Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

The agency that promulgates and enforces workplace safety and health standards.

Commentary

safety first

Report: Bush’s Voluntary Program Didn’t Help Job Safety and Health

June 19, 2009

by Mike Hall, AFL-CIO, Jun 19, 2009

An investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) confirms what union and other workplace safety advocates have charged for years—the Bush administration’s reliance on voluntary policing by employers of their safety and health actions did not improve worker safety.

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Cry Wolf Quotes

And current enforcement procedures are penalty-oriented…. This does not square with notions of due process and fair play.

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Chamber of Commerce newsletter, June, 1973.
06/01/1973 | Full Details | Law(s): Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Research shows that no one level of dust is more hazardous than another -- it's a combination of factors… We think the record shows elevators of various size are using a variety of options to reduce explosions.

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The National Grain and Feed Association spokesman Randy Gordon, The Miami Herald.
02/08/1987 | Full Details | Law(s): Occupational Safety and Health Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA Grainhandling Standard

This fight's not over… The best-intentioned employer isn't going to be able to figure out [the standards], even if he has hundreds of lawyers. It's like getting your arms around a bowl of Jell-O.

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Randy Johnson, a vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The Los Angeles Times.
11/23/1999 | Full Details | Law(s): Ergonomics Standard (2000), Occupational Safety and Health Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[N]one [of our members] could operate if the NIOSH [vinyl chloride] Work Standard were imposed upon the industry.

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The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI).
04/19/1974 | Full Details | Law(s): Occupational Safety and Health Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA Vinyl Chloride Standard
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Backgrounders & Briefs

2011 Death on the Job

The AFL-CIO's annual report about death, illness, and injury at work.

Gauging Control Technology and Regulatory Impacts in Occupational Safety and Health

Information on multiple OSHA regulations and their costs. In almost every case, the regulations were far cheaper than the agency estimated.

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