Woolsey: Worker Safety and Health Shouldn't be a Partisan Issue
Below are the prepared remarks of U.S. Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), the senior Democrat of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee, for today's subcommittee hearing on state health and safety plans:
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the interest that this committee has in providing oversight of the agencies within its jurisdiction, including OSHA. However, I’m particularly disappointed that the majority failed to invite OSHA, or schedule this hearing with sufficient advance notice so that OSHA could be available to present its views on state plans and the Inspector General’s report. While this is the second hearing focused on OSHA, it would seem timely to invite Assistant Secretary Michaels to inform us on OSHA’s initiatives.
Many states have advised us that they work well with OSHA, as they provide valued guidance and budget support.
OSHA’s oversight also identifies states that fail to adequately protect their workers. For instance, OSHA’s reviews have found that South Carolina and Oregon have serious weaknesses. Their average penalties for serious violations are less than $300. That is 70 percent below the national average of $1,000, and does little to deter the kind of violations that could cause serious injury or death.
OSHA also found significant weaknesses in California’s state workforce safety plan that impaired enforcement; in response, the legislature enacted and the Governor signed corrective legislation. I would ask unanimous consent to submit for the record, a letter I received from Ellen Widess, the Chief of CalOSHA that is in strong support of a strong partnership between federal OSHA and the California State plan. I would note this is the largest state OSHA Program in the country.
In 2009, OSHA commenced a review of the Nevada State Plan after 25 workplace related deaths occurred over an 18-month period. It found that Nevada’s inspectors were inadequately trained and that the state had actively discouraged inspectors from issuing willful and repeat violations in fatality cases.
Since then, OSHA has completed in-depth reviews of 25 state OSHA programs, which hasn’t happened since 1991, following the deaths of 25 workers trapped in a fire at the Imperial Foods plant in North Carolina. These are positive developments that the committee should be supporting.
The Inspector General recently issued recommendations that it said would improve OSHA’s evaluations of state workplace safety programs to better determine their effectiveness. On May 31, OSHA provided a detailed written response to the IG report that outlines the steps it is taking to develop “effectiveness” measures. OSHA stated that it will also continue to rely upon its existing “activity” measures to ensure that State Plans are operating effectively and fulfilling federal grant requirements.
Unfortunately, the work OSHA is doing to improve its state review program is in jeopardy because the majority’s budget cuts funding for OSHA by 23 percent. Grants for state plans will be cut by $25 million from the request of $105 million, if this budget is approved for Fiscal Year 2012.
Ranking Member Miller and I recently asked GAO to assess the impacts of proposed budget cuts on the ability of state plans to carry out their mission, and whether some state plans may be forced to simply close down and turn their program back to Federal OSHA.
I also look forward to hearing from our witnesses whether these cuts will undermine states’ efforts to promote worker safety.
Mr. Chairman, incredibly, 4,551 workers were killed on the job last year. That is an average of 12 workers killed each day. Worker safety and health should not be a partisan political issue. I think we can do better in future Subcommittee hearings to assure that they are informative and balanced. Thank you.
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