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38 Pallet C e nt ral • Ma rch -Ap r il 2 0 25 OSHA BY ADELE L. ABRAMS, ESQ., ASP, CMSP ENVISIONING A WORLD WITHOUT OSHA C an you imagine a workplace without OSHA? Several generations of workers have never known such a world, but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) did not exist prior to 1970, when Congress created the agency as part of the US Department of Labor (Richard M. Nixon was the president who signed the legislation). In 2025, the political winds are poised to blow OSHA away. HR 86, the "NOSHA Act," was introduced by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) in January and is now the subject of serious discussion in Washington, DC. e legislation abolishes the agency and also rescinds the 1970 legislation that created it (a double-tap of sorts) to ensure it could not rise from the crypt in a future administration. Killing the organic statute also abolishes the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which is a research and advisory agency within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but it was created under the 1970 legislation. It is doubtful that NIOSH would be preserved if this bill is passed, and the House had already called for a nearly 30% cut in NIOSH's funding for FY 2025. While the NOSHA Act was also introduced by Biggs in the previous session of Congress, the GOP only controlled the House at that time— dooming the bill's prospects, as the Senate would not pass it nor would President Biden sign it. Now things are different, and with the Republican trifecta in Congress and the Executive Branch, if the powers that be want OSHA gone, it will be. e question is, should it be abolished? Back in the bad old days—the 1920s— workers died on the job at a rate of 15 per 100,000 annually, but by the time OSHA was created in 1970, that rate

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