Tuesday, January 04, 2005

OSHA: "No Longer Much of a Problem" For Business

National Public Radio's Peter Overby began a series on OSHA under the Bush administration last night on All Things Considered.

He starts out noting that OSHA was traditionally one of the two regulatory agencies that American business feared the most -- the other being EPA: "EPA still causes trouble, but the word around Washington is that OSHA is not longer much of a problem." Overby notes that under Bush, "OSHA changed course with a speed not often seen in government."

He includes another gem from Mark Friedman, Director of Labor Law for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Friedman alleges that "There is no reason why workers should have a voice in negotiating health and safety policy" because OSHA doesn't enforce against workers.

Oy