On May 16, 1910, the federal government created the U.S. Bureau of Mines to investigate the terrible conditions that killed thousands of miners a year and to attempt to regulate those conditions. It w
Today is the 50th anniversary of OSHA. For years, it has not been a functional agency, the ultimate example of corporate capture and budget cuts. In 2013, it would have taken OSHA inspectors 129 years
OSHA is just a nearly non-functional regulatory agency at this point. In 2012, it had enough inspectors to inspect every workplace in America….once in every 129 years. Things have not improved s
The only time the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has even come close to living up to its potential was when Eula Bingham led the agency in the Carter years. Once Reagan got to town, he
The nation’s treatment of front line workers, from meat packers to grocery store workers, has been an atrocity in the age of COVID. We call them “heroes,” something they certainly di
Josh Eidelson on how corporations are intimidating employees to not reveal COVID infections. In the past few months, U.S. businesses have been on a silencing spree. Hundreds of U.S. employers across a
This makes so much sense that there is no way that it will ever happen in this broken nation. Labor unions representing transportation workers formally asked the U.S. Department of Transportation this
A couple of weeks ago, the great Eula Bingham died. OSHA is a mess today. It gets no respect from employers. It is seen as an agency that messes with small details, misses the big point, and is totall