Final answer:
Employers are tasked with ensuring that personnel receive proper safety training and are familiar with safety instructions to maintain workplace safety, as mandated by OSHA regulations.
Step-by-step explanation:
Employers bear the primary responsibility for ensuring that personnel are instructed in all safety matters and are familiar with safety instructions. This responsibility includes providing safety training in a language and vocabulary that the workers can understand, keeping accurate records of work-related injuries and illnesses, and performing workplace tests such as air sampling as required by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards. To safeguard their workforce, employers are also required to provide necessary personal protective equipment at no cost, conduct mandatory medical tests such as hearing exams, post OSHA citations and injury/illness summary data, notify OSHA about serious workplace incidents, and display the official OSHA poster outlining worker rights and responsibilities.
Additionally, employers must actively find and correct safety and health issues, striving to eliminate or reduce hazards by improving working conditions before resorting to the reliance on personal protective equipment. Informing workers about potential chemical hazards and where specific safety equipment is located, like fire extinguishers and eyewash stations, is also crucial. These measures, along with obeying safety guidelines, following directions, and using checklists in high-risk industries, contribute significantly to the reduction of accidents and the improvement of workplace safety.