Said Henshaw, who inherited the protective equipment proposal from the Clinton administration: "We're reviewing the comments now and we're committed to taking the next step. But I don't want to say exactly what the next step is."
His emphasis, he said, has been on cooperative efforts with business and stepped-up enforcement of "bad actors" who are responsible for most safety problems.
| | | | __ Regulatory News By Agency __ | | | | | | |
|
The agency has formed 231 long-term alliances with trade associations and companies since 2002 that emphasize outreach, education, and sharing "best practices." OSHA under Henshaw has forged 214 active strategic partnerships that set safety goals involving 4,762 employers, and there are 1,153 voluntary protection program sites, where companies with exemplary safety records forego routine inspections.
Critics of the agency are leery of these arrangements, where union participation is minimal. And they don't entirely trust the numbers OSHA uses to support its claim that injures and illnesses are decreasing. Unions don't consider the reports dependable, she said, because they are furnished by employers.
Seminario points out that there have been two major changes in the way employers collect injury and illness data since 2002, making comparisons to earlier years difficult. For example, the incidence of musculoskeletal injuries on the job -- injuries from repetitive work and poorly designed workplaces -- is no longer reported separately.
Data collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on days missed from work for illness show that over the past few years, the percentage of days taken off due to injuries and illnesses related to ergonomic issues has remained constant -- about 34 percent -- though the overall number of injuries and illnesses has decreased.
The business community said it wasn't that focused on the proposed rules OSHA axed but wanted to prevent new regulations. And groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have been unhappy that the safety regulators issued citations for ergonomic violations under a broad enforcement authority. Since Congress killed the ergo rule two years ago, OSHA has opened cases against seven companies for ergonomic-related violations.
Randel Johnson, vice president of labor, immigration and employee benefits for the chamber, called the trend troubling. "The agency has aggressively pursued ergonomics citations . . . demanding abatement measures that sound much like the repealed regulation and micromanaging targeted employers with a laundry list of requirements. Despite what the unions may allege, our life with OSHA has been no rose garden."
