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Many legislators and officials disagree. "We are all at fault—the employee, the employer and ourselves in government," says Esther Peterson, the Johnson Administration's Assistant Secretary of Labor for Standards. "I'm tired of this buck passing. It's time we did something together about all this." Congress may well enact new coal-mining legislation at this session, but passage of a more general industrial-safety law looks less likely. Last year the Johnson Administration pushed for legislation that would have empowered the Secretary of Labor to issue mandatory health and safety standards and to enforce them—to the point of closing down factories—if "imminent harm" was found to exist. The legislation died, in no small part because of vigorous industry objections. But similar bills have been introduced this year, including one co-sponsored by 34 members of the House. The Nixon Administration has yet to take a stand on the issue. Whatever its decision, it is evident that much of U.S. industry needs some sort of spur—economic, moral or legislative—to overcome its lethargy toward the physical dangers Americans face in the course of earning a living. The goal of improving individual safety is beyond dispute. Every month that the acrimonious debate drags on over how best to reach it, another 1,100 U.S. workers will die.