The Cry Wolf Quote Bank chronicles the false predictions and hyperbole by opponents of these laws and protections. While the issues and specific policies change over time, the rhetoric and themes remained the same. You can search the Quote Bank for what opponents said to prevent these laws from passing. Using the drop down menus on the right their statements by issue, by specific law, by who said it and by the core themes they evoke. Elsewhere on the site, you can find articles, studies, and other material that debunks their claims.
Enforcement of Federal standards through Federal inspectors would result in the most intimate involvement of the Secretary of Labor in all operations affecting interstate commerce….easily result[ing] in blowing up the most minor grievances to very substantial proportions. A minor complaint can very well become a ‘federal case’. Provision of this kind of authority in the Federal government would tempt many an employee representative to boost his stock by calling on the federal government, since the very presence of a federal inspector could be used to demonstrate his importance and influence.
The really important progress in occupational safety and health would require far more consideration of the man rather than the environment.
It has been noted over and over again that in the vast majority of occupational accidents, human failure is wholly or partly responsible....
In many of the major industries the programs in occupational safety and health are successful, are well advanced, and have been developed to the point where the important remaining problem is human failure.
[T]he human factor is one of the most important causal elements involved in any accidental occurrence. It is estimated that 75 percent or more of all injuries from accidents result from a negligent or unsafe act on the part of the individual involved….The development of positive safety attitudes and safety effectiveness on the part of each individual employee is the most direct approach to the reduction of industrial accidents.
The prevention of job injuries requires an intimate knowledge of conditions and a close working relationship between management, labor and Government. The states, because of their familiarity with local programs, can plan safety programs for local areas more effectively than can be done through a national program administered from Washington D.C.
Each employee must be motivated through training, education, by supervision to understand and to want to perform work safely. This desire must come from within—it cannot be imposed through the threat of civil or criminal sanctions against the employer. NAM believes that…the Secretary of Labor should not be given such unprecedented powers as proposed in this bill.
Centralized control could not take into account the wildly divergent conditions, hazards, processes, and environmental problems which may be peculiar to a given industry or given geographic area.
Under the proposed bill, industry is held guilty until proven innocent.
There is no evidence, in our opinion, which requires or justifies the imposition of a Federal police system for safety upon industry at this time...This program will be economically wasteful. There will be duplicate Federal and insurance programs. The program offered...is essentially a policing program, it is designed to force compliance with federally imposed standards.
