§ 5-102

(a) The General Assembly finds that:

(1) personal injuries and illnesses that arise out of conditions of employment substantially burden employers and employees in terms of lost production, medical expenses, disability compensation payments, and lost wages;

(2) the prevention of these injuries and illnesses is in the best interest and welfare of the people and the State; and

(3) public bodies should be leaders in creating and maintaining safe and healthy workplaces.

(b) The purposes of this title are to ensure, to the extent practicable, that each working individual in the State has working conditions that are safe and healthful and to preserve human resources by:

(1) providing that employers and employees have separate but dependent responsibilities and rights with respect to making working conditions safe and healthful;

(2) providing for the development and adoption of occupational safety and health standards, including standards that address workplace violence;

(3) providing for training and other education of personnel so that occupational safety and health standards are administered fairly and efficiently;

(4) providing an effective compliance and enforcement program under this title;

(5) encouraging employers and employees to:

(i) reduce the number of occupational health and safety hazards at their places of employment; and

(ii) create or improve programs to make working conditions safe and healthful;

(6) encouraging joint efforts of labor and management to reduce diseases and injuries that arise out of employment;

(7) building on advances already made through the initiatives of employers and employees to make working conditions safe and healthful;

(8) developing innovative approaches, methods, and techniques to deal with occupational safety and health problems;

(9) providing for research in the field of occupational safety and health;

(10) conducting research on occupational health problems, including research to:

(i) identify causal connections between diseases and work in environmental conditions; and

(ii) explore ways to discover latent diseases;

(11) providing medical criteria to ensure, to the extent practicable, that work does not diminish the functional capacity, health, or life expectancy of an employee;

(12) providing for reporting procedures on occupational safety and health that are appropriate to help to achieve the purposes of this title and to describe accurately the nature of occupational safety and health problems;

(13) providing for the dissemination of information about health and safety hazards posed by toxic and hazardous substances to which workers are exposed;

(14) requiring employers to educate employees who work with hazardous substances about the hazards of the substances and about safe procedures;

(15) requiring employers to give information to public bodies that are charged with fire protection, to protect the health and safety of firefighters and the public;

(16) providing information and incentives for employers and employees to make ridesharing arrangements; and

(17) making workplaces of public bodies safer and more healthful by requiring:

(i) public bodies to create or improve programs and plans related to workplace violence;

(ii) that workplaces of public bodies be inspected regularly; and

(iii) that workplaces of public bodies be maintained so that employees are provided places of employment that are safe, healthy, and productive over the course of their careers.