The latest continuing resolution signed by President Clinton Jan. 26, will keep OSHA running at least through March 15, but puts many employees at risk of furloughs and layoffs as the agency is forced to cut costs. The resolution leaves OSHA with funding that is a 15.5 percent reduction from FY95 levels. If Congress forces OSHA to operate for the remainder of the year with this cut ($264 million vs. $312 million in '95), the agency will have to "furlough all employees for approximately 35-40 days during the balance of FY96," according to the Labor Department.
Meanwhile, NIOSH has been awarded funding for the remainder of fy96 at a level $2 million above its 1995 budget. Despite a House-approved budget that slated NIOSH for a 25-percent budget cut, and proposed OSHA reform legislation that seeks to eliminate NIOSH, in early January the President signed appropriations of $134 million for the agency.
NIOSH spokeswoman Julie Tisdale attributes the turn of events to the extensive work NIOSH head Dr. Linda Rosenstock has done to show Congress that her agency's efforts do not duplicate OSHA's.
OSHA begins collecting data from 80,000 employers in high hazard industries via injury and illness report forms that individual workplaces will be asked to complete and return to the agency. The form asks employers to tell OSHA: the average number of employees who worked at their establishments in 1995; the number of hours employees worked in 1995; and details about injuries and illnesses last year. OSHA estimates it will take employers about 30 minutes to complete the form with the aid of payroll information and their 1995 OSHA 200 Logs.
The data will be used to expand on OSHA's Maine 200 program. A varied list of industries targeted by the data initiative includes all manufacturers in SIC codes 20-39.
OSHA intends to reopen the record on 1,3-butadiene since industry and labor representatives recommended stricter exposure limits through a negotiated rulemaking process last month. Members of the Steelworkers and Chemical Workers unions and the International Institute of Synthetic Rubber Producers agreed to reduce the butadiene exposure limit from 1,000 parts per million to 1 ppm, and to require specific engineering controls at 0.5 ppm. In another recent negotiated rulemaking success, the Steel Erection Negotiated Rulemaking Advisory Committee released a draft proposal for a revised standard. The new standard would increase fall protection for steel erection workers, requiring safety gear for workers at heights of 15 feet, up from 25 to 30 feet.
OSHA issued a new tuberculosis compliance directive in february reflecting the latest CDC guidelines for preventing occupational TB exposure to workers in health care facilities, correctional institutions, long-term care facilities for the elderly, homeless shelters, and drug treatment centers.
The directive gives inspection procedures and lists standards under which employers can be cited for failing to protect workers from TB exposure. Those standards are: the general duty clause; respiratory protection; accident prevention signs and tags; access to employee exposure and medical records; and recordkeeping and reporting occupational injures and illnesses.
OSHA proposed $277,200 in penalties against Montgomery, Ala., construction firm McInnis Corp. after investigation into an accident in which an employee fell from a bridge construction site and drowned. OSHA alleged that the firm failed to provide fall protection and other safety equipment such as life rings and a skiff for emergency rescue of employees working over water. OSHA also cited the company for alleged defective welding cables, and safety program and training deficiencies.
Panama City, Fla., pulp mill stone container corp., has agreed to pay OSHA $690,000 in penalties and to implement improvements at its facilities following a wood chip pulp digester explosion that killed three workers. In addition to the settlement amount (OSHA's initial penalty was $1 million), the mill will carry out new inspection, maintenance, repair and alteration practices and ensure that all work on pressure vessels is performed in accordance with the National Board Inspection Code.
With 110,000 pages of public testimony on record already, OSHA received thousands more on the last day for comments on its proposed indoor air quality rule. Tobacco company Philip Morris submitted nearly 5,000 pages of arguments, according to reports in the national press. The licensed beverage and restaurant industries also submitted their opposition as the final bell sounded last month.