Workers' Rights in the Space Race: OSHA and Neoliberal Market Conflicts

This paper presents a synthesis of pragmatic and ethical concerns with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a US government agency, in the context of exploration, colonization, and monetization (with an emphasis on critical metals). OSHA provides worker safety regulations on a federal level, and proponents state that these regulations protect workers, while opponents state that OSHA either does not do enough to protect worker safety or that the increase in worker safety rates is due to market competition rather than federal regulation. This paper aims to state the importance of preemptive regulation in the context of the space race, in lieu of historical reactionary regulations, and to note the intersection of neoliberalism and colonialism that dictates market values, including space exploration. Finally, the paper posits that OSHA can utilize decolonizing ethics to increase worker safety and decrease health disparities associated with race.