Government regulatory agencies are too often tangled webs of bureaucracy, fraught with internal politics and in conflict with both industries and individuals. How to instigate and implement the needed reform is a timely issue that is currently being debated. Reforming the Workplace is an account of a successful program that is now a model for nationwide improvements in various regulatory agencies.

Joseph Rees's focus is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which in 1982 announced a major shift in policy, from strict government regulation to self-regulation...