Not enough funding for OSHA to adequately protect workers
The recent accident at the Tesoro refinery in Anacortes provides us with a teachable moment about the role of government in providing for the life and safety of its citizens. [“Refinery tragedies all too common,” page one, April 4.]
There are certainly technical reasons behind the cause of this accident, but one of our societal causes is the poor oversight provided by the Occupational Safe and Health Administration (OSHA), charged with protecting the workers in the plant.
It is not that OSHA does not care or is staffed by incompetents. Quite simply, there are not enough tax dollars available to fund OSHA adequately. As a result, it is understaffed and the existing staff is often inadequately trained to accomplish timely, competent inspections and has been given little in the way of real teeth to enforce and fix the violations it does find. It is a sad state of affairs when agencies such as OSHA are unable to adequately protect society because society does not give them funds they needs to do their jobs well.
If we want a society of low taxes and limited government, accidents such as the one at Tesoro and the deaths that result are what we must learn to live with.
What a weird thing it is to see groups such as the tea party preach low taxes and limited government when it seems that the tea party is made up largely of people who are the workers or retirees from places such as the Tesoro refinery. They are the members of our society who are the most vulnerable to these kinds of accidents, yet are the ones marching in the street to have it that way.
— Jeff Christensen, Kirkland