Employers would be subject to stiffer penalties for endangering workers and face fines for failing to accurately record injuries and illnesses under separate bills pending in Congress.
Under the first bill, sponsored by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., companies repeatedly cited for the most serious violations that result in workers’ deaths could face criminal penalties, instead of just misdemeanors. The legislation would also require federal workplace safety regulators to investigate all injuries and deaths. Federal safety protections would be extended to federal, state and municipal workers.
The second bill, sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., would revive a Barack Obama-era rule that President Donald Trump overturned in April requiring employers to promptly record all injuries, illnesses and deaths.
Under federal law, workplace safety regulators have up to six months after a violation occurs to issue a citation. The legislation would enable the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to cite companies within six months of discovering an injury record-keeping violation, instead of the initial date the employer fails to record the injury.
Both pieces of legislation are intended to blunt sweeping policy decisions by the Republican-led Congress and Trump administration that have rolled back Obama-era protections for American workers.
“President Trump and Republicans are allowing corporations and special interests to take advantage of workers and put their bottom line ahead of workers’ safety,” said Murray, the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, in a written statement. “Tracking workplace injuries and deaths is critical to crack down on the most dangerous industries and repeat offenders.”
Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders had assailed the rules, saying OSHA had overreached. Groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Association of General Contractors and the National Home Builders Association supported the push to overturn the record-keeping rule earlier this year, and urged these lawmakers to “put a stop to OSHA’s abuse of its authority.”
Despite the Republican majority in Congress, Franken says it is time to revamp outdated workplace safety protections.
“Too many Americans are still exposed to unnecessary hazards on the job and we continue to see too many preventable workplace deaths and injuries,” Franken said in a statement about his bill. “It’s our job as legislators to upgrade our laws when they no longer work for our constituents, and this bill would do that by increasing protections for workers.”
It is not known whether Republicans will take up the bills, introduced in the Senate in May. Similar bills are pending in the House.
Proponents of the bills acknowledged that it will be difficult to push them through Congress.
Jennifer Gollan can be reached at jgollan@revealnews.org. Follow her on Twitter: @jennifergollan.
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