dc.contributor.author | Viscusi, W. Kip | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2015-06-04T22:15:01Z | |
dc.date.available | 2015-06-04T22:15:01Z | |
dc.date.issued | 1986 | |
dc.identifier.citation | 49 Law & Contemp. Probs. 127 (1986) | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1803/7075 | |
dc.description | article published in law journal | en_US |
dc.description.abstract | For more than a decade, the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) has been regulating the technology and work
practices of employers. This governmental function is relatively new and is
quite different from the usual governmental involvement in labor market
policies. Some government efforts, such as job training and unemployment
compensation, involve no direct impact on workplace operations, except that
which may be induced indirectly through the incentives these policies
generate. Even the minimum wage law does not directly lead to any
governmental intrusion into the nature of the work relationship.
In contrast, OSHA regulations specify what safety guards must be on
machines, the characteristics of a safe ladder, the permissible levels of
exposure to various hazardous substances, and situations where protective
equipment must be worn. Such policies are certain to generate resistance
from management and, to the extent that these regulations are not well
formulated, they will provoke widespread controversy. Indeed, OSHA
policies have done just this. Although some controversy was inevitable,
OSHA has been the object of particularly harsh criticism because of the
ineptness of much of its original standards design and the ineffectiveness of
its enforcement policies.
The enforcement policies, however, have undergone substantial alteration
since the agency's creation. The original standards have been modified and
new standards have been added. In particular, each of the last two presidential administrations has attempted to overhaul the enforcement policy through fundamental changes in the enforcement strategy. This article will explore how these policies have evolved as well as whether these changes are desirable. Section II focuses on issues of standards design, and sections III and IV focus on the efficacy of the enforcement process. The fundamental issue discussed in those sections is whether or not OSHA is now more effective in promoting safety than it was at the time of its creation. Section V provides an overall assessment on OSHA's performance and suggestions for further reforms in the agency's operations. | en_US |
dc.format.extent | 1 PDF (25 pages) | en_US |
dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
dc.publisher | Law & Contemporary Problems | en_US |
dc.subject | Workplace safety | en_US |
dc.subject.lcsh | Industrial safety -- Law and legislation -- United States | en_US |
dc.subject.lcsh | Safety regulations -- United States | en_US |
dc.subject.lcsh | United States. Occupational Safety and Health Administration | en_US |
dc.subject.lcsh | Law enforcement -- United States | en_US |
dc.subject.lcsh | Industrial safety -- Standards -- United States | en_US |
dc.title | The Structure and Enforcement of Job Safety Regulation | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |