Pending bill would give OSHA more enforcement tools
Changes include felony charges for certain violations
The Protecting America's Workers Act currently pending in Congress would strengthen and modernize the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 by giving OSHA additional tools to ensure that employers promptly correct hazardous working conditions, protect workers from retaliation when they blow the whistle on unsafe working conditions, and hold employers accountable for violations that cause death or serious injury to workers.
"OSHA needs set deadlines for states to improve their programs and assist states where they can with training, while Congress needs to live up to its end of the bargain by providing adequate funding for state OSHA plans," said California Congressman George Miller, the ranking Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee.