until replaced by other arrangements under grants or contracts made under the Act.

GENERAL NOTICE REQUIREMENTS The Secretary of Labor is required to publish in the Federal Register a statement of his reasons for any action he takes with respect to the promulgation of any standard, the issuance of any rule, order or decision, the granting of any exemption or extension of time, as well as any action he takes to compromise, mitigate or settle any penalty assessed under the Act.

IMMINENT DANGER

Any conditions or practices in any place of employment which are such that a danger exists which could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious physical harm immediately or before the imminence of such danger can be eliminated through normal enforcement procedures, may be restrained by order of a U.S. District Court upon petition of the Secretary of Labor. If the Secretary arbitrarily or capriciously fails to seek action to abate an imminent danger of such kind, a mandamus action to compel him to act may be brought in the U.S. District Court by any employee who may be injured by reason of such failure. A Labor Department safety inspector who concludes that such imminent-danger conditions or practices exist in any place of employ. ment is obligated to inform the affected employees and employers of the danger and that he is recommending to the Secretary of Labor that relief be sought.

PROTECTION AGAINST HARASSMENT

No person shall discharge or in any manner discriminate against any employee because he exercises any right under the Act or files a complaint or other proceeding or because he testifies or is about to testify in any proceeding under the Act. Any employee who believes that he has been discharged or otherwise discriminated against in violation of this provision may, within 30 days of such illegal action, file a complaint with the Secretary of Labor. The Secretary is authorized to investigate the matter and to bring action in the U.S. District Court for appropriate relief, including rehiring or reinstatement of the employee to his former job with back pay. The Secretary must notify the complainant of this action on the complaint within 90 days of its receipt.

STATE PARTICIPATION

The Act encourages the States to assume the fullest responsibility for the administration and enforcement of their occupational safety and health laws by providing grants to the States for the purposes shown below. A specific disclaimer of Federal pre-emption is included in order to permit any State agency or court to assert jurisdiction under State law over any occupational safety or health issue with respect to which no Federal standard is in effect under this law.

In addition, any State may assume responsibility for the development and enforcement of occupational safety and health standards relating to any job safety and health issue covered by a standard promulgated under the Act, if such State submits an approved plan for so doing to the Secretary of Labor. The Secretary shall approve such a plan under the following conditions:

1. An agency, or agencies, of the State must be designated or created to carry out the plan.

2. The State standards (and enforcement thereof) must be at least as effective as the counterpart Federal standards in providing safe and healthful employment.

3. There must be effective provisions for rights of entry and inspection of workplaces, including a prohibition on advance notice of inspections.

4. Enforcement capacity must be demonstrated.

5. Adequate funds for administration and enforcement must be assured.

6. Effective and comprehensive job safety and health programs for all public employees within the State will be established to the extent permitted by the particular State's law.

7. The State, and employers within the State, will make such reports as may be required by the Secretary of Labor. Following approval of a State plan for the developinent and enforcement of State standards, the Secretary of Labor may continue to exercise his enforcement authority with respect to comparable Federal occupational safety and health standards until he determines on the basis of actual operations that the criteria set forth above are being applied. Once he makes such determination (but he cannot do so during the first 3 years after the plan's approval), the Federal standards and the Secretary's enforcement of them become inapplicable with respect to issues covered under the plan.

The Secretary is required to make a continuing evaluation of the manner in which each State plan is being carried out and to withdraw his approval whenever there is a failure to comply substantially with any provision thereof. Such a plan shall cease to be in effect upon receipt of notice by the State of the Secretary's withdrawal of approval.

The Secretary of Labor is authorized, after consultation with the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, to make grants to States for experimental and demonstration projects consistent with the objectives of the Act, for administering and enforcing approved programs, for assisting them in identifying their needs, or in developing their plans, in establishing systems for collection of information concerning the nature and frequency of occupational injuries and diseases, for developing and administering programs dealing with occupational safety and health statistics, and for improving the expertise of personnel or the administration and enforcement of State occupational safety and health laws consistent with the objectives of the Act.

If the Secretary of Labor rejects a State plan for development and enforcement of State standards, he shall afford the State submitting the plan due notice and opportunity for hearing before so doing. The subsequent withdrawal of an approved State plan or the rejection of a State's plan is subject to review in the U.S. Court of Appeals.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROGRAMS The Act provides for programs to be conducted by the Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the Department of Health, Education, and

Welfare, for the education and training of employers and employees in the recognition, avoidance, and prevention of unsafe and unhealthful working conditions, and in the effective means for preventing occupational injuries and illnesses. The Act also makes provision for educational and training programs to provide an adequate supply of qualified personnel to carry out the law's purposes and for informational programs on the importance of and proper use of adequate safety and health equipment to be conducted primarily by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, but also to some extent by the Secretary of Labor.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

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The Act establishes within HEW a National Institute For Occupational Safety and Health primarily for the purpose of carrying out the research and educational functions assigned to the HEW Secretary.

In addition to these functions, the Institute is authorized to develop and establish recommended occupational safety and health standards; to conduct research and experimental programs for developing criteria for new and improved job safety and health standards; and to make recommendations to the Secretaries of Labor and HEW concerning new and improved standards.

Among the HEW functions which may be carried out by the Institute is the one which calls for prescribing regulations requiring employers to measure, record, and make reports on the exposure of employees to potentially toxic substances or harmful physical agents which might endanger their safety and health. Employers required to do so may receive full financial or other assistance for the purpose of defraying any additional expense incurred. Also authorized are programs for medical examinations and tests as may be necessary to determine, for the purposes of research, the incidence of occupational illness and the susceptibility of employees to such illnesses. These examinations may also be at Government expense. The Secretary of HEW is required to publish annually a list of all known toxic substances and the concentrations at which toxicity is known to occur, and, at the written request of any employer or authorized representatives of employees, to make determínations whether any substance normally found in the place of employment has potentially toxic effects. Such determinations shall be submitted to both the employer and the affected employees as soon as possible. The HEW Secretary is also required to conduct and publish industry-wide studies on chronic or low-level exposure to a broad variety of industrial materials, processes, and stresses on the potential for illness, disease, or loss of functional capacity in aging adults.

Information obtained by the Department of HEW and of Labor under the research provisions of the Act is to be disseminated to employers and employees and organizations thereof.

WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION

The Act does not in any manner affect any workmen's compensation law or enlarge or diminish or affect in any other manner the common law or statutory rights, duties, or liabilities of employers and employees under any law with respect to injuries, diseases, or death of employees arising out of, or in the course of, employment. Provision is made in the law, however, for a 15-member National Commission on State Workmen's Compensation Laws to evaluate State workmen's compensation laws in order to determine if such laws provide an adequate, prompt, and equitable system of compensation for the injury or death arising out of or in the course of employment.

ASSISTANCE FROM SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

The law includes amendments to the Small Business Act which provides for financial assistance to small firms for alterations in its equipment, facilities, or methods of operation to comply with standards established by the Department of Labor or by any State pursuant to the Act if the Small Business Administration determines that such a firm is likely to suffer substantial economic injury without such assistance.

OTHER PROVISIONS Advisory committees

The Act creates a 12-member National Advisory Committee to be appointed by the Secretary of Labor (including 4 designees of the Secretary of HEW) to advise, consult, and make recommendations on matters relating to the administration of the Act, and permits the establishment of ad hoc advisory committees to assist the Secretary of Labor in his standard-setting functions. Nonobstruction requirement

Any information obtained by any agency under the Act shall be obtained with a minimum burden upon employers, especially those operating small businesses. Unnecessary duplication of efforts in obtaining information shall be reduced to the maximum extent feasible. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission

The Act establishes a new independent Federal agency, called the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. This Commission is a quasi-judicial body whose functions are: (1) to hear and review cases of alleged violations brought before it by the Secretary of Labor; and, where warranted, (2) to issue corrective orders, and (3) to assess civil penalties. The Commission is composed of three members, appointed by the President (with approval of the Senate) to serve 6-year staggered terms, and chosen from among persons who are qualified by reason of training, education, or experience to perform their duties. One of the members shall be appointed by the President to serve as Chairman. Labor Department legal representation

The Solicitor of Labor is authorized to appear for and represent the Secretary in any civil litigation brought under the Act subject to the direction and control of the Attorney General. Trade secrets

Any trade secrets revealed to Labor Department personnel during

the course of their duties under the Act shall be considered confidential for the purpose of 18 U.S.C. 1905.6 National defense tolerances

The Secretary of Labor may allow reasonable variations, tolerances, and exemptions from any and all of the Act's provisions, if he finds these necessary to avoid serious impairment of the national defense. Federal protection for Labor Department inspectors

The Act broadens the provisions of Title 18 of the United States Code, which makes it a Federal criminal offense to assault, kill, or otherwise interfere with certain law enforcement officials in the course of their assignments, by extending this protection to all employees of the Department of Labor assigned to perform investigative, inspection, or law enforcement functions. Annual reports

Comprehensive annual reports on the Act must be prepared and submitted to the President for transmittal to the Congress by both the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Reports are also required from the Secretary of Labor on the grants program, from the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health on the operations of that Institute, and from the Secretary of Labor on occupational safety and health programs for Federal employees. New Assistant Secretary of Labor

The law adds an additional Assistant Secretary in the Department of Labor, an Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health, who heads the new Occupational Safety and Health Administration within the Department. This Administration, established by Secretary's Order 12-71, effective April 28, 1971, has broad responsibilities to insure that employees have safe and healthful working conditions. In addition to administering the Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, the Administration also carries out the Department's safety and health functions under the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act of 1936, as amended; the Service Contract Act of 1965; the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act; the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act; the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965; Executive Order No. 11612, signed July 26, 1971 (July 28, 1971, 36 F.R. 13891), relating to occupational safety and health programs for Federal employees; and the Vocational Rehabilitation Act.

ADDENDUM

Prior to establishment of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Department's safety and health functions had been performed by the Bureau of Labor Standards. With creation of the new Administration, that Bureau was dissolved and its programs divided between two administrations within the Department. Safety and health functions were assimilated into the new Administration,

. This section provides that anv employee of any department or agency of the Federal Government who reveals any confidential information coming to him in the course of any examination or investigation, made or filed with such department or agency, which relates to trade secrets shall be fined not more than $1,000, or imprisoned for not more than 1 year or both, and removed from employment.