As it currently operates, OSHA does not increase worker safety in a cost-effective manner. The workers' compensation policies of state governments, for better or for worse, have the major effect on workplace safety. Telling OSHA horror stories is fun for many people. Some stories are blatant exaggerations, and we are obligated to correct the story that OSHA regulations prevent dentists from returning teeth to young children to put under their pillows for the tooth fairy. OSHA standards only require dentists to treat extracted teeth as hazardous wastes within the workplace.
Nothing prevents a dentist from returning a tooth to the person from whom it was extracted.
Of course, we are sympathetic to dentists who may be reluctant to return 'hazardous wastes' to small children because, were a child infected by a blood-borne disease from a returned tooth, the dentist could face a costly legal battle trying to avoid liability for damages in an increasingly litigious United States. State policymakers in the meantime should work to reform their workers' comp. Insurance rules, when set by companies subject to market forces, protect safety in the most cost-effective manner. As important, state policymakers should reform their tort law systems to allow workers to seek redress from employers in true cases of negligence and reckless endangerment. Leaders at the Third Way event included Italian Premier Massimo D'Alema, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.