i believe that OSHA 'in principle' is doing a good job, however, 'in practice' they believe that they can pass laws that will keep a 2 year-old safe in a war zone.
of course OSHA is going to go after the company...if you are hurt and in a hospital, you probably aren't getting paid and the company has deeper pockets. the concept is that if they scare the company into compliance everybody will be safe...b.s.
i know that i am safer than i have ever been...and not because of OSHA. i wear cut-resistant gloves all the time. safety glasses too. and that is just for regular ol' stuff. i am supposed to wear the arc flash on the >50 VAC, but it really doesn't come out unless it is a nominal 200 VAC or higher...then i get suited up. i have witnessed some scary stuff and it was at much lower voltages than most of you would think. please keep in mind that the equipment that you are working on doesn't know that it isn't supposed to fail. it will fail when it wants and how it wants...you may just be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
keep in mind, that if you don't want to wear the safety gear (arc flash or not), many companies are rating their contractors based on their safety ratings. in some places, if you are the safe contractor, you get the work regardless of how much you charge per hour. being safe can be profitable.
"Right" is not the same as "Wise".
Don't step on my favorite part of the Constitution just to point out your favorite part.
Just because you can measure it, doesn't mean it is important. Just because you can't measure it, doesn't mean it isn't important.