Testifying before Congress, David Michaels, chief of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), said his agency is so underfunded that it can inspect each American business only once every 140 years.
Facing a further 7 percent reduction in the OSHA budget, Michaels noted:
“The fewer inspections we do, the more injuries are going to occur, and the more costs are going to go up, and so we know this is going to have bad impact on workers.”
He also fretted that financial penalties for safety and health violators have not kept up with the times, as the OSH Act has not been updated in 44 years.
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