See, you go on to prove my exact point, that QA workers and safety workers need the authority to stop production. You recognize this necessary authority, but then undermine it by saying it’s the “will of the workers.” If you don’t recognize it as authority, then it can be gone against, meaning you have to recognize it as authority. Managers don’t just do reports, otherwise they wouldn’t exist.

You're doing the Engels thing. "See, subordinate, you give authority to Bob from safety. Thus, you accept authority, thus, I get to tell you what to do, and I'm telling you to increase production by 200%, skirting safety protocols if need be". It doesn't work like that. Authority, like respect, is earned. A king is not an authority on bootmaking no matter how much power he wields. (Well he could actually be a hobby bootmaker but you get my point).

Proper managers just do reports. Not always the written kind. They're not saying "do this, do that", they're saying "X needs Y, can you supply it, please contact them", they're saying "have a look at this procedure what do you think of it". They're keeping an eye on everything, produce a larger picture and communicate their insights to anyone who should know, or is asking. Their authority comes from good analysis.

OSHA has power because it is punishable to not do what they say, they have authority.

You're still equating power and authority. And not just in the "eh those terms have some overlap and speech can get fuzzy", but in your thinking itself, you're not making crucial distinctions: OSHA would not need any power if bosses did not have power over workers, its authority as people knowledgable in matters of work safety is plenty to make the workers listen to them. You do not need to threaten a machinist for them to not put their dick in a vice. You do need to threaten bosses who threaten machinists so that they put their dick in a vice. The necessity to threaten the boss with gulag does only arise because the boss is given the power to threaten the worker with gulag.