SAFETY DANCE

This post is going to revolve around workplace safety. I made reference to the title of the seminal piece performed by "Men Without Hats" for views.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is looking out for worker safety. And health. They impose regulations on employers on behalf of their blue collar workers. Let's outline the basic logic behind workplace safety regulations:

First, we need to establish motives. Companies/corporations/businesses/firms/employers/whatever you want to call them exist for one reason: Deliver the highest profit to their shareholders possible. If they fail to achieve this goal then they no longer exist. It turns out that the best way to do this in a free market is to produce goods and services people are willing to buy at prices that are competitive. So, the business needs to do a few things to achieve its primary objective. These are:

-Produce things people want
-Produce them cheaply/efficiently

Where does worker safety fit in to this? Well, it may not be directly observable on its face, but it is certainly integral to the goals of a business organization.

There is a market for labor. There is a supply and demand for different types of labor (at different skill levels and specialties). If we're talking about standard blue-collar work that would be regulated by OSHA, we can divide it into skilled and unskilled labor. Skilled labor is more rare and may have a background in certain trades. Unskilled would be equivalent to an immigrant worker from the third world or a teen on his or her first job.

The business wants things produced cheaply. They will seek out the workers who will work for the lowest pay. But they also need the worker to produce more than what they're paid, so it is productive workers that businesses seek. A large part of productivity is a result of the work environment itself in combination with the pay and respect given to the worker. One thing is for sure: A dead worker is not a productive worker. Moreover, a business that treats its workers poorly will have trouble finding high-quality labor. They might be more relegated to using unskilled labor. But unskilled labor has the widest number of available choices.

Logically, this would result in businesses improving conditions over time as they can afford do due to competitive forces for labor. This is in fact what happened.

Then why do we have OSHA at all?

Good question. Certainly, OSHA has had no effect on workplace fatalities. Most of the decreases in workplace fatalities has to do with improvements in technology that were the result of investments on the part of businesses. OSHA has, however, laid a high high cost of compliance upon businesses operating in the US, especially manufacturing businesses.

Conclusion:

There are a myriad of regulatory agencies which do not accomplish their goals and merely add to the budget deficit. No one wants to throw money into a bottomless pit. OSHA happens to be one of these agencies. So, stop stealing my money and throwing it into bottomless pits.

What does the dog have to do with it?
The green worn by the dog symbolizes the money thrown into the aforementioned bottomless pit. The dog's eyes are big and brown and dark, much like bottomless pits. The dog also managed to put on its safety goggles without the help of OSHA. Who needs OSHA when even animals without opposable thumbs can be make themselves safe?