It’s almost Halloween. The Dodgers are poised to win the World Series — again.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been retired for almost 5 months, had a grandchild, traveled, read books, wrote a few articles, posted numerous incredibly clever and insightful Tweets that have won many friends and changed many minds, and enjoyed the summer.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the world has changed. When I re-retired from the House Education and Labor Committee last April, OSHA was on its way (belatedly) to issuing a comprehensive COVID worker protection standard, Biden\u2019s approval was at 54%, COVID was on the decline, and Delta was an airline.<\/p>\n
Now things are, well, different. OSHA, a tiny agency that relatively few people had even heard of, and even fewer people cared about, has \u2013 depending on how you look at it — now been elevated into either a) the nation\u2019s savior from the COVID-19 pandemic, or b) the prime purveyor of big (Democratic) government tyranny and destroyer of patriotic citizens\u2019 God-given \u201cfreedom\u201d to infect their neighbors with a deadly disease.<\/p>\n
While OSHA has always been favorite punching bag for anti-government, anti-regulation, anti-labor types, it is now seen as Public Enemy Number One<\/a> for every crazy from QAnon adherent to numerous Republican legislators and Governors.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, beneath all the politics, COVID-19 has presented the biggest, most serious threat to workers in 51 years that OSHA has existed. We have little real idea how many thousands of workers have gotten sick or died from workplace exposures. But we know it\u2019s a higher worker death toll over a year and a half than this country has ever seen. At the same time, all of the other workplace hazards that OSHA has struggled to address \u2013 falls, chemical exposures, musculoskeletal injuries, trench deaths, explosions, etc., continue to threaten the lives and health of workers.<\/p>\n In other words, OSHA \u2013 or more precisely, worker safety — needs more support and more defense, and although I\u2019m retired, I\u2019m not withdrawing from the fight. As I always say, retirement is just doing many of the same things you did before, only for no money.<\/p>\n As many of you are aware, I started Confined Space for the first time<\/a> in 2003 to defend OSHA and worker safety during the years of the Bush Administration. I ended it in 2007 when I went to work on the Education and Labor Committee in the House of Representatives and then OSHA. Confined Space reappeared when I retired (for the first time) in 2017 on this site to help workplace safety advocates fight back against the worker-hostile policies of the Trump administration. When the Ed & Labor Committee re-drafted me after the Democrats took the House back in the 2018 election, Confined Space closed shop again. Now I’ve retired (again.)<\/p>\n This time will be somewhat different. First, it will be the first time I\u2019ve written this newsletter during a friendly, Democratic administration.\u00a0 Most workplace safety and health issues remain the same no matter who is President: workers will continue to get sick, injured and killed in preventable incidents,\u00a0 employers will be employers, and Republicans, along with the business community, will remain generally hostile to new OSHA standards and strong enforcement of those standards.<\/p>\n On the other hand, the Biden administration, led by \u201cthe most pro-union President\u201d since the New Deal, is generally friendly to the goals of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and has shown that it will support the agency’s mission and budget. Nevertheless, there have been, and will continue to be, OSHA issues, initiatives and programs that I disagree with. (To be honest, I didn’t even agree with everything we did when I was helping to run the agency.) And I plan to pull no punches when discussing those issues.<\/p>\n Those of us who have been around the block a few times know that even Democratic administrations rarely move with the speed and aggressiveness that they should, or could, to promote workplace safety. The political opposition is often too great, adequate budgets are too difficult to get passed and labor, and worker advocates are too weak to convince the political world of the importance of workplace safety. But the benefit of a Democratic administration (compared to a Republican administration) is that most Democrats\u2019 hearts and politics are basically in the right place and workers and activists who organize for progress can convince them to do the right thing.<\/p>\n Let me be clear, however, that this newsletter is not just about OSHA; it\u2019s about worker safety and health<\/strong>. OSHA is an important means to ensure safe workplaces, but not the only one. Ultimately worker safety depends on empowered workers \u2013 those with the knowledge, tools and power to confront their employers and their government to ensure a safe workplace. And I\u2019m happy to help provide any tools and knowledge they need.<\/p>\n Now, some full disclosure: I have been friends and colleagues with the many of the political appointees running OSHA and the Department of Labor today.\u00a0 And I have long working relationships \u2013 and many friendships \u2013 with many of OSHA\u2019s career staff \u2013 some of the most dedicated and hard-working people in the federal government.<\/p>\n I will try not to let those personal relationships color my writing. And I want to assure all of them that none of my criticism is meant personally.<\/p>\n Finally, the two previous versions of Confined Space became all-consuming, occupying most waking and dreaming hours. Now Jessie and I have a grandchild that we\u2019re helping to care for, so I\u2019m going to try to moderate my obsession and not write quite so often as before. We\u2019ll see if I\u2019m successful.<\/p>\n To that end, I also invite guest-contributors. I you have something to say related to workplace safety, I\u2019m happy to discuss including it here.<\/p>\n So off we go\u2026.<\/p>\n Contribute<\/strong>: I\u2019m a simple retired government\/union employee, living on a pension<\/a>. While the labor I put into this comes free of charge, the worn-out hardware, technology, fixes, computer-things-I-don\u2019t-understand, etc. often require assistance from very helpful experts who are also trying to make a living. So, if you have a few bucks handy, make liberal use of the \u201cTip Jar\u201d up on the right. PayPal or Venmo (@jordan-barab) work for me. But if you\u2019re strapped or have more worthwhile things to do with your disposable income, don\u2019t even think about it.<\/p>\n Subscribe:<\/strong>\u00a0Never miss an important development! If you look to the right, there\u2019s a \u201cSubscribe\u201d widget which will provide you with an email every time I post something. For those of you who are always complaining that they don\u2019t get enough email, what could be better? I\u2019m still using the subscriber list I used for the last version. If you\u2019ve moved on and don\u2019t want to hear from me any more, feel free to unsubscribe. I promise not to think less of you.<\/p>\n Spread it around<\/strong>: If you like reading it, spread it around. I\u2019m not just writing this for policy wonks in Washington. This is mainly for workers who need to know more about their safety and health in the workplace, the political context in which they work and what they can do to improve working conditions. I\u2019d like to have this linked in as many local and national union and COSH webpages as possible. And make full use of Twitter, Facebook, etc., social media platforms.<\/p>\n Write me<\/strong><\/a>:<\/strong> I\u2019d like your opinions. What you like, don\u2019t like, what there should be more of, less of\u2026. \u00a0There\u2019s also a comment box. Use it. But don\u2019t abuse it. Right now, they\u2019re un-moderated \u2014 anything goes. I welcome healthy discussion, even from those I don\u2019t agree with. But if a comment is inappropriate (and you know what that means), I will delete it. If there are too many inappropriate comments, I will start moderating them. \u00a0When it comes to comments, I am God-almighty. Don\u2019t mess with me. For those who need more \u201ccolorful\u201d and profane \u201cdebate,\u201d that\u2019s why God give us Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\nSo, Confined Space 3.0.<\/h3>\n
But first, a few “business” issues.<\/h3>\n