Industrial Resistance to Occupational Safety and Health Legislation: 1971-1981

Abstract

Federal government intervention in the U.S. economy dramatically increased in 1970 with the creation of a series of regulations to protect the public from the unintended health consequences of industrial production. By the early 1980s, a mere decade later, these same regulations had come under sustained attack and were being systematically curtailed by the government. This paper explores the role played by industry in the evolution of one of these new regulations, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. I find that industry initially reacted defensively and developed containment strategies to minimize the impact of the new agency. They took the initiative in mid-decade, when growing malaise altered the political and ideological climate in their favor. Rapid industrialization in the 19th century transformed the United States into an powerhouse, but the change was not without social costs. Industrial workers were largely unprotected against health and safety hazards on the job, and thousands died or suffered from injuries and illnesses. The toll continues to be very high. The National Safety Council and the Public Health Service have estimated that in the 1970s 14,000 workers died of industrial injuries and perhaps 100,000 more died of occupationally caused illnesses every year. In addition, there were over two million disabling injuries and 400,000 new occupational illnesses every year (Ashford, 1976:84,92). This direct and ongoing cost in illness, injury, and premature death was neglected by government, industry, and labor until the late 1960s, when a combination of events created sufficient pressure for federal action. In 1970 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was born. OSHA was one of a number of agencies created by the federal government in 1970 to protect citizens from the unintended health consequences of industrial production; others included the Mining Enforcement and Safety Administration (MESA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These new regulations differed from the more traditional form of economic regulations, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which govern competitive relations between firms (Lilley and Miller, 1977). Economic regulations have been studied extensively by political scientists and economists (Bernstein, 1955; Mitnick, 1980; Owen and Braeutigam, 1978; Stigler, 1975). These studies have consistently shown that the political strategies of regulated industries have molded the evolution of these policies. This paper examines the role which industry has played in the evolution of one of the newer, social regulations, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Berman (1978), Brodeur (1973), Davidson (1970), and Page and O'Brien (1973) have written extensively about the history of health and safety prior to the formation of OSHA. Ashford (1976), Donnelly (1982), Mendeloff (1978), Page and O'Brien (1973), and Rothstein (1978) have analyzed the period leading up to the enactment of OSHA in 1970. The fate of OSHA after the election of President Ronald Reagan in 1980 has been examined by Calavita (1983), Grozuczak (1982), and Simon