Woolsey Warns Against Efforts to Simplify OSHA Rules

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), ranking member on the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, plans to use her position on the panel to ensure that any simplification of Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements does not come at the expense of workers. Woolsey tells BNA she also hopes to make the case that OSHA rules are economically beneficial and counter claims that worker safety standards are ‘‘job killers.’’

Woolsey Says Efforts to Simplify OSHA Rules

Should Not Compromise Worker Safety

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), ranking member on the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on  Workforce Protections, plans to use her position on the panel to ensure that any simplification of Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements does not come at the expense of workers. Woolsey told BNA March 3 she also hopes to make the case that OSHA rules are economically beneficial and counter claims that worker safety standards are ‘‘job killers.’’ ‘‘I think we can find a very positive place where we can all come together about simplifying regulations, getting to what’s needed quicker, [cutting] the red tape,’’ Woolsey said, in response to a question about whether there was any common ground between Democrats and Republicans on the subcommittee.

Woolsey said that in looking at some of the OSH Act regulations, lawmakers need to consider whether they are making it harder to get things done. ‘‘There may be some steps we could take that would simplify it, without damaging our  goal,’’ she said. ‘‘But it’s not about letting employers voluntarily protect their employees.’’

OSHA Rules Not Job Killers, Woolsey Says.

Woolsey said she disagreed with Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chairman of the subcommittee, that overly burdensome OSHA regulations curb job growth.

‘‘I think it’s exactly the opposite,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s the lack of regulations that has killed our workers and killed their jobs.’’

Walberg made his remarks in a Jan. 26 interview with BNA (41 OSHR 91, 2/3/11). Even when safety rules do exist, Woolsey said, jobs can be lost when employers defy the rules. She pointed, as an example, to a 2009 gas purging explosion at a ConAgra plant in North Carolina that killed four workers.

‘‘Rather than rebuild the section of the plant that was destroyed, ConAgra consolidated production elsewhere and put 700 people out of work,’’ Woolsey said. ‘‘So that totally flies in the face of regulations’’ being job killers. Moreover, employers who do not obey safety regulations gain an unfair advantage over those who do, Woolsey said.

‘‘It’s not a level playing field,’’ she said. ‘‘By taking care of your workers, you put yourself as a business at a disadvantage. And that is not the way this is supposed to be.’’

On Jan. 5, Woolsey reintroduced the Protecting America’s Workers Act (H.R. 190), which contains provisions that would raise civil and criminal penalties for violations of the OSH Act, strengthen whistleblower protections, extend the statute’s coverage to public employees, and widen rights for family members of injured workers to participate in settlement negotiations (41 OSHR 53, 1/20/11).

Woolsey Anticipates Collegial Relationship

The Republicans’ claim that the workplace should be at least partially deregulated and that workers should take responsibility for their own safety and health is ‘‘such a Neanderthal response,’’ Woolsey said.

‘‘This is what people were saying when the OSH Act was first passed,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s the employer that has to set the conditions so that workers can be safe at their job, and it is really the employer’s responsibility to make sure the equipment is there, that it’s in good working order. And if [workers] don’t use it, it becomes a personnel problem.’’

Woolsey also said she expected her working relationship with Walberg to proceed amicably, despite the vast divide between their respective positions.

‘‘I think we’re going to try to work together,’’ she said. ‘‘I feel certain about that. He appears to be a gentleman, but we can’t let that fool us if the end results end up with workers getting less help, rather than more. We will try very hard to keep it [collegial], but not at the expense of the workers. First our job, then our friendship.’’

On March 3, Woolsey urged Walberg to visit a mine and witness the working conditions first hand.

‘‘Once you’ve been down in one of those mines, even though they’re cleaned it all up, you still know that that would be one heck of a job,’’ she said. A Walberg spokesman told BNA March 3 that ‘‘staff are just beginning to have conversations’’ about the mine visit.

‘‘At this point, all the planning is very preliminary, so timing and location are still being worked out,’’ the spokesman said.