There is no reason to believe that federal controls would materially reduce the rates of such accidents or injuries. Safety authorities have estimated that three-quarters of accidents on the job result from unsafe acts rather than unsafe conditions.
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.
The major problem in occupational safety and health is how to motivate people to work safely. We endorse any action that promises to contribute to a solution of that problem. Accordingly, we endorse proposals for Federal government support of research, education, and training and support to the States in improving their standards of performance.
Basic progress in occupational safety and health has been made, primarily, on the basis of voluntary action.
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.
[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.
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.
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.
