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

This fight is as old civilization: the unending war of a free people with inalienable rights granted by God, against those tyrannical power-hungry politicians intent on the establishment of a totalitarian government.

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William Pitts owner of the 80 year old Hermitage Mills, located in Camden South Carolina.
02/03/1980 | Full Details | Law(s): Occupational Safety and Health Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA's Cotton Dust Standard

This fight's not over… The best-intentioned employer isn't going to be able to figure out [the standards], even if he has hundreds of lawyers. It's like getting your arms around a bowl of Jell-O.

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Randy Johnson, a vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The Los Angeles Times.
11/23/1999 | Full Details | Law(s): Ergonomics Standard (2000), Occupational Safety and Health Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration

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

If implemented, they would require employers to establish burdensome and costly new systems intended to track, prevent and provide compensation for an extremely broad class of injuries whose cause is subject to considerable dispute.

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The Bush Administration, The Los Angeles Times, “Senate Overturns Ergonomics Rules on Worker Safety”.
03/07/2001 | Full Details | Law(s): Ergonomics Standard (2000), Occupational Safety and Health Act, Occupational Safety and Health Administration
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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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