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12 Loy. J. Pub. Int. L. 1 (2010-2011)
To Assure Safe and Healthful Working Conditions: Taking Lessons from Labor Unions to Fulfill OSHA's Promises

handle is hein.journals/loyjpubil12 and id is 5 raw text is: 'TO ASSURE SAFE AND HEALTHFUL WORKING CONDITIONS': TAKING LESSONS FROM LABOR UNIONS TO FULFILL OSHA'S PROMISES Brooke E. Lierman* INTRODUCTION The events of the past year, which included several high-profile and deadly workplace accidents, have highlighted the fact that even in 21st century America, employees face unsafe working conditions on a daily basis. Although the deaths of twenty-five miners at the Upper Big Branch Mine and of eleven workers at the BP-TransOcean oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico dominated the news, other men and women who have not appeared on the front page face unsafe working conditions every day. Their workplaces may have self-evident dangers (old scaffolding, asbestos filled rooms) or they may be unsafe only to those employees or employers in the know (fumes in the workplace, toxic chemicals). Regardless of the type of danger, however, employees who work in these jobs are often powerless to correct the danger. As union membership has declined, so too has active enforcement of our country's occupational health and safety laws. It is no coincidence that the companies responsible for the two biggest jobsite tragedies of the year employed non-union work forces. Although the federal government may be able to pass legislation to bolster declining unions, the health and safety of America's workers should not be dependent upon membership in a labor union. Rather, the body tasked with enforcing work safety standards must recraft its methods in light of declining union membership, and Congress may need to intercede to ensure that the laws that were passed to protect workers in the past are adequately protecting workers today. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is responsible for preventing workplace deaths and ensuring the health and safety of American workers. The continuing health and safety dangers in * The author would like to thank her husband, Eben Hansel, and law school professor, Professor Wendy Wagner, for their edits. The author currently works at Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP in Baltimore, Maryland. 1

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