Public Health
Slow Threats and Environmental Policy
Some threats to the environment, like acid rain and stratospheric ozone depletion, emerged fairly rapidly, and abrupt threats like an oil or toxic chemical spill demand an immediate response. But most environmental problems have the...
OSHA's Proposed Ergonomics Standard: An Exercise in Cost and Ambiguity
In late 1999, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed an expansive ergonomics standard. Its genesis, however, goes back to 1979, when OSHA hired its first ergonomist. Now, more than 20 years later, OSHA is...
Reinventing Government Inspections: Proposed Reform of the Occupational Safety and Health Act
In September 1991, 25 people died at the Imperial Food Products plant in Hamlet, North Carolina, when they were trapped in a factory fire. Witnesses to the fire said the employees could not escape because the building doors were locked...