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“INTRODUCTION OF OSHA REFORM BILLS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Labor was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E661 on April 15, 1999.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
INTRODUCTION OF OSHA REFORM BILLS
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HON. CASS BALLENGER
of north carolina
in the house of representatives
Thursday, April 15, 1999
Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing five bills, each targeted specifically to a needed reform of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Over the past several years, we have made progress in redirecting and refocusing OSHA, from an agency that was too often focused on enforcement ``for enforcement's sake'' to one that has begun to recognize the importance and effectiveness of cooperative efforts and consultation programs, and of encouraging the voluntary efforts of employers and employees.
When we began this effort, the Clinton administration claimed that any change in OSHA's focus on enforcement would lead directly to increased injuries and deaths. In fact, just the opposite has occurred. The Department of Labor has reported in recent months that both workplace fatalities and workplace injury rates have again declined and are at the lowest levels since those records have been maintained. Those record low levels have been achieved even though we are the midst of a tight job market, a time in which, historically, injury rates increased.
My goal is to continue to push for changes that will further reduce injuries and fatalities by encouraging voluntary action and cooperative approaches. Where regulation and enforcement is imposed, it should be fair and the benefits should justify the costs. Unfortunately, there are still far too many instances in which OSHA's enforcement and regulation is neither.
The five bills that I am introducing cover the following areas. I welcome my colleagues' support for these bills.
Audit Protection: Safety and health audits are an important aspect of a company's efforts to ensure that their workplaces are safe. Most employers, particularly in hazardous industries, do some type of safety and health audit. Those with good lawyers then either destroy the records or disclose it only to their lawyers, neither of which is the most effective way to improve safety and health. The reason companies do so is that OSHA inspectors routinely use the audit to penalize the employer. OSHA's enforcement policy is counterproductive to employee health and safety. I believe we should encourage employers to conduct audits, not discourage them. My bill provides limited protection for audits, and at the same time, encourages employers to conduct audits and to fix the hazards found during those audits.
Whistleblower Protection: The OSH Act provides important legal protection for employees who raise concerns about safety or health hazards. However, the current process for handling those complaints is neither effective nor fair. Complainants sometimes wait years for the Department of Labor to decide whether to seek relief in court. I am proposing that the OSH Act be amended to provide an administrative private right of action so that the complainant is assured opportunity for an administrative hearing and timely decision. Encouraging safety and health audits and assuring timely adjudication of whistleblower complaints by employees are important steps that Congress must take to support and encourage voluntary safety and health efforts by employers and employees.
Safety Meetings: As a result of a December 1998 decision by the National Labor Relations Board, employee safety committee are illegal, except: (1) where a union is involved and the safety committee is negotiated with the union, or (2) the safety committee has no real responsibility for safety and health. For years we have argued over what employee involvement the law allows or does not allow. At least now, in the area of safety, it is clear that, for most workplaces, current law permits very little employee involvement. It is time to fix the law. My bill addresses only safely committees; it does not open up the National Labor Relations Act. It would allow employees to participate, through safety committees, in evaluating safety conditions and safety rules and policies--responsibilities that are now prohibited in the majority of workplaces.
Rulemaking Reform: In my view, a relatively simple reform would make OSHA standards-setting more fair and lead to more practical regulation. When OSHA proposes a standard, it should clearly indicate which industries will be regulated, and its risk assessments and cost analysis regarding the standard should relate specifically to those industries. Neither of these steps is new. OSHA has identified specific industries in some rulemakings, and the courts have frequently required OSHA to reconsider standards because it failed to conduct ``industry specific'' analyses. Putting these changes in statute will ensure that both are consistently part of the rulemaking procedure, thereby providing greater fairness in future OSHA rulemakings.
SBREFA Implementation: The 1996 Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Act (SBREFA) required all federal regulatory agencies to establish policies to provide for reduction and waiver of penalties for non-
serious violations by small employers. OSHA has maintained that its existing penalty policy was an adequate response. However, the existing policy allows a maximum 35 percent reduction for most small businesses, and conditions even that reduction on meeting additional, non-
regulatory requirements. My legislation will direct OSHA to adopt a specific waiver of penalties policy for non-serious violations, if those violations are corrected within a timeframe set by OSHA.
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