The announcement of OSHA’s Cooperative Compliance Program last November—OSHA chief Charles Jeffress calls it "an inspection assignment system"—has caused a stir in industry. Thousands of employers received letters from the agency indicating that they were inspection targets. Industrial Safety & Hygiene News visited with OSHA officials in Washington in February to get answers to some of employers’ most pressing questions about this new enforcement strategy.
This is how the CCP works: Last year, 80,000 worksites sent OSHA information detailing their 1996 injury and illness experiences. The agency then identified 12,250 workplaces with serious injury and illness rates almost double the national average.