76-15-B1
- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1977
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OSHA[edit]
Transcript[edit]Summing up government's purpose or responsibility in a single sentence risks over-simplification, but if I had to do it, I'd settle for this sentence: Government exists to protect us from each other. Brief as it is, it recognizes government's responsibility to provide police protection against law breakers; to maintain armed forces to keep our land from being invaded and our liberties lost. The sentence also covers government's involvement in seeing we aren't sold poisoned or contaminated food or dangerous drugs falsely advertised as healthful medicines, In other words, government's function is to protect us from all those harmful things that could be done to us by someone else. I have, however, criticized government for not stopping there, for deciding it knows what is best for us and trying to keep us from hurting ourselves, I'm sure many in the various agencies and bureaus of government are well intentioned when they do this, but what they do can lead to tyranny. An example is the continued effort by government to force motorcycle riders to wear helmets. I happen to believe it's foolish to ride a motorcycle without one, but doing so does not endanger others who are on the highway , The helmet protects only the rider and it's his right to risk not wearing one no matter how foolish we think he is. Still, much of the costly growth of bureaucracy and the subsequent harassment and interference in our lives is the result of well intentioned public servants trying to eliminate all the hazards of living. I've been most critical of the Occupational, Safety and Health Administration, commonly called O.S.H.A., now in existence for six years. It came into being to reduce or eliminate job hazards in every kind of business. And while it has inspected, filed charges against employers, and written tens of thousands of regulations there has been no reduction in work related injuries or deaths. There has, however, been costly reduction of productivity. One of O.S.H.A.'s latest targets, which might explain why I've been critical, is the admittedly hazardous field of deep sea diving. According to the companies in this field there are about 600 commercial deep sea divers in the whole United States. The hazardous nature of the occupation is indicated by a diver's earnings which run from $50,000 to $100,000 a year. O.S.H.A. is attempting to set standards for practices and equipment that would be required in deep sea diving. O.S.H.A. is meeting resistance. For one thing the cost of what O.S.H.A. is demanding is greater than the total gross revenue of all the companies in that business. The companies and the divers do not minimize the hazards of their craft, but they present figures showing that injury and death is not commonplace. When it does occur it is unlikely that a regulation or safety precaution could prevent it; A man hit in the head by a tree carried down stream by the current, another entangled in wire who tore off his helmet in panic and tried to reach the surface. They are brave men, a breed apart, and well aware of the precautions they must take. They have looked at O.S.H.A.'s proposed standards and, to a man, say "no thanks". It's easy to see why. The U.S. Navy in its Magazine FACEPLATE has said that to comply with the O.S.H.A. standards would mean sending the diver underwater weighing 1000 pounds! |
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