US workforce in danger of losing protections

From an economic standpoint, limiting research and rolling back science-based safeguards are shortsighted at best. The societal cost of work-related fatalities, injuries and illnesses was estimated at $250 billion in 2007 based on medical costs and productivity losses alone. Government investment in workplace safety and health is just smart money that pays dividends for employers, workers and our nation’s economic well-being overall. Scaling back only erodes the health and vitality of our nation’s workforce.

A cut of this magnitude would have dire effects on the government’s ability to keep its workplace guidelines up to date with the latest research, and would greatly reduce the availability of workplace health and safety professionals that service both employers and workers. While some in Congress have already scaled back the reduction, they have not eliminated it.

From an economic standpoint, limiting research and rolling back science-based safeguards are shortsighted at best. The societal cost of work-related fatalities, injuries and illnesses was estimated at $250 billion in 2007 based on medical costs and productivity losses alone. Government investment in workplace safety and health is just smart money that pays dividends for employers, workers and our nation’s economic well-being overall.

Rolling back and delaying science-based safeguards, or scaling back the research needed to understand hazards, exposures, risks and solutions erodes the health and vitality of our nation’s workforce.

For the sake of our own loved ones — and the collective welfare of the nation’s current and future workforce, it is a time for vigilance and voice on behalf worker health and safety research and enforcement.

We need to raise our voices, speak out, and hold our elected leaders accountable for ensuring that our science-based worker protections remain strong.

Kathleen Rest is the executive director of the Union of Concerned Scientists and former acting director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. David Michaels is a professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health and the former assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. They wrote this for Insidesources.com.