Growth of Governmental Regulatory Oversight

Each year in Colorado, a number of accidents involving contact with high voltage power lines occur, often resulting in serious injury or death. In an effort to prevent these types of accidents, the Colorado legislature has enacted laws designed to provide safer working conditions in areas around high voltage power lines.

Colorado has created the Utility Notification Centers of Colorado (UNCC) as a nonprofit corporation that consists of all owners and/or operators of underground and overhead facilities. All such owners and operators are required by law to join the notification association and utilizes the single toll-free telephone number(s) that excavators can use to call the UNCC of pending excavation plans.

Tell your contractors to call 8-1-1 before they excavate or work near overhead power lines.

Establishing Procedures for the Protection of Underground Facilities from Damage Caused by Excavation Work

9-1.5-103. Plans and specifications - notice of excavation - duties of excavators - duties of owners and operators

Architects, engineers, or other persons designing excavation shall obtain general information as to the description, nature, and location of underground facilities in the area of such proposed excavation and include such general information in the plans or specifications to inform an excavation contractor of the existence of such facilities and of the need to obtain information thereon pursuant to subsection (3) of this section.

Except in emergency situations and except as to an employee with respect to the employer's underground facilities or as otherwise provided in an agreement with an owner or operator, no person shall make or begin excavation without first notifying the notification association and, if necessary, the tier two members having underground facilities in the area of such excavation. Notice may be given in person, by telephone, or in writing if delivered.

9-2.5-102. Activity near overhead line - safety restrictions

Unless danger against contact with high voltage overhead lines has been effectively guarded against as provided by section 9-2.5-103, a person or business entity shall not, individually or through an agent or employee, perform or require any other person to perform any function or activity upon any land, building, highway, or other premises if at any time during the performance of any function or activity it could reasonably be expected that the person performing the function or activity could move or be placed within ten feet of any high voltage overhead line or that any equipment, part of any tool, or material used by the person could be brought within ten feet of any high voltage overhead line during the performance of any function or activity.

The document below shows the increase in or growth of governmental regulatory oversight in terms of the annual number of pages in the Federal Register; governmental regulatory administrative costs and; increased staffing to oversee the regulations. While the regulatory burden is substantial, the last two pages indicate that is also a positive result in terms of fewer accidents.

The size of the Code of Federal Regulations – the official U.S. Government publication of final regulations which now occupies over twenty feet of shelf space (Code) – provides a sense of the magnitude of the stock of existing regulations with which U.S. businesses, workers, and consumers must comply.

The number of pages in the Federal Register provides a sense of the flow of new regulations issued during a given period and suggests how the regulatory burden will grow as Americans try to comply with the new mandates. In 2004, the federal government printed 78, 851 pages of rules and announcements. At four minutes per page, that would require 2.5 people reading eight hours per day for a year just to keep up with the new rules and pronouncements.

A Working Paper in Regulatory Studies, E-Rulemaking: A Case Example of eGov Transformation, by Susan E. Dudley and Richard D. Otis June 13, 2005, Mercatus Center, George Mason University Derived for the Budget of the United States Government, Federal Register , and related documents, various fiscal years.

Social regulations include regulatory activities that address issues related to health, safety, and the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Transportation Safety Board are examples of agencies that administer social regulations.

Economic regulations tend to be industry-specific. The Securities and Exchange Commission, The Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are examples of agencies that fall into the economic regulation category.

The largest projected increase among the social regulation subcategories (both in dollar and percentage terms) is for homeland security; the President's 2006 budget requests a real 4.6 % increase in outlays for regulatory activities within the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security is budgeted to receive an additional $1.1 billion in regulatory funding over last year. DHS's budget for administering regulation is the largest of any agency at $18 billion.

Regulators' Budget Continues to Rise: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005. By Susan Dudley & Melinda Warren. Mercatus Center, Widenbaum Center. George Mason University, Washington University. Upward Trend in Regulation Continues: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2005 and 2006. Susan Dudley, Melinda Warren, Mercatus Center, Widenbaum Center, George Mason University, Washington University.

Staffing at federal regulatory agencies in 2006 is expected to reach an all-time high of 242,376, The number of federal employees responsible for regulating private sector activities is over four times what it was in 1960.

By all measures, Governmental regulation of public and private entities is significant and growing, and affects virtually all aspects of our lives.

Regulators' Budget Continues to Rise: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005. By Susan Dudley & Melinda Warren. Mercatus Center, Widenbaum Center, George Mason University, Washington University Upward Trend in Regulation Continues: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2005 and 2006. Susan Dudley, Melinda Warren, George Mason University, Washington University

Incidence rates for occupational injury and illness cases in private industry, 1973 - 2003

One factor contributing to the decline in overall injury and illness incidence rates is the shift in hours worked from a sector with a high rate of injuries (manufacturing) to other sectors with lower rates of injury.

Manufacturing hours decreased from 35% of all hours worked in 1973 to 17% of all hours worked in 1997.

In all years, the rates would be higher if the number of manufacturing hours worked was as high as in 1973. However, the decrease over time is still apparent, suggesting that the shift away from work in manufacturing does not account completely for the decrease in injury and illness incidence rates.

Incidence rates for occupational injury and illness cases in private industry, 1973-1997. (Cases without lost workdays and lost-workday cases are subsets of total cases.) (Source SOII [19099].) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Worker Health Chartbook, 2000, September 2000, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2000-127

Fatalities in Crashes Involving Large Trucks and Passenger Vehicles per 100 Million Vehicle Miles Traveled, 1975 - 2003

A large truck is defined as a truck with a (GVWR) greater than 10,000 pounds. A passenger vehicle is defined as a car or light truck (including pickups, vans, and SUV's).

Over the past 20 years there has been a 44% increase in registered large trucks and an 86% increase in large truck miles traveled.

Over the same time period, the number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes each year has declined by 4%, and the vehicle involvement rate for large trucks in fatal crashes has declined by 51%.

Over the past 10 years there has been a 30% increase in registered large trucks and a 35% increase in miles traveled by large trucks.

The number of large trucks involved in injury crashes each year has decreased by 8% over the past 10 years, and the vehicle involvement rate for large trucks in injury crashes has declined by 32%. Alcohol Involvement (BAC of 0.01 g/dl or more) for large truck drivers in fatal crashes has declined by 77% since 1982, the first year of FARS data for alcohol involvement in fatal crashes.

Source:

U.S. Department of Transportation, FMCSA-RI-04-033, FMCSA Analysis Division/Large Truck Crash Facts 2003, Vehicle Miles of Travel: FHA. Fatal Crashes and Vehicles Involved: NHTSA, FARS