Occupational Safety and Health Act
The Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act was enacted in 1970 to "assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women." The OSH Act created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at the federal level and provided that states could run their own safety and health programs as long as those programs were at least as effective as the federal program. It also created the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, to review the agency’s regulations, and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to research necessary areas of focus.
Cry Wolf Quotes
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.
[I]n striving to improve safety and healthful conditions in the workplace it is prudent—and it will be productive—to build upon the foundations of successful experiences of American industry working in partnership with State and private agencies. We seriously question whether certain of the measures embodied in the proposed legislation will not encumber rather than enhance progress in occupational safety and health.
[Only one percent of cotton workers] have a reaction to cotton dust. The problem is grossly exaggerated. There has not been a known death from byssinosis. There are no autopsy findings that prove the existence of byssinosis in an individual. There are subjective symptoms which the patients express that sometimes result from bronchitis, emphysema or excessive smoking.
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.
