WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, talking about "my favorite subject," suggested Friday that all the government's workplace safety regulations should be replaced by one single, tough standard.
"We would be better off if we made the OSHA standards advisory, including the ergonomic standards advisory," O'Neill suggested, talking to a national conference on workplace safety.
Instead of the standards, he said, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration could pass the word that: "Within two years, every organization in the United States, public, private, nonprofits, will have a lost work day rate under 2.0, or we're going to take away your license."
O'Neill, who gained praise from labor unions for his heavy emphasis on worker safety as head of Alcoa Inc., said such a tough standard would quickly gain the attention of American business.