OSHA

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration — federal agency responsible for setting and enforcing workplace safety standards across American industries.

Workplace safety regulation: OSHA's creation (1970, under Nixon) institutionalized the principle that workers have a legal right to safe working conditions — replacing the previous system of common law negligence suits (which required proving employer fault after injury). OSHA's approach (prescriptive standards, inspection, fines) has been both credited with dramatic reductions in workplace deaths and criticized for compliance costs and regulatory inflexibility. Represents the regulatory state's approach to externalities in labor markets.