This week, as we commute to our jobs or take our kids to school, take a moment to reflect on the differences made by the landmark Highway Safety Act and the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, signed into law on Sept. 9, 1966. 

No one is in favor of outmoded, ineffective, duplicative, or unnecessary regulation. But judgments about what rules are necessary or effective are in the eye of the beholder: the same rules that save the lives of consumers and workers may be viewed as burdensome by the firms that have to follow them.

To those of us who believe that health and safety standards are essential to protecting workers and others from hazards, it should come as no surprise that a recent study by two business school professors shows that OSHA inspections are effective in reducing injuries and illnesses among workers and workers’ compensation costs. The study echoes similar findings by Washington State’s Safety & Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP) program. Despite this empirical evidence, don’t expect Big Business or its allies to let up on their campaign to repeal those safeguards or weaken their enforcement.

 At long last, a committee on Capitol Hill held a hearing to showcase how important health and safety standards are in protecting the lives of all Americans. On April 19, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, convened the hearing to highlight the devastating impact of regulatory delay on the lives of workers and their families. Driving the point home, relatives of workers who died on the job packed the hearing room, holding pictures of their late loved ones for all to see.