The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) has undergone significant changes since its enactment in 1970. These changes have come about partly because the OSH Act has operated under numerous presidential administrations, each with a distinctive view about the direction of policy. In addition, resource availability, political pressure from both the private and public sectors, Congressional action, court decisions, and evaluation from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) have all led to legislative and administrative changes. As a result, OSHA has had a difficult time in balancing the mandate of its mission with competing interests.
The legislation that developed into the OSH Act built on the previous efforts of numerous groups. Occupational safety did not become a political issue until the 1960s. The issue evolved from the concerns of labor, unions, and environmental and consumer product safety advocates.
The rank-and-file labor movement of the 1960s focused mainly on general discontent over oppressive working conditions, as opposed to occupational safety and health. The 1960s witnessed an upsurge of strike activity by workers. Generally, workers became more militant and increasing conflict was experienced in relations between labor and management: "Opinion polls suggest that the conditions of work played an important role in these developments" (Noble, 1986, p. 70). Because the strikes during this era were generally spontaneous, workers failed to organize and relay their concerns about working conditions to union represents, who continued their focus on economic issues. Not until a grass-roots coalition of coal miners, initially working outside the United Mine Workers, organized in protest against black lung disease, did workplace hazards come to the forefront of legislative debate. The result was the enactment of the Coal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1969.
The AFL-CIO (American Federa...