Addressing Worker Safety and Health Through the Lens of Strategic Enforcement-Part One.

Abstract

Ensuring the safety and health of workers in this country, who are employed at millions of workplaces that present a dizzying array of hazards, is daunting. Every day, workers are maimed or die from workplace injuries or occupational illnesses. Hence, government agencies must use all available means to ensure the laws intended to keep workers safe and healthy in their workplaces are maximally effective in accomplishing that purpose. This paper addresses this challenge through the lens of strategic enforcement. It examines how federal and state authority are designed to interact to ensure worker protection in this space, and focuses on what tools for deterring violations - many unrecognized or underutilized by worker safety agencies - are available to leverage the limited resources that inevitably constrain the agencies' reach. The forthcoming Part II will, among other things, showcase a number of noteworthy state and local initiatives that exceed the federal standard.