User profile: IH_in_Calif

Joined: Dec. 2, 2008

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Posted on: OSHA: An agency that is ripe for an overhaul

Your "history of OSHA" leaves a great deal to be desired. It seems purposely slanted to point up nothing beyond the "rancor" in Congress. This is evidenced by the statement, "Instead of creating its own independent standards, the agency largely relies on industry standards it was mandated to adopt in the early 1970s. Many of those, based on scientific studies done in the 1950s and '60s, haven't been updated since." Nothing could be farther from the truth, and to suggest such a thing either points out the writer's ignorance of the agency's actual history or, worse, is a blatant attempt to craft a false impression.

Further, any discussion of OSHA's history that neglects the role of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in helping craft OSHA's regulations, and the scientific research upon which such regulations are based, is patently lacking in substance.

Your article, while blaming Congress, also fails to note that, since OSHA's inception, it has been under the influence and control of no fewer than 5 Republican (read: "pro-business, anti-labor") administrations, the most recent of which has all but turned the running of the agency over to the industries it's supposed to regulate. The true history of OSHA records that most of its advancements have come during the comparatively brief stints of the 2 Democratic administrations that have overseen the agency in its 38 year history. One expects this will be again borne true by the incoming administration.

(Suggest removal) 12/2/08 at 9:36 a.m.

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