Occupational Safety and Health Administration
The agency that promulgates and enforces workplace safety and health standards.
Commentary
Cry Wolf Quotes
OSHA at best has been a major disappointment, at worst an abysmal failure…To date there has been no solid evidence that OSHA has yielded any gains in safety or health.
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.
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.
Everyone is affected by its [OSHA’s] pervasive coverage, orientation toward imposing penalties and its incredibly complex regulations and standards.…However, OSHA standards are complex and often require expert interpretation. For smaller businesses, the cost of deciphering which regulations apply to them and then determining if they conform can be excessive.
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.
