By Carrie Belt
http://legalbeagle.com/6683979-osha-requirements-military.html
https://legalbeagle.com/6683979-osha-requirements-military.html
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is responsible for developing and enforcing workplace standards to ensure the health and safety of American workers. Employers across the country are required to comply with applicable OSHA standards for their place of work, which may be inspected by an OSHA official at any time. The U.S. military, however, is exempt from OSHA standards, with some exceptions.
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Executive Order 12196, Occupational Safety and Health Programs for Federal Employees, states that uniformed Armed Servicemembers, military equipment, military systems and military operations are not covered by OSHA regulations, with some exceptions (such as if equipment, operations and systems are used for activities that are not uniquely military). However, individual branches of the military may establish their own policies that enforce OSHA regulations for their particular military branch.
For example, the U.S. Army began working with OSHA in 2003 through a Strategic Partnership Program to improve the health and safety standards for civilian workers at its military installations. The army and OSHA formed this partnership with the primary goal of reducing civilian worker fatalities, injuries and injuries by 3 percent annually. Through the partnership, individual army installations work with OSHA representatives to improve their workplace safety.
Likewise, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) must meet or exceed OSHA standards, though they are exempt from OSHA regulations, according to the Hearing Conservation Program: A Briefing for Forces Afloat.
The goal of the Hearing Conservation Program is to prevent hearing loss for military and civilian personnel. In order to meet OSHA regulations, navy and DoD personnel must conduct noise surveys to determine which individuals may be subjected to potentially hazardous noises, develop methods for enclosing potentially hazardous noises, provide protective hearing equipment, monitor noise levels and educate personnel who may be subjected to hazardous noises.
While OSHA does not cover the health and safety of uniformed military personnel working on uniquely military operations and activities, OSHA regulations are applicable when military activities and operations are not uniquely military.
In general, an activity is considered to be not uniquely military when the workplace or activity is comparable to a private-sector workplace or activity, as determined by the DoD. Not uniquely military activities may include vehicle repair, construction, civil engineering, medical services and office operations.
However, military operations, equipment and systems are excluded from OSHA regulations when military activities relate to the design of DoD equipment and systems that are to be used for national defense, such as military aircraft, missiles, artillery, tanks and tactical vehicles.