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In a fiery rebuttal of Republican and employer attacks on OSHA during the Obama administration, former Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels yesterday rejected assertions that OSHA had focused only on confrontation over cooperation, and or that the agency had flouted the law and good safety practice when it came to enforcement, standards and media campaigns.<\/p>\n
At a House of Representatives hearing, Michaels pointed out that there is no evidence that OSHA standards kill jobs. The truth is that “OSHA standards don\u2019t kill jobs. They stop jobs from killing workers.”\u00a0 OSHA standards are really “worker protections” and “When you hear someone talk about rolling back OSHA regulations, they\u2019re really talking about endangering workers.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0OSHA standards don\u2019t kill jobs. They stop jobs from killing workers.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And Michaels described the costs of not issuing standards.<\/p>\n
There is much talk today of the costs of regulations to employers. Forgotten in this conversation is the cost to workers and their families of not creating these protections. These costs are enormous, and they are paid not just in dollars. They are paid in lives.<\/p>\n
Michaels also pushed back against Committee Chairman Bradley Byrne’s contention that the Volks Rule, an OSHA recordkeeping rule that was repealed by Congress under the Congressional Review Act, “had nothing to do with safety.” The Volks rule (which you can read all about here<\/a>) allowed OSHA to enforce a requirement that companies maintain accurate records for a period of 5 years.\u00a0 Repeal of the rule makes it impossible for OSHA to enforce OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements.\u00a0The repeal was “really a disaster,” according to Michaels.\u00a0 “By not being able to enforce accurate records, many workers will get hurt<\/a>.”<\/span><\/p>\n
Yesterday’s hearing by the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections was titled \u201cA More Effective and Collaborative OSHA: A View from Stakeholders.<\/a>\u201d The hearing starred, in order of appearance:\u00a0Mr. J. Gary Hill<\/a>\u00a0representing the National Association of Home Builders,\u00a0Mr. Peter Gerstenberger<\/a>\u00a0representing the Tree Care Industry Association,\u00a0Dr. David Michaels<\/a>, of the George Washington University (and former Assistant Secretary of Labor,) and finally,\u00a0Mr. Eric Hobbs<\/a>, representing the Chamber of Commerce.\u00a0You can read all of the written testimony by clicking on the names above. You can watch the entire hearing here:
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