[whiddershins]

Well, that’s a good point. But what if the government merely said ‘without insurance, you can’t operate.’

This would be a modest intervention, but would allow a market of insurers to determine what is safe, so as to reduce cruft.

Maybe it’s flawed, but it works for UL rating and building materials ... no UL certification no insurance, therefore no materials are sold without the certification, even though it is technically legal to sell them. This results in a private market for, say, awesome cherry wood coffee table tops that aren’t regulated, but Sheetrock and structural steel clearly is.

Maybe it wouldn’t work, I’m just saying OSHA and state regulations aren’t the only conceivable way to imagine workplace safety being enforced.