Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

The agency that promulgates and enforces workplace safety and health standards.

Commentary

safety first

Report: Bush’s Voluntary Program Didn’t Help Job Safety and Health

June 19, 2009

by Mike Hall, AFL-CIO, Jun 19, 2009

An investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) confirms what union and other workplace safety advocates have charged for years—the Bush administration’s reliance on voluntary policing by employers of their safety and health actions did not improve worker safety.

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Cry Wolf Quotes

[N]one [of our members] could operate if the NIOSH [vinyl chloride] Work Standard were imposed upon the industry.

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The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI).
04/19/1974 | Full Details | Law(s): Occupational Safety and Health Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA Vinyl Chloride Standard

Repealing the ergonomics regulation will save small businesses billions of dollars that means fewer layoffs, less pay-cuts and economic growth.

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Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-TX), The New York Times, “House Joins Senate in Repealing Rules on Workplace Injuries”.
03/08/2001 | Full Details | Law(s): Ergonomics Standard (2000), Occupational Safety and Health Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration

And current enforcement procedures are penalty-oriented…. This does not square with notions of due process and fair play.

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Chamber of Commerce newsletter, June, 1973.
06/01/1973 | Full Details | Law(s): Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Brown lung is] an allergy. If you are exposed to cotton dust and develop any kind of respiratory problem, it can be corrected providing you have not been exposed for a very very long period.

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Robert Small, President of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute, America’s Textile Reporter Bulletin, August, 1978.
08/01/1978 | Full Details | Law(s): Occupational Safety and Health Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA's Cotton Dust Standard
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Backgrounders & Briefs

2011 Death on the Job

The AFL-CIO's annual report about death, illness, and injury at work.

Gauging Control Technology and Regulatory Impacts in Occupational Safety and Health

Information on multiple OSHA regulations and their costs. In almost every case, the regulations were far cheaper than the agency estimated.

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