Many people used a search engine on the Web to locate the Advisors dedicated to subjects. The OSHA Advisors help you figure out how certain rules on that subject apply. But a small businessperson may not know enough to ask about asbestos, for example. The search engines do not tell you which rules you should be looking for. Similar safety and health problem plagues managers of numerous businesses, big and small, across the country.
Many managers are unaware of the safety and health hazards in their work place.
To meet the need, OSHA came up with another strategy that goes beyond the topical Advisors. Best of all the Hazard Awareness Advisor is free, and it's confidential. The response to the 1998 Public Test Version has been overwhelming. In the last four months of 1998, businesses and workers have taken about 8,500 copies of the Public Test Version from the OSHA website, and they sent in useful suggestions for its refinement. The new Advisor asks thoughtful questions about activities, practices, equipment, materials, conditions and policies at the workplace.