Chapter 6: Government and The Workplace

The rising role of government in the workplace is a key example of the public's unwilliingness to accept all of the impacts on society that result from the unregulated working of the free market.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created in 1970 "to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the nation safe and healthful working conditions."

1.Encouraging employers and employees to reduce hazards in the workplace and to institute health and safety programs
2. Establishing responsibilities and rights for employers and employees (mainly responsibilities for employers and rights for employees).
3. Authorizing OSHA to set mandatory job safety and health standards
4.Providing an enforcement program
5. Encouraging the states to take responsibility for administering their own job safety and health programs, which must be at least as effective as the federal program.
6. Setting up reporting procedures for job injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.

The following constitute the major benefits that accrue from enhanced workplace safety

1. Greater prodectivity of those who would have sustained a job-related injury or illness in the absence of the effort to improve job safety
2. Greater enjoyment of life by those who avoided work-related disabilities
3. Savings of resources that would have had to be used in the treatment and rehabilitation of victims in work-related injuries or illnesses.
4. Savings of resources that would have had to be used to administer workers' compensation and insurance and to train those who would have been needed to replace the sick or disabled.
5. Decrease in damage to buildings and equipment
6. Savings that result from less disruption of work routines, plus potential improvements in the morale and productivity of the workforce.

The regulation of employee persions is another important area of government influence on workforce practices.

ERISA is a complicated law with enforcement powers assigned to both the dDepartment of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service.

source:Business and Government in the Global Market Place (seventh Edition Murray L. Weidenbaum)