Each year, about 6,000 workers are killed on the job and thousands more are severely injured; it is estimated that on a daily basis 15 workers are killed and nearly 11,000 workers are injured or made ill.  

Criminal penalties are only available if a worker dies; serious injury is not subject to criminal prosecution.  When a tragedy does occur and a worker is killed on the job, the highest criminal penalty available is a misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of just six months.  When a worker dies because of a knowing violation of the worker safety laws, the maximum sentence should be measured in years, not months.  Anything less sends the wrong message about the value of a worker’s life.

And with only weak criminal penalties available to OSHA, too often profit is put ahead of compliance as penalties are seen as a “cost of doing business.”  This is not an acceptable cost.

No worker should leave home unsure if his or her workplace is safe, and no family should have to worry if they will see their loved one again as they send him or her off to work.   Sadly, this happens to 15 families every single day.   But I am hopeful that hearings such as the one held today can prevent such devastating losses.

Today, my heart goes out to all of the workers who have been injured on the job and to their family members.  Particularly in my mind today are the families in Nevada.   In 2008, OSHA conducted 26 fatality investigations in Nevada.  I will continue to press for legislative improvements that will prevent injuries or fatalities.  I also would like to recognize the Las Vegas Sun for its work in publicizing and investigating the deaths of workers on the Las Vegas Strip.  Alexandra Berzon, along with editorial writers Matt Hufman and David Clayton, recently won a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their investigative reporting, which opened the door to expose the dangers workers faced on the job when safety was sacrificed for speed and profit.  

On Workers Memorial Day, let us remember those workers who died or were injured on the job, and recommit to diligently trying to improve worker safety by strengthening OSHA penalties and enforcement in order to prevent future tragedies. 

WHAT:          
Hearing on, “Improving OSHA’s Enhanced Enforcement Program”

WHO:            
Jordan Barab, acting assistant labor secretary, Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Eric Frumin, director of health and safety, Change to Win
Elliot Lewis, assistant inspector general for audits, U.S. Department of Labor
Jesus Royas, stepson of Raul Figueroa, a worker who was crushed to death as a result of unsafe working conditions, West Palm Beach, Fla.
Jason Schwartz, partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

WHEN:         
Thursday, April 30, 2009
10:00 a.m, EDT
                        
WHERE:       
House Education and Labor Committee Hearing Room
2175 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C.

 

WHAT:          
Hearing on “Are OSHA’s Penalties Adequate to Deter Health and Safety Violations?”
 
WHO:            
Rebecca Foster, stepmother of Jeremy Foster who died as a result of a workplace safety violation, Danville, Ark.
Lawrence P. Halprin, partner, Keller and Heckman LLP
Margaret Seminario, safety and health director, AFL-CIO
David Uhlmann, professor and director of environmental law and policy program, University of Michigan Law School

WHEN:         
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
10:00 a.m. ET
Please check the Committee schedule for potential updates »

WHERE:       
House Education and Labor Committee Hearing Room
2175 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C.

Protects More Workers

• Expands OSHA coverage to include state and local public employees and federal government workers.
• Expands coverage to millions of other workers inadequately covered such as airline and railroad employees, and Department of Energy contractors.
   

Strengthens Health and Safety Penalties
 

• Raises civil penalties and indexes those penalties to inflation.  
• Establishes mandatory minimum penalties for violations involving worker deaths. 
• Allows felony prosecutions against employers who commit willful violations that result in death or serious bodily injury, and extends such penalties to responsible corporate officers.    
• Requires OSHA to investigate all cases of death and serious injuries (i.e. incidents that result in the hospitalization of 2 or more employees).
   

Improves Whistleblower Protections

• Codifies regulations that give workers the right to refuse to do hazardous work.  
• Clarifies that employees cannot be discriminated against for reporting injuries, illnesses or unsafe conditions, and brings the procedures for investigating and adjudicating discrimination complaints into line with other safety and health and whistleblower laws.
   

Allows Workers and Their Families to Hold Dangerous Employers Accountable

• Provides workers and employee representatives the right to contest OSHA’s failure to issue citations, classification of its citations, and proposed penalties. 
• Gives injured workers, their families and families of workers who died in work-related incidents the right to meet with investigators, receive copies of citations, and to have an opportunity to make a statement before any settlement negotiations.
• Clarifies that the time spent by an employee accompanying an OSHA inspector during an investigation is considered time worked, for which a worker must be compensated. 
• Prohibits OSHA from designating a citation as an “unclassified citation” where an employer can avoid the potential consequences of a “willful” violation, the most serious violation. 
• Allows any worker or their representative to object to a modification or withdrawal of a citation, and entitles them to a hearing before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

“Children at age 12 [are] not allowed to work making copies in an air-conditioned office or cleaning floors at a local store.  Yet today in America, children can legally work in harsh conditions out in the farm fields for wages sometimes below minimum wage. Exploitation of children, regardless if it’s done legally or illegally, needs to stop today.” -- Norma Flores, a former migrant farmer who began working when she was 12 years old.

“Unfortunately, all the laws and labor protections in the world won’t help if we do not adequately enforce our child labor laws.  It is clear that the Bush administration is not focused on enforcing the laws already on the books.” --  Rep. Lynn Woolsey, chair of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee.

“Much more can and must be done to better protect our young people from hazards and dangers they confront in the workplace. Child labor law is no longer a high priority for the Department of Labor.” -- Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumers League.

In July, Chairman George Miller proposed legislation (H.R. 6660) to forbid the Department of Labor from issuing, administering or enforcing the department’s proposal.

“I am troubled by the Department of Labor’s attempt to rush through this rule without a full consideration of its effect on the health and safety of American workers.  This proposed rule has without explanation leapfrogged ahead of many other worker protection standards that OSHA should have been working on for the last 8 years.” -- Subcommittee Chair Lynn Woolsey

“Our nation’s system for protecting workers from harmful substances that cause injuries, illnesses, and deaths is paralyzed.  Thousands of workers are exposed every day to chemical compounds and physical hazards that are known to be harmful, yet these exposures are permitted by outdated or non-existent OSHA and MSHA standards.” -- Dr. Celeste Monforton, a lecturer at the department of environmental and occupational health at The George Washington University

“The proposed risk assessment rule has been developed in secret by political appointees…with little involvement by OSHA and MSHA and with no public notice prior to its publication.  The department is trying to rush the proposal through and is depriving the public of an opportunity to meaningfully participate in this rulemaking process.” -- Peg Seminario, director of safety and health at the AFL-CIO
 

After the Crandall Canyon mine disaster, the U.S. House of Representatives acted promptly to strengthen our nation’s mine health and safety laws by passing the S-MINER Act. This bill will require more vigorous oversight of retreat mining plans and activities.

Our committee’s investigation and other inquiries have shown that this tragedy was preventable. Actions by an irresponsible mine operator and an incompetent U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration allowed this disaster to occur. Unfortunately, Secretary Chao has failed to hold anyone in MSHA accountable for the agency’s substantial failure to prevent the Crandall tragedy.

This anniversary reminds us of the significant risks miners still face while extracting the coal that meets our nation’s energy needs. The several mine tragedies that have occurred recently have been the result of weak laws, outlaw mine operators, and government agencies asleep at the switch. This is unacceptable. We must work aggressively toward a future where all miners can return home safely after their shifts. There is no better way to honor the lives of these fallen workers than to do all we can to prevent these kinds of tragedies from ever occurring again.

It is obvious from these events that existing rules and efforts by OSHA to prevent these explosions are not sufficient. The agency should immediately issue an emergency standard to prevent these explosive hazards. Failing that, Congress will act to ensure that the agency does its job.

It is clear from OSHA’s report that Imperial Sugar had a company-wide problem with sugar dust. Not even the deaths of 13 workers raised alarm bells with the company as proven by the dangerous conditions exposed at Imperial’s Gramercy, Louisiana plant more than a month later.

(In April, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the Worker Protection Against Combustible Dust Explosion and Fires Act (H.R. 5522). The bill, introduced by Chairman Miller and Rep. John Barrow (D-GA), would require OSHA to issue emergency rules to regulate combustible dust, like sugar dust, that can build up to hazardous levels and explode.)

MSHA's accident investigation report affirms the conclusions reached by our own investigation: Murray Energy should not have proposed the flawed retreat mining plan and MSHA should not have approved the plan. It is clear that Murray Energy is an outlaw company that recklessly endangered its employees’ lives. It is tragic that the deaths of six miners and three rescuers resulted from the reckless actions of a few individuals and inadequate MSHA oversight.

Especially troubling is MSHA’s conclusion that Murray Energy misled MSHA regarding bumps that occurred in March 2007.  In April of this year, I asked the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into this very subject.  The April referral was supported by significant evidence committee staff uncovered as they reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents, interviewed many witnesses, and deposed several individuals involved. I am confident that MSHA’s additional evidence in support of our criminal referral will provide further assistance to the Department of Justice in aggressively pursuing this criminal matter.

We will review MSHA’s investigation report and that of the forthcoming review of MSHA’s actions at the mine. The agency’s track record, however, leads me to believe that MSHA is not up to the task of protecting the health and safety of our nation’s miners. We must ensure that another tragedy such as this never happens again.

(In January, the House of Representative approved mine safety and health legislation that includes provisions to ensure more vigorous oversight by MSHA of retreat mining plans and activities. More information on the Supplementary Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act (H.R. 2768) »)

As we state in our letter, it is disturbing that the Department of Labor is moving this proposal over the objections of career staff in the relevant health and safety agencies. Such career staff have the objective, technical expertise and experience to fully understand the proposal’s implications for workers.   

The Bush administration will stop at nothing to rush through a secret rule that will tie the hands of health and safety experts when responding to our nation’s critical health and safety threats.

But, that’s really no surprise at all. For nearly eight years, this administration has consistently failed to respond in a meaningful way to the real health and safety threats workers face while on the job. We’ve seen it when it comes to failing to protect workers who handle a dangerous artificial butter flavoring, ensuring that underground miners are sufficiently protected, and making sure construction workers are able to return home safe after their shift.