April 28 marked Workers’ Memorial Day, a day to remember and honor those who have died on the job. Workers’ Memorial Day also serves as a reminder of how much progress has been made in protecting Americans at work since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act) and how much work remains to ensure all Americans are safe at work.

On April 10, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) co-hosted a two-day stakeholder session with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as part of its annual High Level Regulatory Cooperation Forum. The forum provides an opportunity for members of the business community to tell American and European officials how they would like the standards and safeguards that regulate their activities to be "harmonized." For the business community, "harmonization" is generally viewed as an opportunity to move to the lowest standards, or in the language of free trade, to remove or reduce "trade irritants." The exchange at the forum was between business and government; few public interest representatives were allowed to participate.