Editorial: Minding their own business?

Saturday, April 28, 2007 | 7:24 a.m.

Since President Bush took office, the federal agency responsible for ensuring that America's workers are safe has repealed or delayed the enactment of dozens of safety regulations, relying instead on industries to police themselves.

A story published Wednesday by The New York Times reports that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has eased regulations or their enforcement in many areas, including construction site safety, driving hours for long-haul truckers and logging safety.

For example, the Times says, OSHA standards for handling explosives at construction sites have been relaxed. And the agency has failed to require new safeguards to protect construction workers from exposure to dangerous levels of noise and to cancer-causing silica dust - even though OSHA officials acknowledge that both are hazardous .

Industry has long criticized OSHA for rules and regulations that businesses thought cumbersome and costly. The Bush administration has always promised to address these concerns. Not coincidentally, the transportation, agribusiness and construction industries - historically three of the biggest industries regulated by OSHA - have given more than $630 million in political contributions since 2000, the Times reports. About three-quarters of that money went to Republicans.

A George Washington University occupational health expert, who has extensively researched workplace safety, told the Times that OSHA's concern for protecting workers "has gone out the window" under the current administration. But Edwin Foulke Jr., head of OSHA, disagreed, adding that he and other top regulatory officials have adopted a "voluntary compliance strategy" that has resulted in fewer on-the-job injuries overall.

Labor leaders and health experts, however, said injury statistics are down because the Bush administration has redefined and reduced the categories for recognized injuries. And, the experts told the Times, many of the nation's most dangerous jobs are now being performed by undocumented workers who don't lodge complaints.

This is just another example of how America's domestic policies were gradually unraveled under years of Bush policy and a Congress controlled by Republicans who favored industry's interests over the interests of everyday Americans. It is just not right. Regulations that are designed to protect America's workers should not be available for political bartering.