Worker Safety Regulations Dramatically Loosened Under Bush Admin.

News:
Under the Bush administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued the fewest significant standards in its history, public health experts say, a trend they credit to the administration’s habit – by now familiar – of appointing former industry officials and lobbyists to regulatory posts. Since Bush took office, OSHA has imposed only one major safety rule, while the only significant health standard it issued was ordered by a federal court. At the same time, the agency has killed dozens of existing and proposed regulations and delayed adopting others.

Bush has cut funding for OSHA, now under DHS

The Department of Homeland Security wants us to duct tape windows against chemical attacks. Real progress toward safer workplaces and communities would result from expanding emergency response and process safety management standards to cover more facilities and chemicals. We hear a barrage of concerns about the potential for terrorists using infectious diseases to create biological weapons. Yet, promulgating the stalled standard for airborne tuberculosis would have an added benefit of protecting workers from a host of other airborne infectious agents.

Another standard that OSHA has failed to finalize is the standard that would clarify when employers pay for personal protective equipment. OSHA has withdrawn more than a dozen important rules from the regulatory agenda under this administration. The current Administration is recommending cutting 10 people responsible for OSHA standard setting.
Bush Calls Cuts an Increase

The Bush Administration issued reports comparing the budget request of FY03 to the request for FY04. This deliberately misleading description of the Administration’s OSHA budget calls a $3 million cut an increase in funding.

Even level funding would be a cut, given inflation. The number of workers and workplaces increases every year, so coverage would decrease even with compensation for inflation.

The Administration calls a $7 million dollar cut in worker training a level appropriation request. In fact, the Administration’s request of $4 million for worker oriented training is a 77% cut. In other statements, the Administration indicated the intention to zero out funding for union programs, spending the entire $4 million for training on something else.

The Administration is seeking $67 million for employer-controlled compliance assistance. This is an increase of $7.2 million from last year. Whether such assistance should be publicly funded or a focus for OSHA is questionable. Certainly, seeking such increases when worker-training funds are being slashed demonstrates a bias in favor of employers. At the same time Bush is seeking to cut 64 federal enforcement positions at OSHA. Compliance assistance only works when there is strong enforcement to back it up.

http://www.uaw.org/hs/03/02/hs01.cfm

By pb_trueApril 25, 2007 - 9:57am