OSHA and on the Waterfront
Signed into law on December 29th, 1970 by President Richard M. Nixon, the Occupational Safety and Health Act recognized the government's role in protecting the American worker from hazards and threats in the workplace. Throughout most of the industrial age, the safety of the worker has been of little concern to those who own and operate businesses. And while the concerns for the safety were forced upon the owners of businesses, mostly through the pressure of unions, the government spent little effort disrupting the profits of business by inserting itself into the issue. That was until the late 1960's when American society became much more aware of the rights of various groups, including workers, and demanded that the safety of the worker be considered as a major concern.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a federal agency assigned to ensure that the provisions of the act are enforced and workers are guaranteed a safe and healthy workplace environment. As a result of this agency, modern workers can be relatively assured that their safety and health are being guarded. In the past, however, this was not always the case, not only did business owners disregard the safety of their employees in favor of greater profits, but sometimes used "accidents" as a means of control and intimidation. Examples of these types of violent tactics can be seen in the classic film...
In the film, corrupt union officials allow their workers to be exploited and overtly elicit bribes, intimidate, and even use violence against their members. One of the characters, a worker named Kayo Dugan who intends to testify before a corruption commission is killed when the foreman arranges an accident. (On The Waterfront, 2001, 52:00) The "accident" is meant not only to stop a worker from testifying and exposing corruption, but also as a means of intimidation to the other workers. While the character Kayo Dugan's "accident" was in truth murder, in addition to minimizing the numbers of real accidents, OSHA is also responsible to ensure that unscrupulous business owners or corrupt union officials cannot conspire to arrange "accidents" for troublesome employees.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's webpage, it's mission is "to ensure safe and healthful working conditions…
