Occupational safety and health

Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as health and safety, occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at work. These terms also refer to the goals of this field, so their use in the sense of this article was originally an abbreviation of occupational safety and health program/department etc.

The goal of an occupational safety and health program is to foster a safe and healthy work environment.[3] OSH may also protect co-workers, family members, employers, customers, and many others who might be affected by the workplace environment.

In common-law jurisdictions, employers have a common law duty to take reasonable care of the safety of their employees. Statute law may, in addition, impose other general duties, introduce specific duties, and create government bodies with powers to regulate workplace safety issues: details of this vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.