ENZI OPPOSES HOME STATE ON SAFETY

As ranking member of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, Sen. Mike Enzi, R-WY, is one of the nation’s leading conservative voices on matters of occupational safety and health.

Enzi’s voice is so strident that conservative legislative proposals on worker safety in Congress typically emanate from his office. Executive appointments at safety and health agencies like OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration also usually must meet his scrutiny.

Since his election to the Senate in 1997, Enzi, a former businessman, has been a key proponent for giving employers sufficient leeway to keep their workplaces safe rather than overburdening them with enforcement. Enzi has said his first priority is preventing accidents by making people aware of OSHA regulations, not raising fines on employers.

But in an unusual occurrence Enzi is running contrary to others in his conservative home state on how to improve workplace safety, calling into question the fundamental approach on safety he consistently has advocated nationally.

Wyoming has been grappling with rising rates of workplace fatalities over the past decade, and, in direct contravention to Enzi, a state task force is recommending that OSHA penalties on employers be increased to create a stronger deterrent to unsafe workplaces.

Nation's Highest Fatality Rate

Wyoming’s Worker Fatality Prevention Task Force, which was empanelled by Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal after a spate of fatalities, said insufficient penalties and the state’s proud, independent culture are major reasons for deteriorating workplace conditions. Wyoming, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, has the damning distinction as having the nation’s worst occupational death rate at 17.1 fatalities per 100,000 workers in 2007 -- four times the national average. Freudenthal termed the fatality rate "just awful."

The task force noted that almost 65 percent of workplace fatalities in Wyoming from 2003 to 2007 were transportation-related involving vehicle crashes on highways – totaling 136 of the 210 fatalities. Another 35 died on work sites from being struck, crushed or caught in equipment. About half of the workers killed during that the period worked either in transportation or oil and gas followed by construction and agriculture, according to the task force.

The group concluded that in almost every recorded workplace fatality it studied, proper safety rules either weren’t in place or weren’t being followed.

Wyoming workplace fatalities did drop from 48 in 2007 to 33 in 2008, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, but experts said the overall state workplace death rate still is trending upward.

Opposes Greater Employer Penalties

The Protecting America's Workers Act, signature legislation of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-MA, that was re-introduced in the House in April 2009, would dramatically increase employer penalties for OSHA violations, but Enzi is opposed to the bill. Enzi and Kennedy worked together many years in the HELP Committee with Kennedy as chairman. Enzi's spokeswoman told the Casper, WY Star-Tribune newspaper that Enzi “believes the most helpful thing Congress can do is help small businesses prevent accidents by helping them understand the regulations in the first place, instead of coming in at the end with penalties.”

Enzi’s thinking was predominant during the two terms of President George W. Bush, but one that is misaligned today with OSHA under President Barack Obama. Nationally, OSHA already in 2009 has been much more aggressive in pushing an enforcement agenda. Additionally, now that healthcare reform has passed the Senate, action on the Kennedy bill is likely during 2010.

In stark opposition to Enzi’s position, the Star-Tribune newspaper’s editorial board opined in a column Dec. 18 that “the monetary level of OSHA fines is hardly a deterrent to companies. In November, a member of the Joint Judiciary Committee noted that the state's fines for poaching a moose out of season are much higher than for reckless violation of OSHA rules that result in the death of a worker. That's ridiculous.”

Further, in keeping with the state’s independent nature, the editorial board urged that Wyoming should try to reduce workplace fatalities and other accidents on its own rather than waiting for the federal government to act.

While notably conservative, Enzi nonetheless has been considered a reasoned and pragmatic voice in the Senate. But with some in his own home state questioning whether the “trust-in-the-employer” approach on workplace safety is working -- though some may be Democratic voices -- Enzi may come under increasing pressure to reconsider his long-held views.

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Photo: Sen. Mike Enzi, Casper, WY, Star-Tribune

DOL WEB CASTS GLIMPSE OF FUTURE

The Department of Labor jumped headlong into the future of communications Dec. 7 with an eye-catching series of real-time Web chats outlining its regulatory priorities for 2010. So remarkable was this display of social-media transparency and participation that, in some respects, it overshadowed the actual news of what was contained its full regulatory agenda.

The use of Web chats and other social media devices, such as the department’s employing Twitter, Facebook and You Tube, offers a glimpse of how the government likely will be disseminating news and information to stakeholders and media going forward. As interested parties align to the way the department and staid agencies like OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration want to communicate, the novelty naturally will subside and it will be commonplace.

Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis opened the programming with a video message outlining regulatory priorities in the various department agencies. That was followed later in the day with the secretary’s own hour-long Web chat. Then acting OSHA administrator Jordan Barab convened another hour-long chat to discuss worker safety regulatory initiatives and receive questions from those on the chat.

Eight Hours of Chats
Altogether, DOL scheduled eight hours of Web chat Q&A sessions over three days on its regulatory agenda. The session with MSHA on mine safety was set for 1:30 p.m. EST on Dec. 8. In addition to live chatting, participants could forward questions in advance via email, and chats are archived for later use.

Both the Solis and Barab chats drew the participation of stakeholders ranging from attorneys, industry representatives, labor-union leaders, citizens and the media. Peg Seminario, AFL-CIO safety and health director, asked Barab a question about OSHA’s peer review of its draft risk assessment on silica exposure in the workplace. Daniel Glucksman of the International Safety Equipment Association asked Solis about new items on the reg agenda. One question to Solis from the press asked whether the secretary supported an airborne infectious diseases standard in the wake of the H1N1 virus. J.J. Keller editor Travis Rhoden asked about a proposed rule on working-walking surfaces. One citizen, who described himself as a deaf American living in San Juan, PR, wanted to know where he could find a federal building in San Juan because he was seeking a federal disabilities and employment program.

While the freshness of such an event itself may have overshadowed the actual news being articulated by Solis and agency heads, Barab on OSHA's behalf did offer important insights on its regulatory timetables for 2010. By law, agencies must publish their regulatory agendas in the Federal Register for public scrutiny, and that was achieved in advance of the event.

Barab Outlines Timelines
Among some of Barab’s key points outlined in his chat were: OSHA is not planning new ergonomics rulemaking despite restoring a column to log musculosketetal injuries on the OSHA 300 log; OSHA expects to issue a final rule on cranes and derricks in construction in July 2010; that OSHA has no immediate plans to pursue a standard on airborne transmissible diseases to combat H1N1 as it is able presently to address issues using existing standards and the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s General Duty Clause; that OSHA expects to begin a peer review and risk assessment for a diacetyl standard in October 2010, and that no date is yet envisioned for a final rule on combustible dust. Additionally, Barab took questions on confined spaces in construction, reactive chemical hazards, recordkeeping, permissible exposure limits, workplace emergency response and preparedness and hearing conservation.

“We encourage you to raise questions, submit views, and otherwise provide input to us on the Department's plans for upcoming regulations,” Barab said in introductory remarks to his chat. “Our main purpose today is to have a dialogue on the overall regulatory priorities reflected in the plan.”

One of the obvious implications of the department’s Web chats is that news and information about agency initiatives are put directly into the hands of stakeholders no matter who they are -- in real-time and without filter.

In the past, when a DOL agency would have news to announce, it would convene a conference call of reporters and others, such as when justifying its new fiscal year budget each February. The reporters would then filter and disseminate the “news” through their prisms, often at odds with the agency’s message.

Going Directly to Stakeholders
This approach of going directly to stakeholders is in line with where communications is moving today, but it also threatens to upset some long-held "apple carts." What it does is eliminate any confusion over what a policymaker or regulator actually is imparting. In the world of occupational safety and health and labor policy, everyone, it seems, is pursuing an agenda – whether labor unions for workers, industry groups for employer clients, non-profit organizations for new members or industry publications for advertising dollars. As more citizens log in directly to mediums like Web chats for information during the social-media age, they will rely less on traditional means of communication dissemination, and that might rub certain organizations the wrong way.

As DOL and OSHA continue to development its new-age communications policies, here is a suggestion that will move the ball forward even more: Why not provide real-time transcripts of key agency meetings, such as advisory committee meetings, forums or public hearings? In those cases, often citizens must wait several weeks for transcripts to be published. While there may be some legal impediments to real-time transcripts, it might be an idea worth pursuing.

More: Department of Labor Web chat page, OSHA regulatory agenda, MSHA regulatory agenda

Photo: Hilda L. Solis (Source: U.S. Department of Labor)

SENATE CONFIRMS MICHAELS TO OSHA

Amid of the fog of debate on healthcare reform, the Senate Dec. 3 approved the nomination of David Michaels to be the next Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA.

Michaels, an epidemiologist and interim chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health, was approved by unanimous consent "en bloc" as part of a group of nominees confirmed. Sen. Robert Casey, D-PA, presented the unanimous consent request.

Neither OSHA nor the Department of Labor had yet to acknowledge Michaels' confirmation on their Web sites through Dec. 4, but he likely was sworn in immediately with a public swearing in to follow at an announced time.

Much to the chagrin of opponents, Michaels' nomination failed to muster much opposition in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee or the full Senate. The HELP Committee did not hold a confirmation hearing and approved Michaels' nomination Nov. 18 on voice vote with two Republican senators, Tom Coburn, OK, and Richard Burr, NC, requesting that had their votes be recorded as “no.” With the committee's ranking member, Sen. Mike Enzi, R-WY, allowing the nomination to proceed that dissipated any real objection in the full Senate.

In many months of talking points seeking to stymie the nomination, opponents decried what they said is Michaels' penchant for applying unproven science to business regulation. Conversely, Michaels is author of "Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health," published in 2008 by Oxford University Press.

More: Michaels' confirmation details in Congressional Record, Description of Michaels' book

Photo: David Michaels (Source: George Washington University)

BARAB ATTENTIVE TO WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

Workplace violence has been a worker issue difficult for regulators and policymakers to get their arms around.

Requiring safety glasses in manufacturing and respirators in chemical plants are examples of fairly cut-and-dried solutions to workplace hazards. But workplace violence, despite its obvious impact, crosses many blurred lines – such as when a worker beset by personal troubles brings them into the workplace with often devastating consequences.

‘One of my Priorities’
After what he believes has been inaction at OSHA during the Bush administration, OSHA acting administrator Jordan Barab is promising to elevate the workplace violence as a worker safety issue. Barab, addressing events before an audience of labor union and safety activists in November in Connecticut, called workplace violence “one of my priorities. It's obviously a worker safety issue,” according to a newspaper account.

Add to that, Barab earlier in November addressed an international conference on occupational stress and health in San Juan, PR, saying that “workplace violence and other occupational hazards that threaten workers’ health and safety should be a concern for employers everywhere.” Sponsored by the American Psychological Association, NIOSH, Society for Occupational Health Psychology and University of Puerto Rico, Barab and other OSHA staff participated in presentations examining the global effect of work, stress and health on people in developed and developing countries.

When he wrote his popular “Confined Space,” which examined issues in workplace safety, Barab also expressed his support in several columns that workplace violence to be treated as a safety issue. Now, as the primary enforcer of OHSA regulations, Barab is able to pursue that course within the agency apparatus.

Viewed Often as Crime
Barab’s view often is in conflict with industry, which sees workplace violence in a much different light – primarily as a criminal issue. Incidents such as robberies of convenience stores and taxi drivers, for instance, do have a worker component, but have been viewed more commonly as being in the realm crime.

But because violence that occurs in the workplace draws considerable media attention when incidents happen – such as the October 2009 shooting spree in an Orlando, FL office building allegedly by a fired worker of an engineering firm that killed a worker – policymakers and regulators will need to outline specifically how they will address the issue. Proponents of workplace violence interventions consider, for example, that the killing of 13 soldiers and civilians at the Fort Hood, TX Army installation falls under the category of workplace violence despite it also being labeled a terrorist event.

Further, safety activists in the healthcare industry are shining a light on violence that might occurs against workers in psychiatric hospitals or in home health setting.

Where they may not have had to do so in the past, employers certainly will want to develop policies within their safety and health management systems to addresses violence in the workplace. Few have them now. In addition to establishing protocols on how to address incidents, policies probably also should extend outreach and training directly to workers. Having policies in place may be enough to satisfy OSHA.

More: OSHA workplace violence fact sheet, News Web site on workplace violence

Photo: Jordan Barab (Source: OSHA)