ASSP Conference: All Quiet in Washington
Orlando – Heather MacDougall, former chair of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, and Jim Frederick, former acting OSHA chief and senior deputy in the Biden administration, gave an update on OSHA news at a Tuesday morning session at the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) meeting here in Orlando.
After a flurry of action earlier this year relating to OSHA field office closures – later overturned – and mass layoffs that decimated NIOSH, there’s a summer lull. Perhaps most disturbing is there are currently no members occupying the three seats on the OSHRC, meaning the commission can take no action on any contested OSHA enforcement cases. Jon Snare, a former OSHA official, has been nominated for one seat and must be confirmed by the Senate. Decisions require a quorum of two members. MacDougall is concerned the lack of movement here may indicate the administration “will let the OSHRC wither on the vine.”
David Keeling, the former UPS and Amazon safety and health executive, also awaits confirmation by the full Senate after being approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. Both of the DC insiders don’t expect Keeling to take the helm at OSHA until this fall.
Two OSHA-related bills now in Congress are not expected to go far. The so-called “NOSHA” bill simply calls for abolishing the agency and has almost zero support. It’s been introduced for several years. A bill that would require OSHA to finalized a heat stress prevention standard in one year also has very little support and stands about as much chance of passage as “a cold day in July in Orlando,” according to Frederick. It too has been introduced before.
Since the passage of the OSH Act more than 50 years ago, Congress has rarely taken any interest in safety. One exception: after George W. Bush was elected in 2000, the GOP majority in the Senate within months voted to eliminate the ergonomics rule finalized by OSHA in the waning days of the Clinton administration.
What to watch for: 1) Congressional action on President Trump’s deep budget cuts for OSHA; 2) Moves, or at least more talk, about expanding the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) by lowering the bar for entry – perhaps for companies with interest in or having existing safety and health management systems; and 3) Will Keeling, once in control, push for a workplace violence standard, as he pledged to look into at his Senate confirmation hearing.
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