OSHA BACKS OFF

An obnoxious federal program has come to an abrupt halt, thanks to Missouri's two U.S. senators, who responded promptly to complaints from aggrieved companies. At issue is the controversial "Missouri 500" program, begun last summer by officials at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Letters were sent this summer to 521 Missouri companies inviting them to take part in a "cooperative effort" with OSHA to identify workplace safety problems and identify them. Although it was billed as voluntary, the letter warned companies that if they didn't respond within 45 days, they would "be placed on a primary list for comprehensive inspection." To the companies, Missouri's senators John Ashcroft and Kit Bond said, this smacked of coercion.

"To the companies receiving this letter, the apparent choice is between participating in this `voluntary' program and enduring a comprehensive inspection," Ashcroft and Bond wrote Labor Secretary Robert Reich on Aug. 30. It didn't help that one of Reich's assistant secretaries was quoted in a newspaper story that the program was meant to deal with "companies with shady records."

Owing to the outcry from affected companies and the intervention of our two senators, OSHA canceled the program and notified all companies that received the letter that they could ignore the letters they had received. Good riddance. Reasonable attempts to guarantee safety in the workplace are one thing, but heavy-handed intimidation is quite another. Good for Senators Bond and Ashcroft.