Why does everyone hate OSHA? Because the agency deserves it

I teach a lot of safety classes, and I find there is a universal sentiment among employers and employees: Everyone hates OSHA! The original purpose of the OSHA Act was to make workplaces safer for American workers, thus benefiting both employers and employees. If that is the case, why does everyone hates OSHA?

Congress gave OSHA this charge: "[t]o assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions ... by encouraging employers and employees in their efforts to reduce the number of occupational safety and health hazards at their places of employment, and to stimulate employers and employees to institute new and to perfect existing programs for providing safe and healthful working conditions." (Emphasis mine)

Then Congress set forth the duties of employers and employees: "Each employer ... shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees; [and] each employee shall comply with occupational safety and health standards and all rules, regulations, and orders issued pursuant to this Act which are applicable to his own actions and conduct."

So why does OSHA pit employers against employees in an effort to put sole responsibility for workplace safety on employers? It doesn't just pit bad employers against good employees; it also pits good employers against bad employees; and good employers against good employees. The intent of the Act is to "encourage [them] in their efforts" to reduce safety and health hazards. Penalizing employers and not penalizing employees for failures in their duties not only runs contrary to the Congressional intent, but results in both employers and employees hating OSHA.

Anytime you give someone something for nothing you discourage personal growth, motivation and self-worth. You create entitlement. Entitlement is a disease. It breaks down the very fabric of motivation, creativity, productivity and responsibility. When OSHA preaches to employees that they are somehow "entitled to a safe workplace" without any personal responsibility or punitive repercussions on their part it is no wonder employees neglect their own duties to work toward a safe and healthful workplace and lapse into the entitlement mentality.

When OSHA tells employers that they are completely responsible for the acts of their employees, and have a duty to keep them safe, no matter what the employee does, you discourage a cooperative approach to safety. When OSHA enforces its safety and health regulations solely by punitive actions against employers, employers are like to become less concerned with actual safety, and more concerned with jumping through administrative hoops to protect their companies from business killing penalties.

If you always say yes to your children and never give them any responsibility, do they grow up respecting you and being productive citizens? Of course not; they grow up despising you. If you always beat your children, never praise them and never try to help them do what is right, will they love you? The answer is the same. Not only has OSHA pitted employees and employers against one another, but they have created a situation where both parties despise OSHA!

No one can argue that the OSHA Act has made a difference. In 1970 when the OSHA Act was passed the American workforce was about half as large as it is today, and we had 14,000 workers every year that would get up in the morning and go to work, then not come home at the end of the day because they had been killed on the job. That equated to over 38 deaths every day! In 2009 there were just over 4,500 workplace deaths, fewer than 13 deaths per day pretty remarkable when you think about it; a 75 percent reduction in deaths and a workforce that has almost doubled in size. Much of that success is because OSHA began by fostering increased cooperation between employers and employees and the standardization and strengthening of safety and health standards.

So with that success, why is OSHA is hated? Because it deserves it. The OSHA rules and regulations have now become in many cases outdated, out of touch with new technology and stubbornly rigid. OSHA has become arrogant in its success. It is a prime example of how some government intervention can have good results to a point. But government can never let it stop there. The bureaucracy continues to perpetuate itself. Its growth begins to outlive its effectiveness and it begins to overreach and forget its original purpose. The only thing that begins to matter is keeping all the bureaucrats employed and the agency growing. It funds its growth by taxing the citizens through fines and penalties. Isn't that why the founding fathers left England? We want our businesses to grow and create more jobs, not our government.

As businesses grow and become successful, they understand that they must constantly re-invent themselves; government doesn't. When we have career politicians (contrary to what our founding fathers wanted) we get exactly what our founding fathers dreaded: government oppression. There is a need for some OSHA intervention to keep our workplaces safe, and if that intervention follows Congressional intent and encourages and stimulates employers and employees to work together to improve workplace safety and health it will continue to be successful.

But if that is going to happen, OSHA needs to reinvent itself. It needs to refocus on encouraging and stimulating employer and employee solutions to continue the positive trend in workplace safety and health. If OSHA continues down its current path of penalizing, harassing and intimidating employers and encouraging entitlement as opposed to responsibility in employees, it will not only risk reversing the current trend, but will continue to fuel the mutual hatred of both.

John Skowronek is a human resource specialist and OSHA trainer providing staffing and training services to Nevada businesses. His Reno-based staffing company is Square One Solutions. Contact him at 825-9675.