25. The Occupational Safety and Health Act was signed at the end of 1970
On December 29, President Nixon signed into law the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The new law made it a requirement for employers to ensure working conditions were free of known hazards, or that proper procedures and equipment were provided to minimize them. More than 2 million workers were injured on the job in each of the two years preceding OSHA’s passage. 14,000 were killed in work accidents per year. Some progressive states, including New York and California, produced workplace safety acts on their own, but OSHA was the first sweeping federal effort to address the issue.
Not surprisingly business leaders strongly resisted the act. Both the United States Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers led the resistance, as they had with earlier attempts to enact similar legislation. Labor unions generally supported the measure. The act created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration within the Department of Labor. It was assigned the authority to establish and enforce regulations for enforcement of the provisions of the act, beginning on April 28, 1971. The law specifically excluded the United States under the definition of an employer, but it covered its agencies, Amtrak, and the United States Postal Service.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“MNF History: 1970”. Article, ABC Sports Online. August 29, 2002
“Congress bans airing cigarette ads, April 1, 1970”. Andrew Glass, Politico. April 1, 2018
“War Foes Here Attacked By Construction Workers”. Homer Bigert, The New York Times. May 9, 1970
“Apollo 13”. Article, NASA. July 8, 2009. Online
“The History of Earth Day”. Article, Earthday.org. Online
“Why the Beatles broke up”. Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone. September 3, 2009. Online
“A Eulogy for the Boombox”. Frannie Kelley, NPR. April 22, 2009. Online
“American Top 40 with Casey Kasem: The 1970s”. Pete Battistini. 2005
“20 Biggest Songs of the Summer: The 1970s”. Al Shipley, Rolling Stone. August 28, 2019
“The Seventies: TIME’s take on television”. Natalie Angley, CNN. August 17, 2015
“Railroads: Step to Nationalization”. TIME Magazine, October 26, 1970
“Whatever happened to S & H Green Stamps?” Kelly Kazek, Alabama Living. April 25, 2016
“The Great Postal Strike of 1970”. Article. AFL-CIO. Online
“The Story of Pan American World Airways”. Tom Boon, Simple Flying. October 12, 2018
“The Conundrum of Selecting the 1970 NCAA Football National Champion”. Article, Scorum. January, 2019
“Garry Trudeau: Doonesbury and the Aesthetics of Satire”. Kerry Soper. 2008
