Workplace Safety Quotes

I urge you and others involved in the preparation of this Standard to avoid hasty decisions that may place unnecessary economic burdens on the companies that will be forced to comply, with the possible ultimate result putting them in a position where they will no longer be able to compete.

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James D. Moran of the The Flintkote Company, a major producer of construction materials and services.
407103/09/1972 | Full Details | Law(s): OSHA's Asbestos Standard

Minimally, these actions would generate costs incalculable, yet STAGGERING [format from original].

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Thomas J. Gryl, National Safety Director for Brand Insulations Inc.
407002/11/1972 | Full Details | Law(s): OSHA's Asbestos Standard

As the dust would be ubiquitous, complete vacuum cleaning of a posted construction would be a daily occurrence. This monstrous task would be a nightmare and totally unfeasible. Alternately, enclosures to capture dust are equally unfeasible.

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Thomas J. Gryl, National Safety Director for Brand Insulations Inc.
406902/11/1972 | Full Details | Law(s): OSHA's Asbestos Standard

It could be read to require the Secretary to ban all occupations in which there remains some risk of injury, impaired health, or life expectancy…the present criteria could, if literally applied, close every business in this nation.

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Senator Peter Dominick (R-CO) frets about the recently passed OSH Act’s potential consequences.

[The strong Democratic bill will] bring about conditions in the business community which will be chaotic…and could bring about a breakdown between government and those in labor and management with which it deals.

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Representative Robert L.F. Sikes (D-FL), The Chicago Tribune, “Nixon’s Job Safety Bill Wins in House”.

I believe that Congress and the people must realize that if this bill…is passed, we are direct[ing] attention to less than 10 percent of the safety problems in the country….From my own personal experience and evaluation of available statistics, the basic cause (85% to 95%) of occupational injuries is some type of ‘people failure.’ Inadequate equipment or facilities accounts for a very small percent of the total injuries experienced….‘people failure’ cannot be eliminated by legislation.

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J. Sharpe Queener, Safety Director for Du Pont Co. and representative of the U.S Chamber of Commerce, Testimony, Senate Subcommittee on Labor and Public Welfare.

Under the [Democratic] bill, according to the [Chamber], ‘employers would be treated worse than criminals,’ and there would be ‘penalties on the innocent’

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The New York Times

The industry representatives also object to a requirement in [the Democratic] bill that employers provide ‘a place of employment which is safe and healthful’ as being ‘vague and undefined’ and possibly unconstitutional.

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From the New York Times, “Chamber Fights Job Safety Bill", 1970.

We are particularly intrigued by the term byssinosis a thing thought up by venal doctors who attended last year’s ILO [International Labor Organization] meetings in Africa, where inferior races are bound to be afflicted by new diseases more superior people defeated years ago...As a matter of fact, we referred to the ‘cotton fever’ earlier, when we pointed out that a good chaw of B.L. dark would take care of it, or some snuff...Well, we want to tell Mr. [James] O’Hara [D-MI] that, and for all our life, we have hated federal interference in our lives businesses…Congressman O’Hara is typical of the lousy representation we get from time-serving Northern Democrats who sell their souls to the venal labor leaders.

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Unsigned editorial in America’s Textile Reporter, a trade publication.

Far more could be accomplished by concentrating on motivation and other human factors than on mechanical or chemical factors. There is only a partial, indirect relationship between the enforcement of standards and the promotion of effective occupational safety and health programs.

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Wayne T. Brooks Director of Industrial Relations, American Iron and Steel Institute, testimony, Select Subcommittee on Labor.

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