False Economy
For 74 years California has taken pride in its commitment to high industrial-safety standards. This is no longer true. Despite opposition from business, labor and the Legislature, Gov. George Deukmejian plans to relinquish state responsibility for monitoring the safety and health of workers in private firms by vetoing funds for the program.
Fourteen years ago the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) was formed to write and enforce safety regulations that would keep up with new, and sometimes unknown, hazards created by industry’s rapidly developing technology. It worked well. Industrial accidents and fatalities decreased dramatically.
But now Cal/OSHA, admired and emulated across the nation, is about to die an unnatural death. Deukmejian has concluded that Cal/OSHA and the federal OSHA programs are redundant and the state program is unnecessary. Business leaders guided by Cal/OSHA regulations, labor unions depending on them and health experts who have seen the results strongly disagree.
Industry’s concerns are realistic as well as altruistic. With lower safety standards the accident rate is expected to increase, causing workers’ compensation and litigation costs to rise.
“Just follow the rules,” one might respond. At the moment, however, no one is sure what those rules are or who can enforce them. Serious questions are being raised, but few answers are available. Cal/OSHA has effectively enforced its higher safety regulations through discretionary inspections and high penalties. The federal regulations are less strict, and the penalties and numbers of inspections are lower.
The federal OSHA is responsible for enforcing its own safety regulations, but it has no authority to enforce the stricter California rules. Does that mean that state regulations expire? Nobody seems to know for certain.
Texas has a cooperative state and federal OSHA program similar to the governor’s new California plan. The program is run by the federal OSHA, with the state providing a small-business consulting service and safety monitoring for government work sites. While complaints are few, a Texas health and safety official said, Texas currently has one of the highest work-related fatality rates in the nation.
Although the governor seems committed to this new cost-saving measure, the Legislature has approved funding for Cal/OSHA again next year. We strongly urge the governor to reconsider his position. The cost in lives and dollars will be far greater than the $8 million that he will save by cutting the Cal/OSHA funds out of the budget.
