I left off in Part 1 with the question, so how do we have a strong OSHA?

Before we discuss this further, I want to make one thing clear.  In my opinion and through my experience, companies with safety as a value do not have a problem with a strong OSHA.  In fact companies with safety as a value partner with OSHA, share best practices, mentor other facilities, and join OSHA in the mission to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women.

Now on to how do we have a strong OSHA.  With the change of administration in the White House, OSHA leadership changes, political initiatives change; the question is will the results remain the same?

Meet the new Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Leadership

The two highlights of leadership change within OSHA from the new administration have been the additions of Dr. David Michaels (Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health) and Jordan Barab (Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health).

Meet Dr. Michaels

David Michaels, Ph.D., M.P.H. – Biography from osha.gov

“David Michaels, PhD, MPH, is an epidemiologist and a nationally recognized leader in the scientific community’s efforts to protect the integrity of the science on which public health and environmental policies and regulation are based. Before coming to OSHA on December 9, 2009, he was Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, directing the department’s Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy.

From 1998 to 2001, Dr. Michaels served as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environment, Safety and Health. In that position, he was the chief architect of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, the historic initiative to compensate nuclear weapons workers who contracted occupational illnesses as a result of exposure to radiation, beryllium and other hazards. The program has provided more than $5 billion in payments to sick workers and the families of deceased workers.

In 2006, Dr. Michaels was awarded the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award, and, in 2009, the John P. McGovern Science and Society Award given by Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, for his work in scientific integrity and for gaining compensation for nuclear weapons workers.

Dr. Michaels is the author of many scientific and policy publications, including Doubt is Their Product: How Industry’s War on Science Threatens Your Health (Oxford University Press, 2008). He is a graduate of the City College of New York, and holds a Master in Public Health and PhD from Columbia University.”

Meet Jordan Barab

Jordan Barab – Biography from osha.gov

“Jordan Barab joined OSHA as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health on April 13, 2009.
He previously served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA from 1998 to 2001, when he helped the Agency to promulgate the ergonomics workplace safety and health standard that was repealed by Congress in March 2001.

For the House Education and Labor Committee, he was Senior Labor Policy Advisor for health and safety from 2007 to April 2009.

Mr. Barab worked on workplace safety issues for the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board from 2002 to 2007; he was a Health and Safety Specialist for the AFL-CIO from 2001 to 2002; and he directed the safety and health program for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees from 1982 to 1998.

He also created and wrote the award-winning weblog, Confined Space, from 2003 to 2007.

He holds a master’s degree from The Johns Hopkins University and an undergraduate degree from Claremont McKenna College.”

At this point if change was ever going to happen at OSHA these two individuals are the right people for the job.  Both individuals have been leaders in the protection of the worker.  If change doesn’t happen at OSHA with Dr. Michaels and Mr. Barab at the helm it may never.  Questions however remain – will it be the right change, will the Congress give OSHA more authority, will the new leadership’s “new sheriff in town” attitude do further damage to an already poor OSHA image?

What is happening in Congress?

On April 23, 2009 a bill was introduced to the House, H.R. 2067: Protecting America’s Workers Act.   The stated reason for H.R. 2067 is “To amend the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to expand coverage under the Act, to increase protections for whistleblowers, to increase penalties for certain violators, and for other purposes.”

In a press release from the bills co-sponsor and Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor George Miller (D-Calif), the four main aspects of the bill include the following:

• Protect More Workers
• Strengthen Health and Safety Penalties
• Improve Whistleblower Protection
• Allow Workers and Their Families to Hold Dangerous Employers Accountable

So why would the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 need to be updated?  The American Society of Safety Engineers’ Council on Practices and Standards explained in a report titled International Corporate Criminal Liability in the Workplace the following after reviewing U.S. laws in addition to several other countries.   “As of yet, the U.S. has not enacted a comprehensive system of laws specifically designed to hold corporations and other organizations criminally liable for management decisions that result in criminal offenses.” This was also highlighted in a famous Frontline Report, A Dangerous Business, in the section Toothless in Washington? there is a listing of criminal prosecutions of workplace fatalities.  Although this information is from 2003, it is no less relevant today.  This report states “Since the creation of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 32 years ago, there have been more than 200,000 workplace-related deaths. However, OSHA has referred only 151 cases to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution — and the maximum penalty companies face for a “willful violation” of OSHA laws is a misdemeanor. Federal prosecutors have declined to pursue two-thirds of these cases, and only eight of them have resulted in prison sentences for company officials.”

Would OSHA become stronger by being able to levy larger penalties and have company officials face real prison time for negligent actions?  I think the answer is yes.  Would I have concerns being an EHS Professional?  No, as I stated in the intro – In my opinion and through my experience companies with safety as a value do not have a problem with a strong OSHA.  In fact companies with safety as a value partner with OSHA, share best practices, mentor other facilities, and join OSHA in the mission to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women.

The UK recently went through similar political discussions culminating with the implementation of the the The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 which became effective April 6, 2008.  In Part 3 we will look at this legislation and the debate that lead to its passage.

Like

Unlike