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Occupational Safety and Health

Chapter 1: Introducing the issues

This section gives an introduction to the way courts have thought about occupational risk, the history of legal interventions in this area, the scope of the problem, the elements that are essential to an effective occupational safety and health (OSH) legal regime, and an introduction to both the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHAct) and the Mine Safety and Health Act (MSHAct or Mine Act), as well as the administrative and enforcement structures. The material in Section 5.1 is provided as background and is repeated later when relevant.  A glossary of terms is provided at the end of the section.