there’s a lot of things I love about Star Trek but one of the things I love the most is that there’s just. Absolutely no space FERPA, no space HIPAA, these people just talk about anybody’s business to anybody.
there’s no space OSHA either
Seriously!!! Where is the workplace safety in SPACE.
Although, that makes me wonder how good the safety protocol is for astronauts. Astronaut OSHA.
Astronaut OSHA is more intense than regular OSHA imo.
Like there’s certain inherent risks to space travel that can’t be mitigated - just because we are putting humans in an environment where humans are not able to survive without assistance. And we put them there by strapping them to the top of basically very big controlled explosions. There’s a lot that can go wrong.
And there have been issues with overall risk management at NASA in the past - most notably the Challenger and Columbia disasters. The Challenger one in particular was due to rushing to meet deadlines. And this has been cause of most NASA near-disasters and disasters.
This though is different than general day-to-day safety regs and engineering controls, which is generally what people mean when they refer to OSHA (things like safety shields, fume hoods, etc.). In terms of general day-to-day safety, and safety onboard the space station now, there are a LOT of safety rules that have to be followed. So most astronauts and space scientists complain a lot more about the many safety restrictions on what they can do, than about feeling unsafe.
However, Starfleet not only has institutional issues with risk management - they have issues with day-to-day workplace safety imo. Like - shuttlebays don’t have any physical barriers or controls to prevent someone from walking into a tractor beam. Mining drills aren’t operated remotely nor do they have an emergency shutoff...I could go on.
