Is OSHA Working for Working People?

NAICS code 336212; Incidence rate in 2005 was 16.6 compared to 4.4 for all private industry. Data available at: http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshsum.htm

NAICS code 336214; Incidence rate in 2005 was 13.3 compared to 4.4 for all private industry. Data available at: http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshsum.htm

Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table SNR06, Highest incidence rates of total nonfatal occupational injury cases, private industry, 2005. Available at: http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshsum.htm

Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table SNR06, Highest incidence rates of total nonfatal occupational injury cases, private industry, 2005. Available at: http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshsum.htm

Rosenman K. D. Kalush A. Reilly M. J. Gardiner J. C. Reeves M. , and Luo Z. , How Much Work-Related Injury and Illness is Missed by the Current National Surveillance System, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 48(4), pp. 357–365, 2006.

Leigh J. P. Marcin J. P. , and Miller T. R. , An Estimate of the U.S. Government's Undercount of Nonfatal Occupational Injuries, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 46(1), pp. 10–18, 2006.

Testimony of Secretary of Labor Robert Reich before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Education and Labor, April 28, 1993, Report No. 103–35.

BLS reported there were 5,702 workplace fatalities in 2005. (Available at: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf). 5,702 fatalities divided by 365 days per year is 15.6; an average of 16 fatalities per day.

Friedman L. S. and Forst L. , The Impact of OSHA Recordkeeping Regulation Changes on Occupational Injury and Illness Trends in the U.S.: A Time-Series Analysis, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, [Epub ahead of print], February 15, 2007.

Friedman L. S. and Forst L. , Occupational Injury Surveillance of Traumatic Injuries in Illinois, using the Illinois Trauma Registry, 1995–2003, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 49(4), pp. 401–410, 2007.

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Work-Related Lung Disease Surveillance Report, 2002. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2003-111/pdfs/2003-111e.pdf

Materials on the history of the beryllium standard are included in my article, “Doubt Is Their Product,” published in Scientific American in June 2005, and available at: http://defendingscience.org/upload/Doubt-is-their-Product.pdf

U.S. Department of Energy, Chronic Beryllium Disease Prevention Program; Final Rule Federal Register, 64(235), p. 68854, 1999. Available at: http://www.eh.doe.gov/be/docs/berule.pdf

Letter from OSHA Assistant Secretary Charles Jeffress to Peter Brush, Acting Assistant Secretary, DOE, August 27, 1998.

Borak J. , The Beryllium Occupational Exposure Limit: Historical Perspectives and Current Inadequacy, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 48, pp. 109–116, 2006.

Department of Labor Semiannual Agenda of Regulations, 65 Federal Register 74120, November 30, 2000.

Department of Labor Semiannual Agenda of Regulations, 66 Federal Register 61873–61874, December 3, 2001.

SKAPP's Website includes a history of the failure of OSHA to regulate hexavalent chromium as a carcinogen and the efforts by the chromium industry to manufacture uncertainty about the material's carcinogenicity. See: http://defendingscience.org/case_studies/Chromium-Case-Study.cfm

Occupational Safety and Health Administration: Occupational Exposure to Hexavalent Chromium, Final Rule, 71 Federal Register 10099–10385, February 28, 2006.

More details on the failure of OSHA to protect workers from the hazards of diacetyl are at: http://defendingscience.org/case_studies/A-Case-of-Regulatory-Failure-Popcorn-Workers-Lung.cfm

Occupational Safety and Health Administration, National News Release: OSHA Announces Focus on Health Hazards of Microwave Popcorn Butter Flavorings Containing Diacetyl, April 24, 2007. Available at: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/osha20070610.htm

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.

Letter from M. Olmedo (Area Director; OSHA Kansas City Area Office) to A. R. Powell (Humphrey, Farrington, McClain & Edgar, P.C.), February 28, 2002. Available at: http://defendingscience.org/case_studies/upload/OSHA_2002_Olmedo_Letter_about_Glister_Mary_Lee.pdf

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Proposed Rule on Ergonomics, 64 Federal Register 65768, November 11, 1999.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Proposed Rule on Ergonomics, 64 Federal Register 65768, November 23, 1999.

National Academy of Sciences, Musculoskeletal Disorders and the Workplace: Low Back and Upper Extremities, National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2001.

The Congressional Review Act is one provision of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, and a core provision of the GOP's 1994 Contract with America.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Unified Regulatory Agenda, 71 Federal Register 73540, December 11, 2006.

Worker Critical after Bear Attacks, Chicago Sun Times, September 13, 2004. Available at: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20040913/ai_n12558833. Discussed in J. Barab, Wild Animals? Lock the Cage—Even If There's No OSHA Standard, Confined Space Blog, January 18, 2006; http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2005/01/wild-animals-lock-cage-even-iftheres.html

Silverstein M. . Getting Home Safety and Sound? OSHA at Thirty-Five. Available at: http://www.defendingscience.org/newsroom/upload/Silverstein_Complete_Draft.pdf

Section 6(a) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.