Administrative agencies are often delegated discretion or latitude to issue
rules and directives that will fill in the details of policy and make it more spe-
cific. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 exemplifies this pattern.
Although the right of workers to a safe and healthful workplace is generally
guaranteed, the statute itself does not contain substantive health and safety
standards. Rather, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA), a bureau in the Department of Labor, is authorized to promulgate
rules creating specific health and safety standards. Only as this occurs do we
have meaningful and enforceable standards that can be applied to protect
workers’ health and safety. In effect, within the framework provided by
Congress, OSHA both makes and implements policy on industrial health and
safety. Different units within OSHA handle the tasks of rule-making and
enforcement.
Much of what agencies do during the implementation of policies may
appear to be routine, mundane, or tedious—processing requests or applica-
tions, inspecting records, collecting information, writing reports, and so forth.
Most people may have little or no awareness of what agencies are doing unless
they are directly affected. Nonetheless, the consequences of implementation for
the content or substance of policy, and for its impact and degree of success, are
every bit as important as what transpires during the formulation and adoption
stages. Indeed, if implementation fails, then all that preceded was of no avail.
Vigorous and sometimes bitter political struggles attend the implementation
of policies, such as those pertaining to environmerital—pollution control, affir-
mative action, and the practice of abortion. Groups that suffer losses in the leg-
islative arena may seek to recoup some of their losses by influencing or
disrupting the administration of a policy. Thus, the automobile companies for
decades were able to delay the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's
air-bag requirement. The coal-mine industry has persistently worked to lessen
the effectiveness of both surface mining and mine-safety regulation.
A few policy decisions are essentially self-executing, such as the national
governments refusal to extend formal recognition to the government of a for-
eign country, presidential decisions to veto legislation passed by Congress
(especially when it involves a pocket veto), and the National Park Service's
decision in the early _l97Os not to fight fires caused by lightning in the national
parks. Such decisions,‘ entailing clear-cut, one-time actions, are relatively few,
however. Those who study public policy, consequently, can ill afford to neglect
the implementation stage of the policy process.
Until the great expansion of social-welfare programs during the Johnson
years focused their attention on implementation (the term began to gain
currency in the 1960s), it had not been of much interest to most political and
social scientists.