Ranking Members Scott, Omar Demand Answers from Trump Administration on Destruction of Valuable Workplace Safety Documents, Putting Workers’ Lives at Risk
WASHINGTON – Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), House Committee on Education and Workforce, and Ranking Member Ilhan Omar (MN-05), House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections demanded accountability from the Trump Administration’s Department of Labor (DOL) amidst concerning reports that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has removed and potentially destroyed several key documents related to worker-safety.
These documents may have been destroyed simply because of their use of words related to “diversity” and “gender,” regardless of the context in which those words were used. By eliminating guidance to help employers comply with OSHA standards, including dealing with toxic chemical exposure, preventing workplace violence in health care facilities, and preventing musculoskeletal disorders in nursing homes and grocery stores, the Trump Administration is workers’ lives at risk.
“It is our understanding that DOL is instructing staff not simply to erase these documents from the Internet but, worse, to destroy any physical copies. OSHA’s staff should be focused on making workplaces safer, not erasing valuable information for arbitrary reasons,” wrote the Ranking Members. “If you are destroying documents, we demand that you cease doing so and refocus on DOL’s mission to protect workers’ lives and livelihoods.”
The Members plan to conduct continued oversight of DOL and are demanding DOL provide a chart of all documents that have been pulled from DOL’s websites, including the title, the original URL of the document, and a detailed explanation of the reason for its deletion from the website.
To read the full letter, click here.
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