Chapter 6: Government and The Workplace

The rising role of government in the workplace is a key example of the public's unwillingness to accept all of the impacts on society that result from the unregulated workings of the free market.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created in 1970 "to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the nation safe and healthful working conditions."

• Encouring employers and employees to reduce hazards in the workplace and to institite health and safety programs.
• Establishing responsibilities and rights for employers and employees (mainly resposibilities for employers and right for employees)
• Authorizing OSHA to set mandatory job safety and health standards.
• Prociding an enforcement program.
• Encouraging the states to take responsibility for administering their own job safety and health programs, which must be at least as effective as the federal program.
• Setting up reporting procedures for job injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.

Compliance with OSHA regulations is enforced through inspecions. Target health hazards are associated with the five most hazardous and most commonly use toxic substances: asbestos, carbon monoxide, contton dust, lead, and silica.
Contributory negligence by the employee is not a defense for the employer, nor is the worker cited.
If every firm in the country were to comply fully with OSHA's standards, total injuries would be reduced by only 10 to 20 percent. The smaller firms tend to bear a disproportionately large share of the expenses that arise from employee safety and health regulation.
Researchers who have focsed on workplace safety and health regulation almost uniformly conclude that the fundamental flaw in the OSHA approach is the decision by Congress at the outset ro rely primarily on government-promulgated standards. One study estimated that only about 10 percent of injuries are preventable by enforcement of OSHA standards. The tole for training would seem to merit more attention than it receives under the traditional OSHA approach.
Statistically, the turnover rate among workers is the most important single factor indetermining injury rates.
After the collapse of the number of private pension plans, in 1974 congree passed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 9ERISA). The main purpose of that law is to protect the rights of participants in retirement plans so that workers receive the benefits they have been promised.
The growth iin government regulation of the workplace has resulted in a comparable expansion in the size and role of human resource departments of businesses and other employers.

source:Business and Government in the Global Market Place (seventh Edition Murray L. Weidenbaum)