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Confined Space

The repeal of OSHA’s ergonomics standard and nothing to do with the truth, and everything to do with politics. And millions of workers are paying the price in lost careers and lifelong disability.

Working people need more than just workplace health and safety resources -- fact sheets and health and safety manuals and Material Safety Data Sheets. All that is important, but they also need opinion and commentary on the politics of workplace health and safety, which is what this blog is about. Similarly, even safety and health in the workplace is largely dependent on the political/power relationships in that workplace. And most policy issues and standard are more a product of political compromise than a product of the "truth."

There is something very like a war going on in this field right now. The regulatory process is all but dead, OSHA is on its way to becoming nothing more than an information clearinghouse, research is under attach by initiatives such as the Data Quality Act and associated rules, and regulatory protections are being overturned by a combination of lies and big money. And if we think that we can make workplaces safer by just distributing hazard warnings and fact sheets without talking about politics will leave us on the sidelines of the very issues we seek to promote.

Confined Space - Introduced to me by the Koufax Awards and my vote for Best Single Issue Blog.