Congress first dealt with issues of safety and health in the workplace in 1890, when legislation was passed for safety standards in coal mines. Over the next several decades, more complicated machinery and new chemicals entered the workplace yearly, posing new hazards to workers.

　　國會第一次處理職業(yè)安全與健康的問題是在1890年，當時國會立法通過了煤礦安全標準。在接下來的幾十年里，每年都有更復雜的機器和新化學物質進入工作場所，給勞動者帶來了新的危害。

　　By the late 1960s, an estimated 14,000 workers were dying on the job each year, and over 2 million were suffering disabling injuries from work-related accidents. For years business and labor groups wrangled over the need for federal legislation.

　　到20世紀60年代后期，據估計每年都有一萬四千多名工人因工致死，還有超過兩百萬工人因工受傷或致殘。多年來，工商界和勞動團體就聯(lián)邦立法的需要一直爭論不休。

　　Opinion in Congress was deeply split over what form legislation might take, but in 1970 Congress finally approved the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which would establish theOccupational Safety and Health Agency, or "OSHA." OSHA quickly became one of the federal government's most disliked agencies.

　　國會內部在確定立法形式上發(fā)生了嚴重分歧，但最終于1970年批準通過職業(yè)安全與健康條例，并依法成立了職業(yè)安全與健康署，即 OSHA。OSHA 很快就成為聯(lián)邦政府內部最不受歡迎的部門之一。

　　Businesses complained that they faced scores of nit-picking rules, high compliance costs, andarbitrary inspections. In response, OSHA scaled back many of its original rules, and focusedits safety inspections on the most dangerous workplaces. Employment in the U.S. has more than doubled since the creation of OSHA, but during the same time period, occupational injury and illness rates declined 40 percent, and the number of workplace fatalities dropped by 60 percent.

　　企業(yè)們抱怨他們要面對大量挑剔的規(guī)則，高昂的成本以及專制的檢查。作為回應，OSHA 縮減了原有規(guī)則的數量，將安檢力度集中在最危險的工作崗位上。自從 OSHA 成立以來，美國就業(yè)人數翻了一番多。與此同時，因工受傷、患病的概率下降了40%，并且因公死亡事件降低了60%。

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