16 members
Space Occupational Safety & Health Administration / SPOSHA
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Social -
Engineering
Mission Statement
To ensure safe, healthful, and enjoyable gameplay conditions for citizens of the ‘verse by setting and maintaining up-to-date standards; by certifying organizations that comply therewith; and by producing media content for training, outreach, education, and entertainment.
History
Origins: The Need for Workplace Reform in a Post-Messer ‘Verse
During the rule of the Messers, workers of the Empire were often denied their rights to safe and healthful working conditions by unscrupulous employers and corrupt government officials. The push for rapid – and often reckless – expansion and growth led to cut corners and oversights, and countless workers suffered accident, injury, and death due to unsafe practices and a lack of care for workers’ well being.
After the fall of the Messer regime in the Revolution of 2792, workers once silenced by fear began to speak openly about the terrible working conditions that existed in the Empire. This cry for reform eventually reached the ears of the new government, and although powerful lobbyists opposed its creation for years, after much debate (and a few compromises) the UEE Senate finally passed the Space Occupational Safety and Health Act of 2807 and created the Space Occupational Safety and Health Administration (SPOSHA).
2807–2860s: The Consequences of Political Compromise
SPOSHA, unlike its namesake from Earth’s ancient history, was not given power to actually enforce its standards, but only the power to promote voluntary adoption. Though some senators claimed this restriction was due to legitimate concerns about the potential for government overreach and corruption, citing the late Messers’ tendencies, it was later revealed that lobbying corporations had blocked the bill from passing until a compromise was reached and the enforcement powers were removed.
In spite of that compromise, and for over sixty years, SPOSHA was able to achieve good success in advancing and ensuring workers’ rights to safe and healthful working conditions through educational media campaigns, outreach to corporations and other organizations to provide education and training, and persuading like-minded industry leaders to use their own influence to sway others.
As time wore on, however, unethical practices began to creep back into employer’s playbooks as they grew comfortable with SPOSHA’s inability to enforce its standards through fines or other punitive action. The trend of dismissal continued, and by the late 2860s, only those organizations that genuinely cared about workers’ safety paid SPOSHA any mind.
2860s–2900s: The Challenges of Constant Change
A second difficulty to SPOSHA’s mission became evident around that time: SPOSHA’s inability to update its standards quick enough to match the rapid pace of change in the ‘verse. Over the years, as various directors implemented one initiative or other, SPOSHA’s organizational structure grew to be cumbersome and slow-to-react, and the methods for setting and updating standards overly complicated, such that SPOSHA could no longer maintain constant relevance. The introduction of safety information and standards lagged so far behind the introduction of new technologies and methods that what was published one year may become dangerously outdated by the next, or even by the next quarter.
By the 2870s, even those organizations that had had a real commitment to workplace safety began to disregard SPOSHA’s too-often irrelevant standards, preferring to self-regulate according to their own knowledge and by watching the good practices of others.
At the turn of the century, in 2900, SPOSHA possessed little to no influence. By 2950, SPOSHA had long since quietly sunk from irrelevance to obscurity.
2950–The Present: New Leadership and a New Direction for the Future
After Laylani Addison’s ascension to Imperator in 2950, she directed her administration to audit every regulatory body in the UEE government in preparation for her promised relaxing of regulations on AI research. The Addison administration’s audit eventually reached SPOSHA by 2951, and, upon seeing its utterly wasteful state, promptly fired the entire staff and began looking for a new director – one with the right qualifications, skills, and experience to handle the daunting task of essentially rebuilding SPOSHA from scratch.
After over a year of fruitless searching, by late 2952 the administration finally gave up on finding a qualified replacement and simply picked a name at random out of their mobiGlass contacts. The one chosen to be the new Director of SPOSHA was Nick Rolept, a junior staffer who happened to working at the Senate for an unpaid summer internship. What he lacked in any kind of actual qualifications or skills, he made up for by having a silly-sounding name – he often went by the nickname theNecrolept to reference how often he would suddenly and inexplicably die while playing his favorite still-in-alpha video game, Space Resident™ – and by having a real vision for achieving what SPOSHA could really do, and indeed, was founded to do:
To ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers of the ‘verse by setting and maintaining standards; promoting and certifying their voluntary adoption; and providing training, outreach, and educational media.
Now, going forward into the future, SPOSHA is poised to reclaim its former glory, once again become a shining beacon of hope, and lead the ‘verse in protecting the rights of workers everywhere to enjoy a high degree of occupational safety and health.
Manifesto
The Space Occupational Safety and Health Administration (SPOSHA) exists to benefit the workers of the ‘verse, and every action pursued by SPOSHA is guided by its mission statement and by the words used in the Act which created it: “to assure so far as possible every working person in the Empire safe and healthful working conditions.”
In accordance with its mission, SPOSHA currently pursues, or intends to pursue, the following activities:
Setting and Maintaining Up-to-Date Safety Standards (WIP)
SPOSHA sets standards for workplace safety based on first-party and third-party research and observations, along with sought out industry feedback. These standards are often categorized by industry/activity type (e.g., solo mining, multicrew salvage, etc.) and may have multiple levels of increasing safety (e.g., Bronze Tier, Silver Tier, etc.) to comprehensively account for the wide range of activities and situations of the ‘verse. These standards are constantly evaluated and reevaluated for efficacy, at least on a quarterly basis, and are updated as new information, methods, technologies, and other changes to the ‘verse occur. Thus, SPOSHA ensures the most up-to-date safety information is available for the workers and workplaces in the ‘verse.
Promoting and Certifying Voluntary Adoption of Standards (WIP)
SPOSHA promotes the voluntary adoption of its safety standards through its outreach and marketing efforts. Outreach efforts include contacting industry leaders, organizations both large and small, and even self-employed individuals to encourage the adoption of safety standards, to ask for feedback regarding said standards, and to offer opt-in certification of safety standards adoption or compliance.
SPOSHA Certification Program
SPOSHA offers a voluntary Certification program, whereby organizations desiring to demonstrate their commitment to the health and safety of their workforce may earn Certification of Compliance to SPOSHA’s standards.
Organizations that achieve SPOSHA Certification will receive a certificate and a seal, which may be displayed on their org page, and be allowed to advertise themselves as “SPOSHA Certified” in recognition of their achievement. Additionally, those certified will be listed in a publicly available registry, such that individuals seeking to join or hire a reputable organization may more easily see which organizations demonstrably value the safety and health of their workers, and are correspondingly more likely to perform better quality work due to the generally improved wellness of the workers.
There are three steps to becoming SPOSHA Certified: first, joining the SPOSHA Partner Program as a Partner Representative (zero-star rank member of SPOSHA’s org) by applying on SPOSHA’s org page; second, publishing a commitment to comply with SPOSHA standards on your organization’s page, along with a link to SPOSHA’s database and any relevant specific standards; third, passing an audit by a SPOSHA certification officer, whereby the officer will verify the presence of any required safety and medical equipment, and the absence of any unsafe working conditions, at the organization’s worksite (e.g., during a mining or salvage operation).
The certification process is intended to be simple and easy, and to allow for organizations of all sizes and means to successfully meet the requirements for certification with minimal time and effort. If needed or desired, SPOSHA officers may also provide training to assist those desiring to become certified.
Producing and Distributing Educational Media Content
SPOSHA creates and distributes educational media, such as videos, posters, and infographics, to promote awareness of common safety issues and to share important information with workers and workplaces across the ‘verse in an effective and entertaining manner. To accomplish this, SPOSHA often partners with certain third-party organizations to create and distribute this educational content, and may grant them Media Partner positions in SPOSHA’s organization to assure seamless content production.
See SPOSHA’s first safety video below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYAfLMfquBA
Charter
(Still WIP)
SPOSHA members will behave honorably and in accordance with all laws and regulations of the UEE, and in accordance with any local laws or ordinances.
SPOSHA members will always act in a safe and healthful manner, and will be willing and able to provide assistance to those in need.
SPOSHA members will not exercise their authority or power with any degree of undue coercion, but will respect the limits of SPOSHA’s powers with respect to the enforcement of safety standards.
SPOSHA members will not allow potential conflicts of interest to cloud their judgement about approving or denying Safety Certification to any organization or individual.