Getting home safe and sound: Occupational safety and health administration at 38

American Journal of Public Health

Volumn 98, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 416-423

  Silverstein, Michael ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON   (United States)

^b Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences ^*  (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EMPLOYER; HEALTH CARE; HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT; HUMAN; OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY; POLICY; REVIEW; WORK ENVIRONMENT; WORKER;

GUIDELINE ADHERENCE; HEALTH POLICY; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HISTORY, 21ST CENTURY; HUMANS; OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH; UNITED STATES; UNITED STATES OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION; WORKPLACE;

EID: 40449123329     PISSN: 00900036     EISSN: 15410048     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.117382     Document Type: Review

References (88)

1. M. Sparrow, The Regulatory Craft (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2000), 2.
2. Occupational Safety and Health Act, Pub L No. 91-596, 29 USC §651 et seq. (1970).
3. K. Rosenman, A. Kalush, M. J. Reilly, J. C. Gardiner, M. Reeves, and Z. Luo, "How Much Work-Related Injury and Illness Is Missed by the Current National Surveillance System?" Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 48 (4) (2006): 357-365. A total of 4.3 million workplace injuries were reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for 2004. Rosenman et al. estimate that "the number of work-related injuries and illnesses in Michigan is three times greater than the official estimate derived from the BLS annual survey. We estimate there were an average of 869034 injuries and illnesses per year in Michigan from 1999 to 2001, not 281567 per year as estimated by BLS. . . . Even our estimate may undercount the true burden because the self employed and most agriculture are not included in the BLS and worker compensation databases and both of these systems are likely to miss illnesses with long latency periods such as the pneumoconioses and cancer" (p. 361).
4. J.P. Leigh, S.B. Markowitz, M. Fahs, C. Shin, and P. J. Landrigan, "Occupational Injury and Illness in the United States: Estimates of Costs, Morbidity, and Mortality," Archives of Internal Medicine 157 (14) (1997): 1557-1568. They estimated that there were approximately 180 workplace deaths a day, including about 6000 workplace deaths per year reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, mostly from injuries, and approximately 10 times as many workplace illnesses derived from the epidemiological literature.
5. Gauging Control Technology and Regulatory Impacts in Occupational Safety and Health-An Appraisal of OSHA's Analytic Approach (Washington, DC: US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, September 1995), publication OTA-ENV-635.
6. J. Baggs, B. Silverstein, and M. Foley, "Workplace Health and Safety Regulations: Impact of Enforcement and Consultation on Workers' Compensation Claims Rates in Washington State," American Journal of Industrial Medicine 43 (2003): 483-494;
7. W. B. Gray and J.T. Scholz, "Does Regulatory Enforcement Work? A Panel Analysis of OSHA Enforcement," Law and Society Review 27 (1993): 177-213;
8. N. A. Nelson, J. Kaufman, J. Kalat, and B. Silverstein, "Falls in Construction: Injury Rates for OSHA-Inspected Employers Before and After Citation for Violating the Washington State Fall Protection Standard," American Journal of Industrial Medicine 31 (1997): 296-302;
9. Z.J. Fan, M. Foley, E. Rauser, and B. Silverstein, The Effect of DOSH Enforcement Inspections and Consultation Visits on the Compensable Claims Rates in Washington State, 2004-2005 (Olympia: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 2006), SHARP Technical Report No. 70-03-2006.
10. D. Weil, "If OSHA Is So Bad, Why Is Compliance So Good?" Rand Journal of Economics 27 (1996): 618-640;
11. H. Conway and J. Svenson, "Occupational Injury and Illness Rates, 1992-96: Why They Fell," Monthly Labor Review (November 1998): 36-58.
12. US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Overview of BLS Statistics on Worker Safety and Health," available at: http://www.bls.gov/bls/safety.htm, accessed April 2, 2007.
13. L. Friedman and L. Forst, "Occupational Injury Surveillance of Traumatic Injuries in Illinois, Using the Illinois Trauma Registry: 1995-2003," Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 49 (4) (2007): 401-410, quote from p. 401.
14. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries," available at: http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfch0004.pdf, accessed April 17, 2007.
15. Ibid.
16. Herodotus, "Book 7: Polymnia," in The Persian Wars, trans. George Rawlinson (New York, NY: Modern Library, 1942). "All the other nations, therefore, except the Phoenicians, had double labour; for the sides of the trench fell in continually, as could not but happen, since they made the width no greater at the top than it was required to be at the bottom. But the Phoenicians showed in this the skill which they are wont to exhibit in all their undertakings. For in the portion of the work which was allotted to them they began by making the trench at the top twice as wide as the prescribed measure, and then as they dug downwards approached the sides nearer and nearer together, so that when they reached the bottom their part of the work was of the same width as the rest."
17. R. Kanwal, G. Kullman, C. Piacitelli, et al., "Evaluation of Flavorings-Related Lung Disease Risk at Six Microwave Popcorn Plants," Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 48 (2006): 149-157.
18. K. Kreiss and J. Cox-Ganser, "Metal-working Fluid-Associated Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis: A Workshop Summary," American Journal of Industrial Medicine 32 (1997): 423-432;
19. A. Bracker, E. Storey, C. Yang, and M. J. Hodgson, "An Outbreak of Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis at a Metalworking Plant: A Longitudinal Assessment of Interventional Effectiveness," Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene 18 (2003): 96-108.
20. The Changing Organization of Work and the Safety and Health of Working People: Knowledge Gaps and Research Directions (Cincinnati, Ohio: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, April 2002), DHHS (NIOSH) publication 2002-116;
21. P. Landsbergis, "The Changing Organization of Work and the Safety and Health of Working People: A Commentary," Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 45 (2003): 61-72;
22. M. Quinlan, Organisational Restructuring/Downsizing, OHS Regulation and Worker Health and Wellbeing (Sydney, Australia: National Research Centre for OSH Regulation, University of New South Wales, March 2007), Working Paper 52, available at: http://www.ohs.anu.edu.au/publications/index.php, accessed April 20, 2007.
23. Occupational Safety and Health Act, sec 5(a)(1), 29 USC §654.
24. N. Ashford, Crisis in the Workplace: Occupational Disease and Injury (Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1976). Market imperfections include (a) lack of information and communication about risks and prevention; (b) substantial externalities; portion of injury costs not borne by employers; (c) artificially low workers' compensation premiums-benefits do not fully replace costs; (d) disconnect between time of costs and time of benefits; (e) availability of low-cost labor for high-risk jobs; (f) no-fault system allows budgeting for injury/illness with little disincentive for negligent behavior; (g) indivisibilities and scale problems such that the cost of hazard reduction may not be affordable for small firms.
25. See also P. Dorman, Markets and Mortality: Economics, Dangerous Work, and the Value of Human Life (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
26. J.A. Page and M.W. O'Brien, Bitter Wages (New York, NY: Grossman Publishers, 1972);
27. J. MacLaury, "The Occupational Safety and Health Administration: A History of Its First Thirteen Years, 1971-1984," available at: http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/mono-osha13introtoc.htm, accessed April 5, 2007.
28. Ashford, Crisis in theWorkplace, 543-544, citing George Guenther memo to Department of Labor undersecretary Lawrence Silberman, June 14, 1972.
29. T. Kniesner and J. Leeth, "Abolishing OSHA," Regulation 4 (1995): 46-56, quote from pp. 47 and 53.
30. Industrial Union Department v American Petroleum Institute, 448 US 607, 8 OSH Cases 1586 (1980).
31. AFL-CIO v OSHA, 965 F2d 962, 15 OSH Cases 1729 (11th Cir 1992).
32. The Congressional Review Act, Pub L No. 104-121, a part of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, also called the Contract With America Advancement Act of 1996. It allows Congress to review every new federal regulation issued by the government agencies and, by passage of a joint resolution, overrule a regulation.
33. Chamber of Commerce v OSHA, 174 F3d 206 (DC Cir 1999).
34. G. Banauch, C. Hall, M. Weiden, et al., "Pulmonary Function After Exposure to the World Trade Center Collapse in the New York City Fire Department," American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 174 (2006): 312-319;
35. R. Herbert, J. Moline, G. Skloot, et al., "The World Trade Center Disaster and the Health of Workers: Five-Year Assessment of a Unique Medical Screening Program," Environmental Health Perspectives 114 (2006): 1853-1858; Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, presentation at Construction Industry Partnership Safety Conference, November 20, 2001, New York, NY, and statement on conclusion of World Trade Center recovery, May 30, 2002, Washington, DC.
36. Baggs et al., "Workplace Health and Safety Regulations";
37. Gray and Scholz, "Does Regulatory Enforcement Work?";
38. Nelson et al., "Falls in Construction";
39. Fan et al., Effect of DOSH Enforcement Inspections;
40. W. Cooke and F. Gautschi, "OSHA, Plant Safety Programs, and Injury Reduction," Industrial Relations 20 (1981): 245-257.
41. W.K. Viscusi, "The Impact of Occupational Safety and Health Regulation," Bell Journal of Economics 10 (1979): 117-140;
42. W.K. Viscusi, "The Impact of Occupational Safety and Health Regulation, 1973-1983," Rand Journal of Economics 17 (1986): 567-580;
43. A. Bartel and L. Thomas, "Direct and Indirect Effects of OSHA Regulation," Journal of Law and Economics 28 (1985): 1-26;
44. J. Ruser and R. Smith, "Reestimating OSHA's Effects: Have the Data Changed?" Journal of Human Resources 26 (1990): 212-235.
45. H. Lipscomb, L. Leiming, and J. Dement, "Work Related Falls Among Union Carpenters in Washington State Before and After the Vertical Fall Arrest Standard," American Journal of Industrial Medicine 44 (2003): 157-165.
46. S. Shapiro and R. Rabinowitz, "Punishment Versus Cooperation in Regulatory Enforcement: A Case Study of OSHA," Administrative Law Review, American University 49 (1997): 713-762.
47. D. Weil, "Assessing OSHA Performance: New Evidence From the Construction Industry," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 20 (2001): 651-674;
48. J. Mendeloff, "The Role of OSHA Violations in Serious Workplace Accidents," Journal of Occupational Medicine 26 (1984): 353-360.
49. Baggs et al., "Workplace Health and Safety Regulations."
50. Workplace Safety and Health-OSHA's Voluntary Compliance Strategies Show Promising Results, But Should Be Fully Evaluated Before They Are Expanded (Washington, DC: US General Accounting Office, March 2004), publication GAO-04-378. Related information is included in an unpublished report to OSHA by J. Mendeloff and W. Gray, July 2002.
51. US Food and Drug Administration 2005 Food Code, available at: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/fc05-toc.html, accessed April 2, 2007.
52. Also, related state and local food inspection regulations such as Chapter 246-215, State of Washington Administrative Code, available at: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=246-215, accessed April 2, 2007.
53. The Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, sec 103, Pub L No. 91-173 (1977).
54. Page and O'Brien, Bitter Wages;
55. Ashford, Crisis in the Workplace; Preventing Illness and Injury in the Workplace (Washington, DC: US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1985), publication OTA-H-256;
56. D. Wegman and A. Robbins, eds., "A New OSHA: The Tasks for the First 100 Days," Journal of Public Health Policy 9 (3) (1988): 319-345;
57. T. McGarity and S. Shapiro, Workers at Risk: The Failed Promise of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Westport, Conn: Praeger, 1993).
58. N. Ashford, "Regulating Occupational Health and Safety: The Real Issues," Challenge (November-December 1976): 39-42.
59. Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill, presentation at Georgetown University Workplace Safety Summit, March 30, 2001, Washington, DC.
60. R. Smith, "The Feasibility of an 'Injury Tax' Approach to Occupational Safety," Law and Contemporary Problems 38 (1974): 730-744.
61. Mammography Quality Standards Act, 42 USC 6A(II)(F)(3)(263) 1994.
62. C. Levenstein, E. A. Eisen, "Certified Environmental Audits: A Proposal," Journal of Public Health Policy 3 (1987): 303-308.
63. Administrative Conference of the United States, "The Use of Audited Self-Regulation as a Regulatory Technique," recommendation 1CFR 305.94-1, adopted June 16, 1994, available at: http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/admin/acus/ 305941.html, accessed November 12, 2007;
64. C. Havighurst, "Foreword: The Place of Private Accrediting Among the Instruments of Government, Law and Contemporary Problems 57 (1994): 1-14.
65. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, "Voluntary Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines," Federal Register 54 (January 26, 1989): 3904-3916;
66. American National Standards Institute, "American National Standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems," standard ANSI/AIHA Z10-2005.
67. California Code of Regulations, Title 8, sec 3203, Injury and Illness Prevention Program.
68. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, "Voluntary Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines," 3904.
69. M. Smitha, K. Kirk, K. Oestenstad, K. Brown, and S. Lee, "Effect of State Workplace Safety Laws on Occupational Injury Rates," Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 43 (2001): 1001-1010.
70. US Senate Report No. 1282, 91st Cong, 2d Sess 11-12 (1970).
71. Smitha et al., "Effect of State Workplace Safety Laws."
72. National Labor Relations Act, 29 USC ch 7, sec 151-169. Section 158(a) (2) and 8(a)(2) state, "It shall be an unfair labor practice for an employer . . . to dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any labor organization."
73. Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, 30 USC ch 22, sec 815(c)(3).
74. J. May, ed., "Environmental Citizen Suits at Thirty Something: A Celebration and Summit Part I and II," Widener Law Review 10 (1-2) 2003.
75. J. Barab, "Acts of God, Acts of Man," in Worker Safety Under Siege, ed. V. Mogensen (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2006), 3-16.
76. National Research Council, Counting Injuries and Illnesses in the Workplace: Proposals for a Better System (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1987).
77. Rosenman et al., "How Much Work-Related Injury?";
78. P. Leigh, J. Marcin, and T. Miller, "An Estimate of the US Government's Undercount of Nonfatal Occupational Injuries," Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 46 (2004): 10-18.
79. Rosenman et al., "How Much Work-Related Injury?"; Friedman and Forst, "Occupational Injury Surveillance."
80. Urban Environment Conference Collection in the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs, Detroit, Mich, available at: http://www.reuther. wayne.edu/collections/aluaorglist.html, accessed 11/12/2007; correspondence and memos, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and OSHA Environmental Network of Western New York, 1981-1984, in the Love Canal Collection in the University Archives of the State University of New York at Buffalo;
81. S. Samuels, "A Memoir on Risk Assessment and Environmental Policy," Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 837 (1997): 418-432.
82. New Jersey Work Environment Council, available at: http://www.njwec.org, accessed April 2, 2007.
83. J. Fine, Worker Centers: Organizing Communities at the Edge of the Dream (Ithaca, NY: ILR Press, 2006), 160.
84. Labor Occupational Health Program at University of California-Berkeley, "Welcome to LOHP," available at: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~lohp, accessed April 2, 2007.
85. Society for Occupational and Environmental Health, "SOEH, An International Society," available at: www.soeh.org, accessed April 2, 2007.
86. Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics, available at: www.aoec.org, accessed April 2, 2007.
87. American Public Health Association, Occupational Health and Safety Section, available at: http://depts.washington.edu/oshalert/index.html, accessed April 2, 2007.
88. The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (formerly the National COSH Network), available at: http://www.coshnetwork.org, accessed April 2, 2007.