Workplace Safety

Articles & Analysis

Third-Party Audits Aren't a Panacea for Increasing Safety

The third-party audit system, in which private companies take over responsibility for inspecting worksites and production facilities, has been shown to expose Americans to significant health and safety risks while eating, working, and breathing.

House Attack on Public Protections Continues with Passage of the REINS Act

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2011—The House today passed the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY), represents an extreme attack on safeguards that protect our environment, food, children's toys, workplaces, health, civil rights, and economy.

House Passes Regulatory Accountability Act in Attempt to Make It More Difficult to Protect the Public

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2011—Today, the House passed the so-called Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA), which was sponsored by Reps. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Collin Peterson (D-MN). The bill, if passed by the Senate and signed by President Obama, would make it far more difficult to protect the public from environmental, health, safety, and economic hazards.

Regulatory Accountability Act Threatens Essential Public Protections

For the past six decades, our nation's system of public protections has developed safeguards that protect us from health and safety threats. Now, however, the misleadingly titled Regulatory Accountability Act could turn this system on its head, allowing more special interest influence and inviting endless rounds of litigation.

Analysis of the Regulatory Accountability Act: An Unjustified, Dangerous Overhaul of Federal Rulemaking Law

The Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA), announced by Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Mark Pryor (D-AR), and Susan Collins (R-ME) and Reps. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Collin Peterson (D-MN) on Sept. 22, is a radical overhaul of the federal rulemaking process that would result in a system that allows powerful special interests to dominate. The bill would cast aside public health, worker safety, and environmental quality goals that are the basis of so many public protections and make estimated costs to businesses and the economy the most important consideration in rulemaking.

Workers Memorial Day and New Report Highlight Risk to U.S. Workers

April 28 marked Workers Memorial Day and the 40th anniversary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). On the same day, the AFL-CIO released its annual report on the state of the health and safety of American workers, Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.

Regulations Do Not Hinder U.S. Job Market, Paper Finds

Regulations designed to protect consumers, workers, and the environment do not have a negative impact on the job market and, in some cases, actually spur job creation, according to new research from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The EPI paper, Regulation, Employment, and the Economy: Fears of job loss are overblown, shows that recent criticism surrounding regulations' impact on jobs is misguided and not reflective of economic data.

One Year Later, Massey Still Puts Miners at Risk

One year after an explosion killed 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) continues to cite the mine's owner, Massey Energy, for significant safety and health hazards at the company's other mines.

Regulation a Boon for the Economy, Reports Show

Amid a tide of Republican complaints over regulations’ impact on economic growth, two new government reports show that the economic benefits of rules outstrip compliance costs by billions of dollars every year.

Scores of Public Interest Organizations Oppose Congressional Effort to Halt Crucial Safeguards

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14, 2011—Seventy-two labor, environmental, consumer advocacy, health care, and other public interest organizations have called on lawmakers to oppose a fast-moving bill designed to halt the most important new public protections that agencies are developing to safeguard the American people.