Regulating safety. OSHA's "new look"

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has had a short but stormy history. Over the past 12 years, OSHA has been criticized by labor unions as being insufficiently effective and by companies for being too costly. OSHA's reliance on enforcement of health and safety regulations, combined with inadequate resources to promulgate regulations and enforce them, has limited its ability to improve workplace conditions. The current OSHA leadership has changed directions, reducing enforcement activity and altering existing health standards to reduce their costs. The implications of this new policy are discussed.