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
[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.
Basic progress in occupational safety and health has been made, primarily, on the basis of voluntary action.
The Act broadly authorizes the Secretary to grab any police powers in the occupational health and safety fields that are now held by states. State safety officials could be forced to report directly to the federal Secretary when he says so.
[The ergonomics standard is] the most expensive, intrusive regulations ever promulgated, certainly by the Department of Labor and maybe by any department in history.