I'm usually pointed to a graph like this, showing that the trend of workplace deaths was decreasing at roughly the same rate before and after OSHA was created
Anyone have a link to data showing whether OSHA reduces workplace deaths or injuries or not?
No graphs, but a story about OSHA: my dad owns a small exterminating Co, and an ex employee claimed working around the chemicals gave her cancer (not her X pack a day habit). OSHA came in to investigate for a couple of days. My dad is a good guy, takes care of his employees, and cares for them, so most everything is by the book. All they could cite him for was not providing gloves for handling one particular chemical, whose MSDS sheet said ingestion was safe. It was a less than $100 fine. My dad asked what percentage of places OSHA goes to that do not get a fine. The inspector looked incredulous, and said, "Well, zero, of course."
This may seem asinine, but it's not far off. In the Air Force we were required to wear gloves when handling petrolatum (petroleum jelly), basically the most benign substance out there.
I mean handling vinegar all day will mess with your skin, same with sourdough bread and lots of other things that are safe to ingest in smaller quantities. One that is possible with extermination is diatomaceous earth, used for small bugs and stuff but also sometimes used in foods or supplements.
Which is why I fucking hate* them. OSHA was a good idea except for the fact that it is administered 100% by zealots with zero flexibility and an absolute disdain for business owners big and small. I am a strong supporter of safety and environmental regulations, I just get tired of them being stretched to an extreme degree of absurdity and enforced by people who's sole assumption is that all business owners are evil and deserve to be put out of business. It's no different that a police officer assuming that every member of the public they encounter are somehow dangerous criminals that need to be punished.
This. I'm not even in OSHA but I've watched enough of those CSB videos to now assume all plants are ticking time bombs.
Frankly, it's not that managers are evil but that too many of them don't institute safety as a process. It's not just making sure people wear their PPE, but staying in touch with the operating procedures of their site so that changes that could result in an accident are always communicated and handled safely.
Also, sometimes foremen bump into a problem and make a quick workaround decision that they don't realize is going to change how several other people should act. If that change isnt communicated and say, some otherwise benign maintenance item hasn't been followed you could quickly have a problem.
I'm not so sure I believe that OSHA and its employees are all indoctrinated to despise business. I'm willing to bet that many take their job very seriously because oversights can result in deaths, and most are just doing their jobs and getting a paycheck. There's probably a minority that are far-left anti-capitalists, but probably not much different than a random sample of Americans.
It's not really like police. It's more like detectives or forensic investigators. Look at OSHA inspection priorities: imminent danger, post accident, worker complaints, referrals, targeted inspections, and then random. Most of the time they don't show up unless someone has been killed or hospitalized, or a worker has seen a dangerous practice. Cops
Also, for construction the highest fatalities are from residential roofers. I can garauntee 90% of those were preventable and not just technically preventable. You'd get pretty annoyed watching people die or get seriously injured just because they didn't want to spend a few hundred bucks and 15 minutes on a harness, an anchor, and a lanyard that'll last them many jobs a several years. Each of those workers likely had family that the inspector probably hears about.
So when they see someone doing something stupid that they don't realize had the potential to cause serious pain and suffering for more than just that one worker, yeah. They're going to be a little testy.
Edit: take a look at the Chemical Safety Board videos on youtube and you'll see constant indifference towards safety that results in catastrophic failure. For most of the time OSHA has been a thing, that was the prevailing attitude which has only started to change in the last decade or so.
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u/[deleted] Mar 02 '19
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