Trying to improve conditions in the world’s sweatshops, the American Industrial Hygiene Association recently endorsed these universal environmental health and safety responsibilities on the part of employers everywhere:

  • Provide and maintain a working environment, including plants and systems of work, that are safe for employees and without risk to their health;

  • Conduct work in a manner such that the environment is not adversely impacted by the process or its waste byproducts;

  • Ensure that routine inspections of the workplace are conducted to identify and evaluate hazardous conditions and work practices;

  • Encourage employee reporting of workplace hazards/conditions;

  • Not allow work to continue if the safety or health of the worker(s) may be compromised or if the environment may be adversely affected;

  • Correct discovered hazards and/or protect individuals from these hazards;

  • Train workers in hazard recognition, general and job-specific health and safety policies, practices, and procedures, and the regulations and statutes that apply to their work;

  • Conduct training when an employee is hired or is given a new assignment for which training has not previously been received, and whenever new hazards are created by new substances, processes, or equipment; and

  • Train managers in EHS policies, including a nondiscrimination policy for reporting hazardous conditions.