Is safety and health program just a bunch of bureaucratic regulations that get in the way of profits?

That is the problem, profit, profit, profit and disregard to worker safety. The reason Health & safety is in place is because employers cared more about saving a buck than buying a bit of PPE to keep their workers safe. The workers where the ones that wanted the Health & safety act passed, not the GOV, the GOV actually shot it down when Lindon was in office, then passed by Nixon after protest from workers. Most of the calls we get are from employee's worried about their own safety at their work place. Also, many of the fines passed out are either thrown out or a deal is worked out with the company that was cited. (example) if I give a $500 fine to a company, They can schedual a meeting with OSHA to lower the fine, if exchsnge, they have to spend that money to update their safety program, train workers, ext... To keep it simple, No is your answer

P.S. I would think a company would rather pay a couple hundred bucks on safety than pay millions on a law suit after an injury or death. Workers comp alone would hurt them way more