gaining and labor-management relations in non- 

 profit organizations, the impact on American in- 

 dustrial relations of foreign-owned businesses in 

 the United States, and the incidence and causes of 

 voluntary changes in impasse procedures in Cana- 

 dian federal employment. 



The organizational structure for the conduct of 

 scientific activities is as follows: An annual re- 

 search workplan is initiated in the Division of Re- 

 search and Analysis, and is reviewed, evaluated, 

 and approved by the Office of Labor-Management 

 Policy Development and then by the Assistant 

 Secretary for Labor-Management Relations, with 

 the review and evaluation assistance provided by 

 staff of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Evalua- 

 tion and Research. The decision to conduct re- 

 search in-house or on a contractual basis is made 

 initially in the annual research workplan and justi- 

 fied there, subject to the review described above. 



The mechanisms for the initiation and termina- 

 tion of basic research are the same as for applied 

 research, namely the need for the research as set 

 forth in the annual research workplan, described 

 above. The level of support is determined at the 

 initiation of the project and funds are obligated; 

 they are not siphoned off to other projects. The 

 priorities are established in the research workplan 

 in terms of need for the project and reevaluated 

 periodically during the fiscal year in terms of De- 

 partment labor-management relations policy. This 

 may change the priorities for research projects not 

 yet initiated, but will not interfere with projects 

 already started. 



Occupational Safety and Health Administration 



OSHA, established pursuant to the Occupational 

 Safety and Health Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1590), de- 

 velops and promulgates occupational safety and 

 health standards, develops and issues regulations, 

 conducts investigations and inspections to deter- 

 mine the status of compliance with safety and 

 health standards and regulations, and issues cita- 

 tions and proposed penalties for noncompliance 

 with safety and health standards and regulations. 



In general, OSHA conducts very little basic re- 

 search. The agency couples research with an eval- 

 uation of existing operations. 



As defined by OSHA, basic research involves 

 the application of scientific principles to study 

 phenomena related to the basic causes of injuries 

 and illnesses and the environmental characteristics 

 that seem to be related to safer and healthier work- 

 places. Basic research is done for the most part by 

 OSHA's sister agency, the National Institute for 

 Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). OSHA 

 activities in basic research are limited to agency 

 responsiveness and effectiveness in its enforce- 

 ment activities. In the six years that OSHA has 

 been in existence, no basic research has been 

 initiated or completed; consequently, OSHA has 

 no formal organization or management plan for 

 basic research. Furthermore, NIOSH has the basic 

 responsibility for a formal research plan. In the 

 next three years, however, it is likely that some 

 basic research will be performed, primarily in the 

 area of causal studies on injuries and illnesses and 

 characteristics of safe firms. 



151 



