I ran OSHA 2009-2017, and am now often asked what will happen to #OSHA in the coming Trump administration. In this longish🧵, I try to summarize what happened during Trump I and begin to predict Trump II, recognizing that this one could be wildly different than the last one. 1/ Generally, Republican administrations stop work on OSHA heath standards. Under GW Bush, OSHA issued only one health standard, for the carcinogen hexavalent chromium, only because it lost a suit by @Public_Citizen and a federal court required it. 2/

Did zoom kill workers?

Not directly, but yes. Hear me out.

Results of a new #CDC @NCHStats study: workers who couldn't work from home were at greatly increased risk of dying from #COVID.

Workers who could work from home were less likely to die. 1/ 🧵
tinyurl.com/bdd2rc3k Industries where workers had higher risk dying from #COVID include transportation & warehousing; healthcare & social assistance; waste services; public administration; agriculture, forestry, fishing, & hunting; wholesale trade; accommodation & food services; & manufacturing 2/

Just arrived! Paperback edition of The Triumph of Doubt.

Published in 2/20 to rave reviews in Science, Nature & elsewhere. Then the pandemic hit & my focus shifted to preventing workplace COVID spread.

I'm returning now to Corporate #disinformation.
A 🧵with some reviews: 1/ “The Triumph of Doubt is a brave and important book, raising the alarm about the systemic corruption of science.”
@lawrencefelic in @Nature 2/
tinyurl.com/9xf6yeyu

How does @Hyundai cope with labor shortages?

It hires children at high hazard manufacturing plants.

@Reuters finds immigrant children employed at Alabama metal stamping parts manufacturing plant. Safety is a problem at these plant too. @jschney
🧵 1/
tinyurl.com/yc585phx In 2015, when I was #OSHA Administrator, I visited Korea and met with #Hyundai and #Kia top management, to warn them of the poor safety management and the risk to workers in their supplier manufacturing facilities in Georgia and Alabama. 2/

The alcoholic beverage industry has long claimed that “moderate” drinking is not harmful – even that is good for you, reducing mortality risk. That is not true, of course.

The industry has manufactured uncertainty about the harms of alcohol for years. 1/ 🧵 As I write in my book “The Triumph of Doubt: Dark Money and the Science of Deception,” the alcohol industry has long disputed studies showing increased mortality risk from “moderate” alcohol consumption. 2/
tinyurl.com/9xf6yeyu

A short thread on the opposition to #OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard.

The rule is a straightforward public health measure which requires large employers to insist that workers who are not vaccinated be tested weekly and wear a mask, to avoid infecting other workers. 1/ Opposition to this rule is being led by the retail industry and aided by 3 highly partisan judges who have already made blatantly political ruling.

I ran OSHA for 7 years – please allow me to explain how outrageous this opposition is. 2/

I ran @OSHA_DOL for 7+ years.

Not surprisingly, many people are asking me “How will the OSHA vaccination requirement be enforced?”

For the most part, it will not need to be enforced by OSHA inspectors and inspections.

Let me explain. 1/ OSHA standards are powerful tools to change conditions at 1000s of workplaces, without OSHA ever having to inspect.

Most employers try to be law abiding. When OSHA issues a standard, their attorneys and HR staff tell them how to comply with the standard. 2/

No more mask mandates or density requirements in stores and other businesses in Texas and other states?

Not so fast.

@OSHA_DOL, which I ran for 7+ years, may get in the way. 1/

https://twitter.com/TexasTribune/status/1366879463376629764

@OSHA_DOL will issue a mandatory standard later this month that will likely conflict with actions by @GovAbbott and some other governors to end virus exposure prevention efforts in businesses.

Allow me to explain 2/