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I wonder how much OSHA has cost us in terms of both direct government spending as well as regulatory compliance in corporations (which is surely orders of magni
by Consultant32452 11y ago
I wonder how much OSHA has cost us in terms of both direct government spending as well as regulatory compliance in corporations (which is surely orders of magnitude greater) for such pitiful results.
- irremediable 11y agoYou'd need to look at death/injury by sector to see its effect. FWIW, I don't have a horse in this race, but I'm inclined to believe OSHA is a good thing. AFAIK most economics/manufacturing research has suggested the health and safety precautions in developed countries are cost-effective. Moreover, it's probably telling that most (all?) other developed countries have similar health and safety agencies.
- Consultant32452 11y agoIf health and safety precautions are cost effective, which I believe they are, then OSHA is redundant because businesses will strive to be economically efficient regardless of the regulations.
- irremediable 11y agoI think this would be true in an ideal world, but in practice I fear businesses can avoid dealing with the externality of employee injury. Many people working in building, manufacturing, manual labour, etc are low-paid, low-educated, and in the US may well be illegal residents. All of these things make it difficult for an injured worker to sue.