Those who say that osha isn't needed don't know many contractors.
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Funny cause it's true.
Holy eff it is. I haven't been working long but the things the electricians I've worked with try to pull is unbelievable, and I'd say they're "better than most." My company has a contract with this company to build them some electrical equipment building (best way to describe it) and they're messing it up all sorts managerial-wise, but what's really crazy is the 
things the workers do on a daily basis. How the heck someone hasn't seriously injured themselves is beyond comprehension.
Are these workers being forced, against their will and with the threat of termination by their foremen/superintendents, to do these crazy things?
The exact opposite, at least the guys I work with are trying to keep them from doing these crazy things, it's more of a case of missing management rather than micromanagement. Granted they're trying to make brutal deadlines but that does not mean safety can be circumvented, the reputation of my company is built on safety records so any mishap can keep us from getting other jobs. It's more of a "when the cats away the mice will play" mentality that's the point trying to be proven. Can there be forced work in places? Sure, but really contractors (and more accurately the worker under them) are in the mentality of "getting the job done" not "getting the job done safely" or at least thinking it through. Hence the need for OSHA.
So what you're saying is that your company provides training for their employees and puts a heavy emphasis on working safety yet some employees continue to practice unsafe acts when not under immediate supervision? OSHA is needed to ensure that those workers take it upon themselves, after being provided ample training and proper PPE, to practice safe work habits? I just want to make sure I fully understand your argument here.
My company is overseeing the engineering of a subcontractors' construction, they are not my company's employees. I agree it's the responsibility of the subcontractor (as it is our company) to provide proper safety training and PPE to do the job correctly, but the subcontractor is failing to meet our standards and OSHA's standards of safety. It's general every company's and OSHA's policy to report any unsafe working conditions and make sure things are done in a safe manner.
To untangle your statement, even though I haven't been doing my job for a really long time, OSHA to me is the standard set of guidelines of safety in which every worker has the right to have while working and be able to go home safe every night. Without a general rule book (in addition to company policies) there would be no way to define "safe" and "unsafe" working practices legally, or at least you need some sort of bureaucracy (OSHA) to oversee the proper administration of safe work practices.
Without such as bulwark with regular inspections it becomes easy to not follow the rules, and not following the rules put workers at risk at being hurt on the job, not a thing anyone wants to have happen to themselves. Not only that, having such a legal bulwark makes it easier for me, the engineer, to cite certain rules and regulations to wayward contractors about not being safe, and also what is to be expected at the job sites I, (as an extension of my company), oversee.
