Workers at Risk: The Failed Promise of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [Hardcover]

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is not close to meeting its mandate to protect American workers, according to administrative law specialists McGarity and Shapiro. Thousands of men and women are still victims of workplace accidents and occupational disease. The goal of this book is to analyze why OSHA has failed and to suggest what can be done to set it back on track. The book, divided into six parts, evaluates the current status of the protection of workers and provides a history of OSHA regulation. The authors suggest four methods to reduce workplace health and safety risks: (1) better management of OSHA; (2) reduced oversight by the courts and the executive branch; (3) a change in OSHA's legislative mandate; and (4) empowering workers to protect themselves.

This important work will be of interest to scholars and professionals in occupational health, labor economics, labor law, and human resource management.

THOMAS O. McGARITY is Farish Professor of Law at the University of Texas in Austin. He is the author ofReinventing Rationality(1991).

SIDNEY A. SHAPIRO is Rounds Professor of Law at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. He is the author (with Joseph Tomain) ofRegulatory Law and Policy(1992).

OSHA's Failed Promise
The Plight of America's Workers
Regulatory Failure and Reform
OSHA's History
The Nixon/Ford Years: Inauspicious Beginnings
The Carter Years: OSHA on the Move
The Reagan Years: Going Backward
The Reagan Years: Inching Forward
The Reagan Years: Killing Time
The Reagan Years: Tying Up Loose Ends
The Reagan Years: New Initiatives
The Reagan Years: Weakening Enforcement
The Bush Years: An Identity Crisis
Internal Reforms: Better Management for OSHA
Making OSHA More Efficient: Setting Priorities and Eliminating Bottlenecks
More Bang for the Buck: Alternative Methods of Regulation and Implementation
Ensuring Compliance: The lÓ1