Occupational Safety and Health Glossary

Federal laws:

CRA.  Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C.§ 801 et seq. 

MSH Act.  The Mine Safety and Health Act, as amended, also referred to as the “Mine Act,” 30 U.S.C. § 801 et seq. 

OSH Act.  The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, 29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.

SBREFA. Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act OF 1996, 5 U.S.C. § 601 et seq.

Federal agencies:

BLS.  Bureau of Labor Statistics.

MSHA.  Mine Safety and Health Administration.

MSHRC. Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.

NIOSH. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

OSHA. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

 OSHRC. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

SOL.  Solicitor of Labor.

Non-governmental organizations:

 ACGIH.  American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists.

ANSI. American National Standards Institute.  

Standards’ Lingo

Standard:  A regulation issued by the Secretary of Labor under the Mine Safety and Health Act or the Occupational Safety and Health Act under Section 3(8). 

A “6(b)(5) standard” is one promulgated under that section of the OSHAct for toxic materials or harmful physical agents.  These are generally considered “health” (as opposed to “safety”) standards.

Toxic materials or substances include all chemicals and mined substances that pose a danger to human health.  Harmful physical agents include noise, radiation, temperature extremes, vibration. Both toxic materials and harmful physical agents generally involve long term health risks, although some also pose immediate danger if the exposure is large (e.g. chlorine gas, mercury, lead). 

 Safety hazards are those hazards that pose an immediate risk to safety.

Safety standards:

Specification standards set out the specific requirement for compliance.  For example: ladder rungs must be made out of wood and must be one inch in diameter.  Many of the early interim standards are specification standards; not all have been replaced.

Performance standards set the requirements for the job.  For example, ladder rungs must be able to support 500 pounds.

Source for consensus safety standards:  ANSI (American National Standards Institute)

Health standards

Permissible exposure limit (PEL): reflect the maximum amount of contaminants in air to which workers may be exposed over a given time period.   OSHA generally uses three types of PELs:  time-weighted averages ("TWAs"), Short term exposure limits (“STELS”) and ceiling limits. 

STEL & TWA: both set limits on average exposures over a set period of time.   STEL = short term exposure limit (usually 15 min); TWA is average over 8-10 hours.

Ceiling limit: sets never-to-be-exceeded maximum exposure levels.

Threshold limit value (TLV):  TLVs are consensus recommendations by ACGIH regarding the limit for exposure of air borne contaminants.  They are the non-regulatory equivalent of PELs. 

Source for consensus health standards: ACGIH (American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists)

Hierarchy of controls: 

An ordered set of priorities for strategies to protect health and safety, ranging from most to least protective. At the top of the hierarchy are those controls that eliminate the hazard entirely from the work environment (such as substitution of fiberglass for asbestos, or elimination of specific chemicals in dry cleaning and popcorn flavoring).  Next, in order from most to least protective, come: engineering controls (such as enclosing and ventilation); administrative controls (such as setting limits on the duration of work in high heat and humidity are the next level); and, finally, personal protective equipment (PPE) (such as protective clothing or respirators).  Public health professionals view PPE as an inadequate approach that should only be used in an emergency and to supplement the other strategies.

State agencies have their own acronyms for relevant agencies, and these vary by state.