OSHA To Publicize Bad Worksites

In the category of news you may have missed, last week OSHA proposed a significant change that will allow workers and consumers to see who has violated OSHA rules.

“Federal safety regulators on Thursday proposed major changes in workplace reporting rules that would require large companies to file injury and illness reports electronically so they can be posted online and made available to the public.

Safety advocates said the proposal by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would put more pressure on companies to comply with safety rules and make it easier for employees and the public to identify businesses with poor safety records. But business groups contend making the information public could be misleading and intrusive.”

As federal budgets get tighter and tighter, it is actions like this that will increase pressure on firms to comply with rules, even if enforcement is less likely.

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.