OK, they have not erected barricades in DC yet (other than the ones to prevent terrorist suicide bombings). But the partisan fighting is wicked and will only worsen as the 2012 election nears. And by no means surprising, OSHA finds itself once again fodder for political fighting.

The GOP has already placed a rider on one funding bill that stipulates OSHA cannot receive funds for working on the Injury and Illness Prevention Program. The General Accounting Office (GAO) has two OSHA investigations on its plate: Republicans want to know the effectiveness of enforcement; Democrats want to know why it takes so long to issue OSHA standards.

Dr. David Micheals, the OSHA chief, spoke this week at the National Safety Congress and Expo in Philadelphia. He did not wear a hard hat and Kevlar flak vest. He needn’t had worried, the room was two-thirds empty (a clue of what’s hot and not).

The OSHA boss spent 20 minutes basically spinning for OSHA, arguing regs don’t kill jobs but save them, that OSHA historically has accomplished much, that no one should fear OSHA ramming through the I2P2 standard; it takes years and years to set a standard, he said.

It’s Dr. Michaels’ fate to head OSHA at one of those times when an OSHA issue, like ergonomics in the 1990s, because a symbol exploited in a larger political brawl pitting those wanting less government and those seeing social need for government intervention.

History goes round and around. OSHA chiefs during the agency’s 40-year history come charging in, flying their new priorities, on the offensive, and always it seems in due time find themselves on the defensive, defending issues more than pushing them forward.