Forty years ago this month, after President Richard Nixon had signed into law the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration at a time when 14,000 workers had been killed on the job, the agency went into business.
Since then, workplace fatality, injury and illness rates are down 65 percent, but still 4,000 workers on the average die on the job even today.
Four million still suffer workplace injuries and illnesses.
The battle for safety at workplaces continues, but OSHA has made a tremendous difference, and we should salute the agency and President Nixon for the improvements that have occurred in the past 40 years!
And also recognize that big business corporations had resisted such legislation, but it was forced on them by a Congress and a President who understood the need for such an agency!