For the first time in 12 years, the U.S. Congress is launching an aggressive campaign to examine the safety of America’s workplaces and determine whether the agency assigned to oversee workplace safety – the Occupational Safety and Health Administration – is doing the job that Congress gave it when the agency was created over 35 years ago. Both the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee have held a number of hearings and are considering a variety of legislative initiatives.

A number of hearings have been held in the House of Representatives. The full Education and Labor Committee has held two hearings on mine safety to monitor the implementation of the MINER Act that was passed in the wake of the Sago and other mine disasters of 2006.

The Education and Labor Committee also held a hearing on the 2005 BP Texas city explosion in which 15 workers were killed. The committee is closely monitoring OSHA’s oversight of this nation’s refineries and chemical plants and is considering another hearing and possible legislation.

The Workplace Protections Subcommittee has held two OSHA oversight hearings – one addressing OSHA’s failure to issue standards and a second on lack of coverage for public employees.  Eric Peoples, a victim of popcorn lung, testified at the standards hearing, and Casey Jones, whose husband was killed in an explosion at the Daytona Beach wastewater treatment plant, testified at the public employee hearing.

The Senate held a general OSHA oversight hearing prior to Workers Memorial Day and has also held a mine safety hearing where AFL-CIO Director Peg Seminario and George Washington University professor David Michaels testified.

Several pieces of legislation have been introduced to address workplace safety issues.  Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chair, Lynn Woolsey and Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller introduced legislation (HR 2693) to force OSHA to issue an emergency standard to address “popcorn lung” caused by the artificial butter flavoring, diacetyl.

Woolsey and Miller in the House and Senators Ted Kennedy and Patty Murray in the Senate have re-introduced the Protecting America’s Workers Act (HR 2049, S 1244), which addresses a number of issues, including the inadequacy of OSHA penalties, non-coverage of public employees and workers who fall under the jurisdiction of other government agencies like the Federal Aviation Commission, instead of OSHA. The Protecting America’s Workers Act also address the rights of families after a workplace fatality and improved whistleblower protections.

Rep. Rob Andrews has also introduced HR 1517, which addresses public employee coverage.  Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has introduced HR 268 to address problems in the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, and in the Senate, Patty Murray has introduced the Ban Asbestos in America Act of 2007 (S.742) and held a hearing.

There are a number of other issues of interest to representatives, including:

•Addressing the health needs of World Trade Center recovery workers: The committee will be looking into why workers weren’t protected at Ground Zero, OSHA’s performance during Katrina and who is responsible for worker safety during national disasters.

•The causes of chronic under-reporting of injuries and illnesses: OSHA’s inadequate efforts to protect immigrant workers who suffer from a disproportionately high rate of workplace injuries and fatalities.

 

•OSHA’s failure to address ergonomics problems: Despite pledges made after the 2001 repeal of OSHA ergonomics standard, OSHA has made few citations and issued only a small handful of guidelines. Meanwhile, musculoskeletal injuries continue to amount to a third of all injuries and illnesses, over 375,000 serious ergo injuries requiring days away from work.

 

•Updating OSHA’s Permissible Exposure Limits: OSHA is still enforcing chemical standards based on science from the 1950s and 1960s, while thousands of other chemicals go completely unregulated. Congressional leaders are interested in finding a way for OSHA to update its chemical standards.

 

•OSHA’s ineffective penalty structure: OSHA fines are so low that they provide no disincentive to breaking the law.