Dying to Know: A Historical Analysis of the Right-to-Know Movement

Abstract

The history of the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard is presented, with the implications for the role of government in regulation of job health and safety. The gaining of the Right-to-Know about chemical exposure was a significant achievement for labor, although it took fifteen years to gain a national standard. Labor and community group coalitions, divisions between chemical producers and chemical users, economic forces, third-party law-suits, and the difficulties in NIOSH/OSHA obtaining chemical identities were all important factors in gaining a standard. Chemical producers shifted from an ideology of “everything is safe” to “everything is dangerous,” and finally had to mount a campaign to get the Reagan administration to issue a national standard as a way to pre-empt state and local laws. The case illustrates the relatively greater power of industry, but that workers were able to gain increased control over their work through organizing.