Explain why the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970 is the most comprehensive law regarding worker safety.

Answers will vary. OSHA authorized the U.S. government to create and enforce various standards regarding occupational safety and health. The responsibility for enforcing the provisions of OSHA was assigned to the Department of Labor. This enforcement group today is called the Occupational Safety and Health Administration but still operates within the Department of Labor. Through research and analysis of workplace statistics, OSHA has created various safety standards. These standards are defined as "practices, means, operations, or processes, reasonably necessary to provide safe . . . employment." The various standards that OSHA creates are regularly published and disseminated to employers across the country. Organizations are responsible for keeping current on OSHA standards, which can be difficult because of the length and volume of the various sets of regulations and standards. Each year, new standards, revisions of old standards, or extensions or reinterpretations of various existing standards are published by OSHA in volumes that total hundreds of pages in length.