Old OSHA Videos

Well, thank goodness for YouTube. The following 3 videos are all dated from 1980 (according to the info on YouTube). All three are produced for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to promote itself and workers' rights regarding occupational safety. There are a couple scenes in the history of OSHA video which I just cannot imagine being included in a video today. According to the notes on all 3, the videos were banned & destroyed by the incoming OSHA Secretary in '81 (read: Bush I). They are all about 30 minutes. If they were produced for the government, they are in the public domain.

History of OSHA

Unfortunately, the beginning of this will not trigger the emotional response it did in 1980. The comparison of the death toll of the Vietnam War to the fatality rate here in the US during the same year was a great point. But, then again, I remember the end of the war. We can't provide the same statistics (thank God) about either Gulf War.

Can't Take No More

history of worker safety movement

Worker to Worker

I like the opening tune: Take This Job & Shove It. A look at the different kinds of hazards one can find at work.

a

that's all, folks

Title 29 - Labor Chapter 15 - Occupational Safety & Health Sec. 666 - Civil and criminal penalties (e) Willful violation causing death to employee Any employer who willfully violates any standard, rule, or order promulgated pursuant to section 655 of this title, or of any regulations prescribed pursuant to this chapter, and that violation caused death to any employee, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for no more than six months, or by both; except that if the conviction is for a violation committed after a first conviction of such person, punishment shall be by a fine of not more than $20,000 or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or by both. Now, here we go: > "civil and criminal penalties" gives a first impression that the plural applies to criminal, as well as civil. Nope. There's only one criminal provision under the federal (and Minnesota) Occupational Safety & Health Act. It's here. You need to actually achieve killing your employee. Not only that, but it also needs to meet the legal definition of "willful", which isn't the same as used in normal conversation. There's one of those op-ed pieces on a blog bemoaning the state of affairs when killing your worker carries a lower penalty than assaulting a burro on federal property. A claim I've read before. The author, however, failed to provide a bibliography along with the word 'bibliography'. So, I'm not sure how valid his numbers are, or where they're from. Which is sad, because I would like to use some of them & would have been happier if I didn't need to go looking for the information from primary sources. Like the burro. Or ... "By comparison with other federal agencies, OSHA is hardly the big bully it is often painted as. For example, the penalty for killing a burro on federal land is one year in jail, and the penalty for mail fraud is up to 30 years behind bars. The Environmental Protection Agency [in the course of] one year obtained prison sentences totaling 256 years." e.g. I'd like to know which year that was & where the burro law is. He also stated: "... there are fewer OSHA compliance officers than there are U.S. fish and game wardens. In other words, the large mouth bass and the wild turkey are afforded better [protection] than U.S. workers."