This research examines workers' compensation laws and the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA). The purpose of the examination is to describe and explain the laws, and to identify the principal differences between OSHA and the workers' compensation laws.
Both OSHA and workers' compensation laws in the United States are extensions of the concept that public health should be promoted and protected by government.1 In contemporary society, prospects for the health of individuals are ". . . determined by public policy, by those decisions which shape contemporary environments . . . ."2 Health, thus, is ". . . not a 'state' to be captured and dealt with; nor is it some achievement to be attained with finality. It is rather the response of people to their environments . . . ."3
Public health policy at the national or state level is required, because the factors affecting individual health are, in many instances, pervasive in society. Development of accep table levels of public health within a large and complex soci ety such as that of the United States
. . . requires an interpretation of the nature of today's health problem. . . . Its focus is on the interconnection between causes and illnesses and the ways they affect each other, as well as the linkages among causes and among illnesses. All these ties suggest the plausibility of viewing today's health problem as a response to modern environments, and one therefore amenable to improvement through public pol icy measures.4
Contemporary public health policies are determined, at least in part, in the context of costs and accountability. These concerns are particularly relevant to OSHA and workers' compensation. Political considerations are also involved in the development of public health policy in the United States.5 At one time in the United States, the responsibility for public health was exclusively the province of private individuals and organizations. T...