTIVE DATE Pub. L. 91–596, § 34, Dec. 29, 1970, 84 Stat. 1620, provided that: ‘‘This Act [enacting this chapter and section 3142–1 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, amending section 553 of this title, sections 5108, 5314, 5315, and 7902 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, sections 633 and 636 of Title 15, Commerce and Trade, section 1114 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, and section 1421 of former Title 49, Trans- portation, and enacting provisions set out as notes under this section and section 1114 of Title 18] shall take effect one hundred and twenty days after the date of its enactment [Dec. 29, 1970].’’ SHORT TITLE OF 1998 AMENDMENT Pub. L. 105–197, § 1, July 16, 1998, 112 Stat. 638, pro- vided that: ‘‘This Act [amending section 670 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Occupational Safety and Health Administration Compliance Assistance Author- ization Act of 1998’.’’ SHORT TITLE Pub. L. 91–596, § 1, Dec. 29, 1970, 84 Stat. 1590, provided: ‘‘That this Act [enacting this chapter and section 3142–1 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, amending section 553 of this title, sections 5108, 5314, 5315, and 7902 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, sections 633 and 636 of Title 15, Commerce and Trade, section 1114 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, and section 1421 of former Title 49, Trans- portation, and enacting provisions set out as notes under this section and section 1114 of Title 18] may be cited as the ‘Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970’.’’ § 652. Definitions For the purposes of this chapter— (1) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ mean 1 the Sec- retary of Labor. (2) The term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Occu- pational Safety and Health Review Commis- sion established under this chapter. (3) The term ‘‘commerce’’ means trade, traf- fic, commerce, transportation, or communica- tion among the several States, or between a State and any place outside thereof, or within the District of Columbia, or a possession of the United States (other than the Trust Terri- tory of the Pacific Islands), or between points in the same State but through a point outside thereof. (4) The term ‘‘person’’ means one or more in- dividuals, partnerships, associations, corpora- tions, business trusts, legal representatives, or any organized group of persons. (5) The term ‘‘employer’’ means a person en- gaged in a business affecting commerce who has employees, but does not include the United States (not including the United States Postal Service) or any State or political sub- division of a State. (6) The term ‘‘employee’’ means an employee of an employer who is employed in a business of his employer which affects commerce. (7) The term ‘‘State’’ includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puer- to Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. (8) The term ‘‘occupational safety and health standard’’ means a standard which re- quires conditions, or the adoption or use of one or more practices, means, methods, oper- ations, or processes, reasonably necessary or appropriate to provide safe or healthful em- ployment and places of employment. (9) The term ‘‘national consensus standard’’ means any occupational safety and health standard or modification thereof which (1),2 has been adopted and promulgated by a na- tionally recognized standards-producing orga- nization under procedures whereby it can be determined by the Secretary that persons in- terested and affected by the scope or provi- sions of the standard have reached substantial agreement on its adoption, (2) was formulated in a manner which afforded an opportunity for diverse views to be considered and (3) has been designated as such a standard by the Sec- retary, after consultation with other appro- priate Federal agencies. (10) The term ‘‘established Federal stand- ard’’ means any operative occupational safety and health standard established by any agency of the United States and presently in effect, or contained in any Act of Congress in force on December 29, 1970. (11) The term ‘‘Committee’’ means the Na- tional Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health established under this chap- ter. (12) The term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. (13) The term ‘‘Institute’’ means the Na- tional Institute for Occupational Safety and Health established under this chapter. (14) The term ‘‘Workmen’s Compensation Commission’’ means the National Commission on State Workmen’s Compensation Laws es- tablished under this chapter.