Regulatory Compliance Facts

Here's an EPA illustration:

Clean Air Act
42 U.S.C. §§ 7401 et seq. (1970), established air pollution control standards and gave citizens' groups the right to sue alleged violators. Most notably, it set auto emission standards and required manufacturers to drastically reduce the amount of pollutants discharged from new cars. Enforcement authority was assigned to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A 1977 amendment extended certain deadlines for reaching specified auto emission levels while applying tighter restrictions on coal burning and other pollution sources; and a 1990 amendment imposed more stringent requirements on urban areas and mandated the increased use of cleaner-burning fuels.

Info on Osha:

A strong, fair and effective enforcement program establishes the foundation for OSHA's efforts to protect the safety and health of the nation's workers. OSHA seeks to assist the majority of employers who want to do the right thing while focusing its enforcement resources on sites in more hazardous industries -- especially those with high injury and illness rates. Less than 1 percent of inspections -- about 300 -- came under the agency's Enhanced Enforcement Program, designed to address employers who repeatedly and willfully violate the law. Strong enforcement has helped to increase alleged violations by more than 10 percent over the past five years, including an increase of 14 percent in alleged willful violations since 2003. At the same time, injuries and illnesses continue to decline significantly.