[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
EXAMINING THE POLICIES AND PRIORITIES
OF THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND
HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
=======================================================================
HEARING
Before The
SUBCOMMITTEE ON WORKFORCE
PROTECTIONS
of the
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 25, 2022
__________
Serial No. 117-46
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and the Workforce
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via: edworkforce.house.gov or www.govinfo.gov
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
57-089 PDF WASHINGTON : 2024
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia Chairman
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina,
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut Ranking Member
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, JOE WILSON, South Carolina
Northern Marina Islands GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FREDERICA WILSON, Florida TIM WALBERG, Michigan
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK TAKANO, California ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK DeSAULNIER, California JIM BANKS, Indiana
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey JAMES COMER, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
LUCY McBATH, Georgia BURGESS OWENS, Utah
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut BOB GOOD, Virginia
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan, Vice Chairman LISA McCLAIN, Michigan
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan MARY MILLER, Illinios
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
MONDAIRE JONES, New York SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
KATHY MANNING, North Carolina MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana MICHELLE STEEL, California
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York CHRIS JACOBS, New York
SHEILA CHERFILUS-McCORMICK, Florida VACANCY
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin VACANCY
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
Cyrus Artz, Staff Director
Veronique Pluviose, Minority Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON WORKFORCE PROTECTIONS
ALMA ADAMS, North Carolina, Chairwoman
MARK TAKANO, California FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania,
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey Ranking Member
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan BURGESS OWENS, Utah
MONDAIRE JONES, New York BOB GOOD, Virginia
SHEILA CHERFILUS-McCORMICK, Florida MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia MICHELLE STEEL, California
VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina (Ex
Officio)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on May 25, 2022..................................... 1
OPENING STATEMENTS
Adams, Hon. Alma, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Workforce
Protections:............................................... 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 5
Keller, Hon. Fred, Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Workforce
Protections:............................................... 6
Prepared statement of.................................... 8
WITNESSES
Parker, Douglas L., Assistant Secretary of Labor,
Occupational Safety and Health Administration.............. 10
Prepared statement of.................................... 13
Costa, Thomas M., Director, Education, Workforce, and Income
Security................................................... 17
Prepared statement of.................................... 19
ADDITIONAL SUBMISSIONS
Norcross, Hon. Donald, a Representative in Congress from the
State of New Jersey:
Letter dated May 25, 2022, requesting the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to open an
investigation.......................................... 53
QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD
Responses to questions submitted for the record by:
Mr. Douglas Parker....................................... 66
EXAMINING THE POLICIES AND PRIORITIES
OF THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND
HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
----------
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Workforce Protections,
Committee on Education and Labor,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 12 p.m., via
Zoom, Hon. Alma Adams [Chairwoman of the Subcommittee]
presiding.
Present: Representatives Adams, Norcross, Stevens, Scott,
Keller, Miller-Meeks, Steel, and Foxx (Ex Officio).
Also present: Courtney and Chu.
Staff present: Brittany Alston, Staff Assistant; Nekea
Brown, Director of Operations; Christian Haines, General
Counsel; Rasheedah Hasan, Chief Clerk; Sheila Havenner,
Director of Information Technology; Eli Hovland, Policy
Associate; Stephanie Lalle, Communications Director; Andre
Lindsay, Policy Associate; Kevin McDermott, Director of Labor
Policy; Kota Mizutani, Deputy Communications Director; Max
Moore, Kayla Pennebecker, Staff Assistant; Mason Pesek, Labor
Policy Counsel; Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director; Robert
Shull, Labor Policy Staff; Michele Simenky, Oversight Counsel
Labor; Banyon Vassar, Deputy Director of Information
Technology; Sam Varie, Press Secretary; ArRone Washington,
Clerk and Special Assistant to the Staff Director; Tanisha
Wilburn, Director of Labor Oversight and Counsel; Cyrus Artz,
Minority Staff Director; Bisson Gabriel, Minority Staff
Assistant; Michael Davis, Minority Legislative Assistant; Cate
Dillon, Minority Director of Operations; Mini Ganesh, Minority
Staff Assistant; John Martin, Minority Deputy Director of
Workplace Policy/Counsel; Kelly Tyroler, Minority Professional
Staff Member.
Chairwoman Adams. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for
being here. We are ready to begin. I am going to countdown from
five and then we will start. Five, four, three, two, one.
Before I actually get started, I do want us to just take a
moment of silence. I am sure that you have all been devastated
by the horrific tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, the children at Robb
Elementary School.
If we could just have 1 minute of silence to recognize that
tragedy. Thank you.
The Subcommittee on Workforce Protections will come to
order. I would like to welcome everyone, and I note that a
quorum is present. I note for the subcommittee that Mr.
Courtney of Connecticut and Ms. Chu of California are permitted
to participate in today's hearing, with the understanding that
their questions will come only after all members of the
Workforce Protections Subcommittee on both sides of the aisle
who are present have an opportunity to question the witnesses.
The subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on
examining the policies and priorities of the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration. This is an entirely remote
hearing. All microphones will be kept muted as a general rule,
to avoid unnecessary background noise. Members and witnesses
will be responsible for unmuting themselves when they are
recognized to speak or when they wish to seek recognition.
I will also ask that members please identify themselves
before they speak. Members should keep their cameras on while
in the proceeding. Members shall be considered present in the
proceeding when they are visible on camera, and they shall be
considered not present when they are not visible on camera. The
only exception to this is if they are experiencing difficulty,
technical difficulty, and inform the committee staff of such
difficulty.
If any member experiences technical difficulty during the
hearing, you should stay connected on the platform, make sure
you are muted, and use your phone to immediately call the
committee's IT director, whose number was provided in advance.
Should the Chair experience technical difficulty or need to
step away to vote, another majority member is hereby authorized
to assume the gavel in the Chair's absence.
This is an entirely remote hearing, and as such the
committee's hearing room is officially closed. In order to
ensure that the committee's 5-minute rule is adhered to, staff
will be tracking time using the committee's field timer. The
field timer will appear on its own thumbnail picture and will
be named 001--timer.
There will be no ``one minute remaining'' warning. The
field timer will show a blinking light when time is up. Members
and witnesses are asked to wrap up promptly when their time has
expired. Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(c), opening statements
are limited to the Chair and the Ranking Member. This allows us
to hear from our witnesses sooner, and it provides all members
with adequate time to ask questions.
I would now like to recognize myself for the purpose of
making an opening statement. Today we are meeting to discuss
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (or OSHA's)
priorities and their role in protecting the health and safety
of our Nation's workers. Since 1970, OSHA's mission has been to
reduce workplace deaths, injuries and illnesses.
When OSHA was first authorized, 38 workers were killed on
the job every day from acute injuries. 52 years later, that
figure has fallen to 14 deaths per day in a workforce that is
double the size. OSHA's critical safety standards and
enforcement have directly contributed to these improvements.
Nevertheless, workers continued to be injured, made ill, or
killed on the job. Fatal workplace rights have stalled after
decades of decline, and many causes of occupational disease
remain unregulated or underregulated.
As we have explored in various hearings, in previous
hearings, the spread of COVID-19 caused the worst worker safety
crisis in OSHA's history and served as a stress test of OSHA's
capacity to address hazards and respond nimbly. This virus also
has a mind of its own, prolonging the need for robust efforts
to protect America's workers.
Regrettably, OSHA was missing in action throughout the
Trump administration, and in its handling of the COVID-19
pandemic. For example, the former administration refused to
issue an Emergency Temporary Standard that would have increased
worker participation, while workplace COVID-19 outbreaks
claimed the lives of workers across the country. Moreover, a
report from the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus
Crisis found that the previous administration intentionally
weakened OSHA guidance for COVID mitigation at employers'
request.
Simply put, the former administration turned its back on
workers to support employers` bottom line. The Trump
administration's inaction on behalf of workers and vigorous
action on behalf of corporations adds to decades of attacks by
prior administrations, past Congresses, and conservative courts
that left OSHA weakened.
Combined, this means that the Biden administration was at a
disadvantage when making worker protections a priority.
Unfortunately, the consequences are prioritizing politics over
hard science falls on the shoulders of hardworking Americans.
Thankfully, the Biden administration has taken the science-
based steps to address the COVID pandemic, to protect workers,
and to keep our businesses open.
The administration launched the largest vaccination
campaign in history, working hand-in-hand with the business
community. Making our workers safer helped the U.S. economy
create 6.6 million jobs in 2021--the strongest job growth of
any year on record and, most importantly, allowed workers to
get back to work safely.
Despite this historic comeback, the Biden administration
has struggled to make up for OSHA's past inaction and even, at
times, its own stumbles. Notably, the administration failed to
successfully implement an Emergency Temporary Standard, or an
ETS, which would have increased protections for workers. After
a 3-month delay, the first ETS was narrow in scope and only
extended protections to healthcare workers.
While this was an important step, it left millions of
workers without adequate protection from COVID-19. Regrettably,
the administration let this ETS expire, and its fate is still
unknown. The second ETS, the vaccine-or-test standard, was
blocked by the conservative controlled Supreme Court.
While American Rescue Plan delivered historic resources to
help OSHA develop these Emergency Temporary Standards, we
remain concerned that funding has not yet been used to
adequately staff OSHA and deliver on its mission. Moving
forward, the administration must take meaningful, science-based
actions to keep workers safe on the job, including issuing an
enforceable COVID-19 workplace safety standard for all workers.
To ensure OSHA has the resources it needs to do its job, I
am committed to working with my colleagues to update the
Occupational Health and Safety Act and advance meaningful
proposals introduced by my colleagues, so the agency can
protect workers' health and safety in the 21st Century
workplaces.
If we care about workers, their well-being, and want to
keep businesses open, then we must work together to invest in
and strengthen OSHA. Thank you to Secretary Parker for your
service to workers, and I look forward to a meaningful
discussion. I want to now recognize the Ranking Member for his
opening statement. Ranking Member Keller, you are recognized.
[The statement of Chairwoman Adams follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Keller. Thank you. Every American worker has the right
to safely return home to their families. Republicans support
common-sense policies that achieve the goal of ensuring safe
workplaces, and we support OSHA's enforcement of the
Occupational Safety and Health Act to hold those people who do
not follow it accountable.
That said, Committee Republicans will not shy away from
holding OSHA accountable for overreach and predatory policies
that unjustly target American job creators and their workers.
This overreach is clear in President Biden's Fiscal Year 2023
budget, which requests an $89.4 million funding increase for
OSHA to be used for overzealous enforcement and the development
of new onerous regulations that will force employers out of
business.
The request represents an overall funding increase of 15
percent from the Fiscal Year 2022 enacted level and would add
hundreds of new OSHA personnel. We are most concerned about the
nearly 50 percent increase for OSHA's office in charge of
devising and writing regulations, not to mention the 18 percent
increase for Federal enforcement.
OSHA's most recent agenda includes a staggering list of 28
planned regulatory actions. This includes the regulations OSHA
already has underway, including restoring provisions of the
controversial Obama-era electronic reporting rule, which would
do nothing to improve workplace safety but would severely
burden businesses and put the personal data of their workers at
risk.
This strikes me as yet another attempt to place job
creators in a regulatory stranglehold, which will continue to
keep our economy from fully recovering from the pandemic. If
OSHA gets this budget approved, it will be well on its way to
fulfilling the administration's pledge to double the number of
inspectors by the end of Joe Biden's presidency.
Instead of spending so much of its efforts targeting job
creators, OSHA should work with employers to expand its
compliance assistance efforts. Compliance assistance benefits
employees and job creators by protecting workers before an
injury or illness can occur. Unfortunately, the Biden
administration's budget places less of an emphasis on these
important efforts.
The Biden administration is not shy about its anti-business
agenda, and OSHA has lost a lot of trust with the American
people. In the middle of a serious worker shortage, OSHA issued
an illegal and unprecedented Emergency Temporary Standard, or
ETS, which sought to force every American working for a company
with more than 100 employees, to get the COVID-19 vaccine, test
weekly, or face losing their jobs.
This harmed private sector businesses that were already
struggling to recover from shutdowns, by forcing them to choose
between firing employees or facing massive penalties from the
Federal Government. This was an impossible dilemma for
businesses, and Biden's OSHA seems all too eager to keep
putting job creators in that untenable position.
Luckily, the Supreme Court stayed the OSHA vaccine testing
mandate, finding that it was a massive overreach of executive
power. Had this tyrannical vaccine mandate not been stayed, it
would have exacerbated a workers shortage and further crippled
our economy.
Moreover, the uncertainty surrounding the mandate put undue
burdens on employers who were forced to act as vaccine and
testing police on behalf of the Federal Government. Still, OSHA
did not learn from its mistakes and has made the decision to
revive the controversial COVID-19 ETS for the healthcare
industry.
Our healthcare industry is already straining to meet the
needs of Americans without the Biden administration demanding
additional and burdensome COVID-19 requirements. Democrats and
OSHA's misuse of the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretense to
increase top-down Federal control over the workplace is
damaging to our economy and those that fuel it--America's
workers and job creators.
Weaponizing OSHA against employers is not the way to make
workers safer, but we know that if OSHA gets its massive
funding increase, America's workers and job creators can expect
more of the same. We must work to keep this from happening and
work to restore collaboration between the Federal Government
and the private sector to ensure the Nation's workplaces are
safe and healthy.
It is important that we build policies that bring small
businesses and other job creators and our workforce together,
not drive them apart. Thank you, and I yield back.
[The statement of Ranking Member Keller follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Adams. Thank you, Mr. Keller. Without objection,
all of the members who wish to insert written statements into
the record may do so by submitting them to the committee clerk
electronically in Microsoft Word format by 5 p.m. on May 25.
I will now introduce the witnesses. The Honorable Douglas
Parker is Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety
and Health at the U.S. Department of Labor. He previously
served in the Obama administration as Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Policy in the Department of Labor's Mine Safety
and Health Administration.
Mr. Parker earned a J.D. from the University of Virginia
School of Law and a B.A. in history from James Madison
University.
Mr. Thomas M. Costa is a Director on the Education,
Workforce, and Income Security Team at the Government
Accountability Office. He oversees worker protection, safety,
employment, and training issues. Tom joined the GAO in October
2005. He earned a master's degree in international relations
with a focus on policy, political psychology from George
Washington University, and he earned a bachelor's degree in
philosophy and psychology from the University of Connecticut.
Now let me thank all of the witnesses, and our
instructions. We appreciate you for participating today. We
look forward to your testimony but let me remind the witnesses
that we have read your written statements, and they will appear
in full in the hearing record.
Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(b) and the committee practice,
each of you is asked to limit your oral presentation to a 5-
minute summary of your written statement. Before you begin your
testimony, please remember to unmute your microphone. During
your testimony staff will be keeping track of time, and the
timer is visible to you at the witness table.
Please be attentive to the time, wrap up when your time is
over, and re-mute your microphone. If any of you experience
technical difficulty during your testimony or later in the
hearing, you should stay connected on the platform, and make
sure you are muted, and use your phone to immediately call the
committee's IT director whose number was provided.
We will let the witnesses make their presentations before
we move to member questions. When answering a question, please
remember to unmute your microphone. The witnesses are aware of
their responsibility to provide accurate information to the
subcommittee, and therefore we will proceed with their
testimony. I would like to first recognize Mr. Parker. Mr.
Parker, you are recognized for 5 minutes, sir.
STATEMENT OF HON. DOUGLAS PARKER, ASSISTANT SEC-
RETARY OF LABOR FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND
HEALTH, ADMINISTRATION
Mr. Parker. Chairman Scott and Chairwoman Adams, Ranking
Member Foxx and Keller and members of the subcommittee, thank
you for the opportunity to testify today to highlight the
important work the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration to protect the health, safety, and dignity of
our nation's----
Chairwoman Adams. Mr. Parker, can you turn your microphone
up a bit?
Mr. Vassar. Mr. Parker, if you could please mute and then
unmute your microphone one time again and begin to speak, sir.
Mr. Parker. Is that better?
Mr. Vassar. It is slightly better, but the beginning of
your testimony was very clear, and it immediately changed to
become a lot lighter. If you could mute one time sir, and then
immediately unmute your microphone, then try speaking again
sir, thank you.
Mr. Parker. How is this, one, two, three, testing.
Chairwoman Adams. Okay.
Mr. Parker. Is that better?
Chairwoman Adams. It is. Go ahead, sir. We had stopped your
time, so you will not lose your time.
Mr. Parker. I also want to thank members of the Education
and Labor Committee for providing more than $100 million in
supplemental funding to the American Rescue Plan, to support
and strengthen OSHA's enforcement and regulatory effort, and
additional resources for our Susan Harwood Training Grant
Program.
OSHA is determined to proactively address the need of a
changing and diverse 21st Century workplace and support the
Secretary of Labor's vision of good, safe, healthy jobs. Our
goal at OSHA is to align one of the most fundamental priorities
we all share: our health and safety and the health and safety
of our families is a core value that guides how American
workplaces design, supervise, and perform work, and ensure an
equitable approach that improves all workers' methods.
To achieve this OSHA must meet current workplace safety and
health hazards, as well as emerging threats. That requires us
to first rebuild the agency's workforce from record low
staffing levels, and we have begun to do that. OSHA made more
than 270 hires between August 2021 and April 2022, including
156 inspectors and 32 whistleblower investigators.
OSHA must continue to respond to the threat of COVID-19.
OSHA is working to finalize its permanent COVID-19 standard for
healthcare workers. We have not waited for that standard to
act. In March of this year, we launched an enforcement
initiative to significantly increase OSHA's presence in
healthcare, and since the beginning of this administration,
OSHA and its State partners have conducted more than 2,500
COVID-19 healthcare inspections.
OSHA continues to inspect other high-risk industries,
investigate COVID whistleblower complaints, and conduct
outreach and education to help employers and employees be
better prepared. OSHA is also looking ahead, using our
rulemaking tool to make sure workers are protected against
unregulated hazards, and finding ways to address these hazards
in the meantime.
First, to ensure we are ready for future outbreaks of
pandemics, we are developing an infectious disease standard for
highest risk workplaces. Second, OSHA began rulemaking to
develop a standard to address the growing threat of
occupational heat illness and has engaged with stakeholders
early in the process to help draft a protective and workable
rule.
As with COVID, we are not waiting to act. We recently
launched a nationwide initiative to educate employers, and for
the first time, proactively inspect workplaces for heat
hazards.
Our third major rulemaking priority is advancing a standard
to protect healthcare workers from the epidemic of workplace
violence. Again, even without a rule, we have been able to
successfully prosecute several important workplace violence
cases to ensure healthcare facilities address workplace
violence hazards.
Enforcement remains the key component of the agency's work
to address these hazards. OSHA is increasing the number of
inspections and bringing more cases with enhanced penalties
where it is warranted by employer conduct. We are committed to
using all the tools available to us, including criminal and
other enhanced judicial relief, for those employers who flaunt
safety standards and put workers in danger.
In light of infrastructure investment spurred by the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, OSHA continues its focus on
construction hazards, including health risks, and is
revitalizing the initiative to protect vulnerable temporary
workers. We are also increasing staffing and filling the long-
vacant director's position for our whistleblower program.
Compliance assistance and training are also key to exposure
and critical for our vision of health and safety as a core
value in the workplace. The agency is dedicated to helping
small-and medium-sized businesses, in particular, take
advantage of our free, onsite assistance to develop a safety
and health management program.
Last fiscal year, OSHA's programs trained over 1.1 million
workers, and OSHA has engaged with employers to help them
address hazards that have historically been overlooked such as
mental health awareness, in particular suicide prevention and
substance abuse.
I want to again thank the subcommittee for the continued
interest and support in making sure workers have the safety and
health protections they need and deserve. We owe this to every
worker and family in America. I am now happy to answer any
questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Parker follows.]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Adams. Thank you, Mr. Parker. I want to
recognize now Mr. Costa. You have 5 minutes sir.
STATEMENT OF MR. THOMAS COSTA, DIRECTOR, EDUCATION,
WORKFORCE, AND INCOME SECURITY, GOVERNMENT AC-
COUNTABILITY OFFICE
Mr. Costa. Thank you, Chairwoman Adams, Republican Leader
Keller, and members of the subcommittee. I am pleased to be
here today to discuss OSHA's preparedness to handle emergent
risks. I will highlight, one, enforcement challenges OSHA faced
and the enforcement actions it has taken during the COVID
pandemic. Two, new standards OSHA developed, or used to protect
workers from COVID, and three, OSHA's efforts to obtain injury
and illness data from employers. My testimony is based
primarily on prior GAO reports and updated information provided
by OSHA.
As the COVID pandemic passes the 2-year mark, the disease
continues to pose new challenges, and OSHA's ability to help
protect workers from COVID and its preparedness for a future
crisis remain concerns. OSHA helps ensure safe and health
conditions for workers by setting standards, conducting
inspections, and investigating reports of injuries, illnesses,
and fatalities, among other efforts.
This brings me to my three discussion points. First, to
support COVID-related safety, OSHA used voluntary guidance,
existing standards, such as those related to the use of
respirators, and healthcare-focused Emergency Temporary
Standards. However, OSHA faced challenges with applying
existing standards to COVID cases because these standards do
not contain provisions specifically targeting COVID.
When no standard applies to a particular hazard, OSHA can
cite violations based on its General Duty Clause; however,
violations of the General Duty Clause require substantial time
to collect the documentation to support a citation. Moreover,
OSHA must issue a citation within 6 months of any violation,
and OSHA sometimes did not know about possible violations for
months, which limited OSHA's ability to cite General Duty
Clause violations.
When OSHA began enforcing its COVID healthcare ETS in July
2021, it became an important tool OSHA used to protect workers.
From February 2020 through December 2021, OSHA received almost
22,000 COVID-related reports of illness and fatalities. They
conducted over 3,000 COVID-related inspections, and cited over
1,000 violations, only 25 of which were General Duty Clause
violations, and proposed over $7 million in penalties.
My second point concerns the new standards OSHA developed
or used during the pandemic. From February 2020, through June
2021, OSHA primarily relied on voluntary employer guidance and
existing standards for its COVID-related assistance and
enforcement.
In June 2021, OSHA issued the COVID ETS for the healthcare
industry that I just mentioned, and in November, OSHA also
issued a COVID vaccination-and-testing ETS for larger
employers. To issue an ETS, OSHA must determine that the
employees are being exposed to a grave danger. For example, in
the COVID healthcare ETS, OSHA cited the severe health
consequences of COVID and the high risk of transmission in the
workplace as the basis for their determination.
However, in December OSHA announced it was no longer
enforcing most of the COVID healthcare ETS because it
anticipated that a final rule could not be completed in the 6-
months contemplated by the OSH Act. In January of this year,
OSHA withdrew the vaccination-and-testing ETS as an enforceable
standard after a Supreme Court decision halted its
implementation.
OSHA is still working on a permanent COVID healthcare
standard and is also developing an infectious disease standard
through the rulemaking process; however, our past work found
that to issue a new standard, it takes more than 7 years on
average and can take up to 19 years. OSHA began working on its
current infectious disease standard over 11 years ago.
My third point concerns employer reporting of required
injury and illness data. We found employers did not report this
data on more than 50 percent of their establishments for 2016
through 2018, although the reporting has increased slightly in
recent years.
OSHA uses this data to help identify establishments with
the highest injury and illness rates and targets some for
planned inspections. Without good data, they may not be
inspecting the most dangerous establishments.
Moreover, OSHA has limited procedures to encourage
employers to report injury and illness summary data. For
example, in 2019 OSHA sent reminder postcards to 27,000 of the
nearly 220,000 employers that potentially did not report. OSHA
got less than a 20 percent response rate. Similarly, OSHA
issued fewer than 300 citations over an almost 2-year period
for failing to report this data.
As a result of our work, we recommended that OSHA assess
various challenges related to resources, communication, and
guidance in response to the pandemic. We also recommended that
OSHA evaluate its current procedures for ensuring that
employers report required injury and illness data. Both
recommendations remain open.
In conclusion, OSHA faced challenges in enforcing various
standards during the pandemic and struggles to get quality data
to identify those establishments with the highest injury and
illness rates. Without more action, OSHA may not be best
prepared for the next crisis. This completes my statement. I
look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Costa follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Adams. Thank you very much, Mr. Costa. Under
Committee Rule 9(a), we will now question witnesses under the
5-minute rule, and I will be recognizing the subcommittee
members in seniority order. Again, to ensure that the members'
5-minute rule is adhered to, staff will be keeping track of
time. Please be attentive to the time, and wrap up when your
time is over, and re-mute your microphone.
I recognize myself as Chair for 5 minutes now.
Mr. Parker, I would like to focus on the COVID standards.
During the Obama administration, OSHA started work on an
infection disease standard that would have covered healthcare
employers, but the Trump administration killed that, and he
chose not to develop an Emergency Temporary Standard on COVID-
19. Did these choices put OSHA on the back foot when President
Biden ordered the agency to protect workers?
Mr. Parker.
Mr. Parker. Thank you. I do believe that if more work had
been done to complete an infectious disease standard that OSHA
would have been in a better position to address COVID within
the scope of that rule. In California, there is an infectious
disease standard. I was the Chief of Cal/OSHA, prior to taking
this position, and so, from my experience I know that the State
was in a much better position to address the infectious disease
and hospitals which was the scope of that rule.
There were standards in place. There were plans in place
that the hospitals were required to have. Our staff were
trained on it, there was a mechanism, and there were clear
expectations of hospitals. It certainly was not perfect, and
hospitals certainly were not prepared for the scale of the
pandemic that we all experienced, but it certainly put
California in a better position to be able to enforce basic
infectious disease control because of the existence of a
standard.
Chairwoman Adams. Okay. Well, let me turn to some more
current matters.
OSHA published the healthcare ETS last June. The OSH Act
requires OSHA to develop a final standard within 6 months, but
OSHA failed to meet that deadline. OSHA was given $100 million
in additional funding through the American Rescue Plan for
COVID-related work.
Did OSHA hire any new FTEs for standards office, so that it
could work on more than one major standard at the same time?
Mr. Parker. We have been using ARP fundings to hire staff,
and to hire contractors to work on COVID-19 standard making. We
hired about a dozen FTEs during that time period. Some of those
have been working on the standard. It is a little bit difficult
to bring people out on a budget that is happening on such an
accelerated scale, and rapidly incorporate them into the budget
planning process.
Our teams had a plan that they were executing that they did
a little bit, but I think that, you know, I have to say I think
they have done an incredible job under the circumstances of
moving so quick.
Chairwoman Adams. All right. Let me move on. You know from
where I sit, and from where many of us sit, it is difficult to
understand how OSHA could have this level of resources and not
be able to produce two standards at the same time.
What were the challenges that kept OSHA from being able to
issue and enforce these standards in a timely manner? Can you
give me a quick answer to that? What were those challenges?
Mr. Parker. Well, you know part of that occurred before I
was confirmed as Assistant Secretary, but I have done some
review, and I think that there is some concern. There are
bottlenecks in the process that make it challenging.
In order to make sure that a rule is meeting all of the
required legal standards to make sure it is sufficiently
supported by the evidence, it requires a great amount of work,
and given the time that it takes to hire people, it frankly
would have been difficult to gear up quickly enough to move
faster and sort of move the needle significantly with hiring in
such a short period.
We are now hiring, we are continuing to hire and have
certainly made the funding request to expand our rulemaking so
that we are better prepared in the future, but it is simply
challenging to invest those kinds of resources for such a quick
turnaround as the one on our past departments did.
Chairwoman Adams. All right. Thank you, sir. I am out of
time, so I am going to move on now and recognize the Ranking
Member for the purpose of questioning the witnesses. Mr.
Keller, you are recognized.
Mr. Keller. Thank you. My question is for Mr. Parker.
Following OSHA's rebuke of the Supreme Court, the agency was
forced to rescind its vaccine and testing Emergency Temporary
Standard. In its notice to rescind the ETS, however, the agency
chose to keep the measure as a proposed rule, leaving the door
open to yet another tyrannical vaccine mandate in the future.
Mr. Parker, why are you keeping the vaccine mandate alive
after OSHA's loss at the Supreme Court?
Mr. Parker. Thank you, Ranking Member Keller. By operation
of law when an Emergency Temporary Standard is issued, it
functions as a proposed rule. The Supreme Court ruled that the
Emergency Temporary Standard, the vaccine and testing rule, was
not likely to prevail on the merits in the lower courts.
We withdrew that rule, but as a matter of law the proposed
rule continues to be in place, not unlike other proposals that
we have had on (inaudible) for a long time. We do not have any
plans to move forward with a vaccine-and-testing rule, but that
is just the function of how--at this time, we have not really
given it a lot of consideration because of this, a function of
how the law works that it continues to be in place.
Mr. Keller. I guess just to followup, employers and should
employers and workers be concerned that there may be another
ill-advised or illegal vaccine mandate promulgated from the
agency in the future, or is that pretty much dead?
Mr. Parker. No. We do not have any plans to move forward on
a vaccine-and-testing rule.
Mr. Keller. Okay. Mr. Parker, prior to President Biden
taking office, OSHA had rarely used its emergency rulemaking
authority, which allows the agency to bypass critical
regulatory safeguards like soliciting public comment.
Now OSHA has issued two Emergency Temporary Standards in
President Biden's first year in office--the vaccine mandate and
the healthcare industry ETS. Should the regulated community
expect this to be standard operating procedure at OSHA during
the Biden administration?
Mr. Parker. I think, Ranking Member, you have to keep in
mind the scale of the pandemic and what we were up against as a
Nation. More than a million people have died in the pandemic.
It was a massive sad thing that required a massive emergency
response, and both of those emergency rulemaking activities
that you are referring to were directly related to COVID.
We would address through the emergency rulemaking process
emergencies where it is appropriate, but I do not think that we
can extrapolate from this unprecedented scale of a pandemic,
that that is the kind of delivery you want. It is a relatively
high standard that we have to meet for this emergency
temporary.
Mr. Keller. You know in that and so, do you believe it is
important to give the regulated community opportunity to weigh
in on OSHA's regulations?
Mr. Parker. Oh, absolutely. Not only is it important for
them, it is important for us. It allows us to make a better
rule.
Mr. Keller. Yes. I would just say I know we are all talking
about the pandemic. We know that during the pandemic when we
had the first day of session, Speaker Pelosi had a COVID-19
booth set-up on the House floor, so people that were positive
for COVID-19 could come in and vote for her for Speaker.
Now I do not know of any business that would have done that
because they needed somebody to come into work, allowed them to
come in, knowing they were positive for COVID, and having to go
through the entire building to get to an area.
When people were talking about the pandemic and employers,
right, I think they need to talk about the actions that have
been taken by some of the Democrats in Washington, DC. that did
not put the Federal employees first and were not concerned for
their safety, yet they want to demonize the people for which we
work, America's job creators, and the people who go to work
every day.
I just wanted to make that point. My last question Mr.
Parker, we have consistently heard Committee Democrats demonize
employers and question their commitment to ensuring that
workers go home to their families safe and health every night.
Based on my experience with employers in my district, and I
know I worked in a factory, I know these statements that
employers do not care about workplace safety is entirely wrong.
With that, what is OSHA doing to cooperate--work with
employers to expand its compliance assistance efforts, which
benefit employees by protecting them before an injury or
illness can occur?
Mr. Parker. We are actively engaged in that work, working
with small businesses. We requested significant funding in 1923
to expand our compliances.
Chairwoman Adams. Thank you. The gentleman's time--the
gentleman is out of time. Thank you very much. I want to now
recognize Mr. Takano of California; you are recognized sir for
5 minutes. Is Mr. Takano on the platform?
Mr. Vassar. Chairwoman Adams, I cannot confirm that Mr.
Takano is currently present or available in the room.
Chairwoman Adams. Okay. Let me move on to Mr. Norcross of
New Jersey. Mr. Norcross, you are recognized for 5 minutes,
sir.
Mr. Norcross. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, for holding this
hearing today. OSHA 1970, to reduce injuries, sickness, and
death. In my career, which started in construction as an
electrician, we always went to work, each and every day, with
the premise we are going to come home the way we went in:
healthy and alive.
Unfortunately, three times in my career I was on a job
where someone did not come home. They were killed on the job.
You will never forget that. That made such a profound
difference in the way I view workplace safety. When you see
somebody die in front of you, you will never forget it.
The idea that giving additional money to keep up with all
the pressures of a workforce, in this case OSHA, somehow hurts
employers, let me make this absolutely clear: increasing the
money to OSHA will make sure that more people come home the way
they went to work, alive.
Let us be clear. Profits do not come before people. I have
been on jobs. I understand this. Let us just put that aside,
and thank OSHA for what they have done, help more people come
home each and every day. We can work together on this, and we
need to. Mr. Parker, let me ask you a question about something
that I found astounding, and again I have been involved my
entire career.
Recent reports by the Strategic Organizing Center in the
New Jersey Policy Perspective found based on analysis of OSHA's
records that in 1921, the last year available, Amazon workers'
serious injury rate comprised of almost 55 percent of all
serious injury rates in New Jersey. That is astounding.
We sent over a letter, and I ask the Madam Chairwoman to
enter it into the record, for you to look into this, for OSHA
to look in, what is going on. Sometimes we see some changes,
and the numbers coming in, but this is really remarkable. Can
OSHA commit to opening an investigation into the issues that
actually are going on at Amazon, at these warehouses?
Mr. Secretary.
[The information of Mr. Norcross follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Parker. Thank you. Thank you for that question. The
data that you are referring to, I believe, is actually company
data. It underscores the fact that it is only because of our
2016 rule that requires certain employers to submit to OSHA
their electronic injury and illness rates, that we are able to
see the kinds of patterns or results that may happen within a
particular industry, or a company, or at an individual
establishment.
It gives you a sense of why we think that expanding that
rule could give us more information, give the public more
information, give workers more information is just so
important, so that we have a much better understanding on what
injuries are affecting this country.
With respect to committing to a particular investigation,
you know we do not talk in advance about it, investigations or
inspections, and we are very careful not to do that, but we
take the issues you raised very seriously.
Mr. Norcross. Well, thank you. Two points I want to make.
Yes, this is information provided by Amazon to OSHA. We got the
information from you.
Mr. Parker. Okay.
Mr. Norcross. This is not some numbers that are coming out
of left field, and we understand about making them publicly, so
let me rephrase that. If in a State, a company that had less
than 10 percent of the workforce had 55 percent of the
injuries, would OSHA think that is a little bit unusual and
look at it as an anomaly, that something might be going on--
hypothetically?
Mr. Parker. That is certainly the kind of information that
would be worthy of inquiry. I mean (inaudible).
Mr. Norcross. Well, we appreciate that. Again, now, the
idea that employers are intentionally doing this, I understand
that does not happen, but let us be absolutely clear. When
people die in violations and citations are ordered, that means
something went wrong. At the end of the day, we want to make
sure everybody comes home the way they went to work, and with
that I yield back.
Chairwoman Adams. Thank you, Mr. Norcross. Thank you.
Representative Miller-Meeks, you are recognized for 5 minutes,
ma'am.
Mrs. Miller Meeks. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, thank
you, Ranking Member Keller, and I thank our witnesses for
appearing. You know this is an interesting hearing, especially
after OSHA having been given millions of dollars of the COVID-
19 funding to have a vaccine mandate struck down, and I can
speak on this as both a small business owner, as a healthcare
professional, as a former Director of the Department of Public
Health where some of these policies were misguided.
The committee has a responsibility to ensure that hundreds
of millions of taxpayer dollars that the agency received in
discretionary and supplemental funding during the COVID-19
pandemic has been spent wisely. Mr. Parker, does OSHA have an
estimate of how many taxpayer dollars were wasted in pursuing
vaccine-and-testing mandate, which the administration knew was
going to be ruled unconstitutional? They even remarked upon
that, and given that the rule was ultimately rebuked as illegal
by the Supreme Court, do you believe that the Federal funding
that OSHA received to protect workers from COVID-19 could have
been better spent?
Mr. Parker. I do not have it at my fingertips, you know, a
counting of the dollars that were used specifically for that
rule. It is not necessarily how we do our accounting on a rule-
by-rule basis, but it is something that I can see how much
information I can get and provide it to you subsequent to the
hearing.
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. I think it would be very helpful for us
to know where those dollars were spent, and if there are
dollars that are unspent that could be returned or utilized in
a different manner for you to fulfill your mission.
I think there are many of us, physicians, former directors
of public health, people in the public health sphere, who felt
that immunity was the issue that we were trying to get at,
which protects ourselves and protects others, but we never
heard the concept of immunity, we just heard vaccine mandate
and terminating people when there is a labor shortage.
Our labor participation rate is not where it was prior to
the pandemic, that creating further hurdles, I think, for those
in the healthcare field. I am also concerned about President
Biden's budget request to increase agency staffing
dramatically. Workplace injury and illness rates have been
steadily decreasing for decades. Let me just show you this
little graph. I am not sure if everyone can see it, but it
shows that the numbers of non-fatal occupational injuries and
illnesses have decreased, almost by half, from 2002 to 2020.
I can get those exact figures for you. Given this positive
trend, which we all welcome--we want people to be able to go to
work, to be safe. Certainly, as a former employer and a small
business owner, my employees were my greatest asset, and I
treated them as such. Given the positive trend, is the request
for increased staffing so that OSHA can write additional
onerous regulations and ramp up enforcement, more than record--
such as recordkeeping violations? I have seen this time and
time again as a justification for increased staffing.
You should, at OSHA, should be partners with our business
owners, and especially our small business owners, to allow
maximum safety, but also to allow those businesses to continue
to operate.
Mr. Parker. Thank you, Congresswoman. I should first note
that, you know, OSHA, a lot of people think about enforcement
when they think of OSHA, but there are many facets to the work
that OSHA does. It is not only enforcement, but we do a
considerable amount of compliance assistance.
We reach out to thousands of employers every year. We pay
more than a million workers through both direct training and
support of private sector trainers. There is considerable other
work that we do.
Now the graph that you showed did show significant
improvement from the time that the OSH Act was developed or
enacted back in 1970. At that time, there were about 1,100 OSHA
inspectors, and we are down below--the last 2 years, below 800.
If you look at that trend line, it has gotten flat--so I
think when we still have more than 5,000 people dying at work
every year, many thousands more injured, it is worth more, you
know, a factor higher than that, that are affected by
occupational illness. That if we want to get----
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. If I may, sir. If I may correct you. The
graph I showed you was not from 1970, it was from 2002 to 2020,
and the number of workplace fatalities in 2020 was 4,349, not
more than 5,000. If I am hearing you correctly, you are saying
that you are going to help with compliance, you are going to
help with training. Is it correct to say that the majority----
Chairwoman Adams. The gentlelady is out of time.
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. It is not going to go to regulatory and
punitive measures, it is going to go to compliance and
training.
Chairwoman Adams. The gentlelady's time is up.
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Thank you so much, I yield back my time.
Chairwoman Adams. Thank you very much. I would like to
recognize Representative Stevens. You have 5 minutes, ma'am.
Ms. Stevens. Well, allow me to just say, Madam Chair, I am
so grateful to you for having this hearing, examining the
policies and priorities of the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, in part because the legislation that was
enacted in 1970 was certainly very important, and now we find
ourselves half a century later still in the middle of a global
pandemic, looking at the ways in which we can modernize and
improve.
That is what today's hearing is about. Often in the
Congress we run into these very type of matters, how we are
operating off of laws that were written half a century ago,
that need to be tweaked, that need to be modernized, that need
to be improved. Tweak might be too docile of a term.
Doug Parker, our Assistant Secretary of Labor here, Mr.
Parker, Secretary Parker, in the OSHA budget's justification it
mentions increasing the diversity of the agency's workforce by
creating an apprenticeship program that will develop safety
technicians into entry level CSHOs--recruiting for those
positions from HBCUs, MSIs, veterans' networks, and other
organizations.
Can you explain for us, sir, how the creation of the
apprenticeship program will help OSHA increase diversity in its
workforce and fulfill its mission to protect workers?
Mr. Parker. I would be happy to. First of all, let me note
that we are already working hard to increase the diversity of
this organization. We have done a considerable amount of hiring
and actively work to recruit at agency and through associations
made up of workers of color, women, and so, you know, we are
actively working to do that.
We also work recently very closely with the Office of
Personnel Management to obtain, for a limited period, direct
hire authority so that we can go to conferences, we can go to
colleges, and we can virtually hire on the spot, so that we can
really buildup our ranks and do it quickly with the inspector.
Ms. Stevens. Yes.
Mr. Parker. With respect to the apprenticeship program,
this is really to get nontraditional folks, maybe you do not
have all the degrees, you did not take organic chemistry to
become an IH for example, that we can bring in because they
have on-the-job experience, they have a different set of
experiences that are still extremely relevant to the strong
work of OSHA.
They can come on to the--they can come in as safety
inspector, and we can train them on the job and give them the
skills they need, too.
Ms. Stevens. Well, on-the-job training is phenomenal, Mr.
Secretary, and, you know, we really want to applaud you.
On a separate, but more urgent note, the Surgeon General
released an advisory on healthcare worker burnout and
resignation, because the healthcare system is becoming more
fragile and less able to serve the people as workers in the
system get driven to the edge. Just to the ``I work too much,
and you know, I do not know if I can actually fulfill the
mission of my job.''
Organizations, communities, and policies must prioritize
protecting health workers from workplace violence, right? That
is a point I want to stress.
``In the national survey among healthcare workers in mid-
2021, eight out of ten experienced at least one type of
workplace violence during the pandemic, and two thirds have
been verbally threatened, and one-third of nurses reported an
increase in violence compared to the previous year.'' This is
legislation we have also worked on as a committee.
When can we expect OSHA to followup on the Surgeon
General's recommendation, Secretary Parker, and update its
policies by publishing a proposed rule on workplace violence?
Mr. Parker. The next step in that process, you know our
priority right now is to finish the COVID-19 rule and to work
on infectious disease in healthcare. It is not keeping us from
doing other work.
This fall we will take on the next step of the workplace
violence standard. We will be having a meeting to do the SBREFA
process, the Small Business Fairness Act process, to hear from
small businesses that would be affected by that, that rule.
That is coming up in the fall. I do not have an exact date in
front of me on the proposed rule, but we are working, we will
be working very diligently on that.
Ms. Stevens. Yes, well, we will do whatever we can, sir, to
support you to get that addendum going, and certainly
appreciate the dialog and the service to the Nation. With that,
Madam Chair, I am yielding back. Thank you for the hearing.
Chairwoman Adams. Thank you very much. We want to recognize
now Representative Steel. You are now recognized, 5 minutes.
Mrs. Steel. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Ranking
Member. Local small businesses need consistency from government
and OSHA, even during the pandemic. When I was Chair of the
Orange County Supervisors at the start of pandemic, I
established the Orange County Business Recovery Ad Hoc
Committee to establish a responsible and effective plan to
mitigate the pandemic.
It is like a plan to mitigate the pandemic. Mixed messaging
from the Federal Government hurts small businesses and our
community very much. Also, Secretary Parker, new OSHA
regulations and aggressive actions can have major costs on
small business. Will OSHA work with the employers to ensure
fair and responsible inspection and enforcement policies?
Will OSHA focus on collaborative efforts with employers to
make workplace safer? Do you believe in a proactive approach to
safety where OSHA can build trust with local businesses?
Mr. Parker. I absolutely believe that. One of the things
that I believe that we have to do as an agency is to establish
safety and health as a core value. The OSH Act puts the
responsibility on employers to provide a safe and healthy
workplace, and yes, it gives us the responsibility to set
standards and conduct enforcement, but it also provides that we
are to provide assistance and guidance and to help business,
particularly small businesses. We are committed to that.
One of the things that we want to promote in this
administration is the expansion of safety and health management
programs, so that if the employers are really taking on the
full aspects of doing a hazard assessment in their workplace,
proactively working to make sure that there are not hazards in
the workplace, engaging with their workers, having more
participation, and building those programs.
It is often quite intimidating for a small business to
think about doing all those things, so we are working very hard
to think about how we can provide small businesses with the
tools to start taking the first steps. Right, to take a
progressive approach where they can, through building blocks,
develop aspects of its safety and health management programs, a
worker health and safety program in their workplace.
They can start the process, they can build from there, it
will be manageable. It is not 200 pages long. We hope to have
more information on that in the future. Some of that is in
development, but we are very much committed to making sure
small businesses have the support that they need.
I will remind you and all that are listening, OSHA provides
free, onsite consultation with small and medium businesses who
seek out our help to improve their safety and health programs
and address hazards in the workplace. Employers can do that.
I am working to build our program. You know we are hiring
more people to do that work, and it is my hope that if we can
continue to get more funding, that we can make sure that we
have a compliance assistance, compliance consultant in every
field office who can help businesses with that approach.
Mrs. Steel. So, my next question is, you know, those
regulations and tougher guidelines--how do you reach out to
these small business--because I own small businesses, and I
actually work with small businesses in my community. How do you
reach out, because that regulation has been changing so much,
and then these guidelines just keep coming in.
How are you reaching out? How are you going to take these,
you know, for small business seriously, and how? You know their
concerns. How you listen to them, and then implement these
regulations.
Mr. Parker. I think that that is an interesting question,
and it presents some challenges. Like, one of the things that I
have found here is that our people are committed and do a great
job of community outreach, and we have social media, and we
have these channels of communication.
We are also reaching the kind of same people over and over
again. I think there is another group of business people out
there--and the pandemic has laid this bare--that we can do a
better job of reaching out to. I think the key is where
organizations like the one that you were involved with in
Orange County, getting more engaged with these associations for
these strong conduits to local businesses to get out the
message on our behalf, and not only for the benefit of
themselves.
Mrs. Steel. Thank you, Assistant Secretary Parker. You know
what? I have two more questions that I am going to submit in
writing. Thank you, Madam Chair. I yield back.
Chairwoman Adams. Thank you very much. I want to recognize
now the Chair of the Committee on Education and Labor, Mr.
Scott. Chairman Scott, you are recognized.
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I want to thank both
of our witnesses for being with us today. Mr. Costa, you have
been studying the delays in getting OSHA standards implemented.
I know Beryllium and other airborne diseases standards took
decades. Basically, why does it take so long?
Mr. Costa. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Setting the standards,
OSHA has a higher threshold of procedural requirements than
most other agencies. In addition, it has faced, as we have seen
recently, rigorous standards of judicial review. Then also
shifting priorities over time.
For example, we have seen that the average amount of time
it takes to establish a rule is over 7 years, and can be as
long as 19 years, which was for scaffolding and construction.
The standard for respiratory protection, which OSHA cited
fairly, relatively frequently during COVID, took 15 plus years.
It is a big challenge for them to get something done quickly
because of the amount of----
Mr. Scott. Do you have recommendations on how--obviously,
that is not satisfactory. Do you have any recommendations we
can expedite the proceedings?
Mr. Costa. We did not look specifically at recommendations
for that. We did talk about the need for additional
consultation with other stakeholders, which I know from like
NIOSH, back in our 2012 report that looked at this
specifically, and we did close that recommendation because OSHA
did increase its collaboration with NIOSH.
We have not looked more recently at the process to see if
there are other steps that OSHA could take to increase the
speed with which it gets standards out.
Mr. Scott. Well, you mentioned litigation, one of the
things we learned from the Supreme Court's decision in the
vaccine ETS, the Emergency Temporary Standard seemed to require
explicit authorization from Congress to implement some of these
regulations. Looking forward, are there areas we need better
legislation to help OSHA implement new standards?
Mr. Costa. I am sure there are sir, I would defer to
Assistant Secretary Parker for specifics as to where the
administration thinks it needs additional representation.
Mr. Scott. Mr. Parker, looking forward--I mean, these
things you know you do not want to start working on this when
the emergency starts. You are looking forward to seeing what we
need to be doing legislatively?
Mr. Parker. We would be happy to consult with Congress and
provide technical assistance on suggestions for how the process
might be streamlined.
Mr. Scott. Okay. Well, you said you are working on the
workplace violence. Do you need any legislation in that area?
Mr. Parker. We are operating, you know we are going forward
with the standard based on our usual processes. If there is
interest in Congress in a bill, and I know that there have been
some bills so it is introduced on that--if there is concern how
a bill would complement the rulemaking process with that, I
would be happy to provide assistance, technical assistance on
that. I believe there has been some discussions, too.
Mr. Scott. Mr. Parker, you obviously do not have time to
inspect each workplace. I think right now, with the funding you
have, you can get to each workplace every 100 years. One way to
deal with that is to check records, to target the appropriate
places for danger. What are the challenges in relying on
recordkeeping?
I know a lot of people do not keep good records, and what
can be done about it?
Mr. Parker. We are always going to be--in using employer-
provided records, there is always going to be a limitation on,
you know, it is always going to be dependent on how good the
recordkeeping is and whether they have been submitted.
Certainly the starting point, as the GAO has suggested, is
making sure that we are doing what we can to make sure that all
employees who have to report, do report.
The second thing that we need to do is expand the type of
data that they are collecting. Employers have significant data
they are already required to collect and retain in case there
is an inspection, but it is sitting in a file in their office
unless we come in and look at it. In this modern age everything
is so dependent on data, and we use data for all kinds of
applications and efficiency and productivity, and the efficacy
of programs.
Looking at it more would be a way of getting that data and
being able to analyze it.
Mr. Scott. My time has expired. If you could give us some
recommendations on that, and as you talk about legislation give
us some information about what you did in California in terms
of airborne infectious diseases, and infectious diseases
generally, that we might want to replicate on a Federal level.
That would be appreciated.
With that, Madam Chair, I yield back.
Chairwoman Adams. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me recognize
Representative Chu. You are recognized for 5 minutes, ma'am.
Ms. Chu. Thank you. Yes, Mr. Parker, thank you so much for
being here today, and for the Department's timely attention to
preventing heat-related illnesses and fatalities. Nearly two
decades ago in Central California, Mr. Asuncion Valdivia was a
farmworker who was picking grapes for 10 hours straight in 105-
degree temperatures, when he dropped over. Soon thereafter, he
died at the age of 53 of a preventable heat stroke.
That is why in 2005, in partnership with the United
Farmworkers, I introduced the country's first heat stress
related protections standards in California. I am proud that
the total number of fatal heat-related illnesses that are
reported to the State OSHA agency have decreased since this
implementation.
Despite California's success, industry claims that these
types of regulations can be too burdensome for employers to
comply with, and that new regulations of any kind can increase
prices on their goods, but California's example shows that
these claims are incorrect. My State is one of the Nation's
largest agricultural producers, with employers large and small,
and has proven that you can protect workers and have a thriving
agricultural sector.
I heard from so many workers in California who told me what
guaranteed shade and water breaks and rest periods means to
them. It is literally life-saving.
While many employers act in good faith to protect their
workers, it is clear that we need enforceable Federal
regulations to ensure bad actors are not allowed to exploit
hard-working laborers.
Mr. Parker, I introduced a bill that addresses this issue.
It is H.R. 2193, the Asuncion Valdivia Heat Illness and
Fatality Prevention Act. This bill directs OSHA to issue a
safety or health standard on excessive heat that includes,
among other protections, allowing workers to have a minimum
paid break in cool spaces, access to water, and limited
exposure to heat.
If we were to pass this legislation, how would it enhance
or facilitate OSHA's current work on a heat standard and the
agency's other heat-related enforcement activities, such as the
National Emphasis Program? How would such legislation ensure
that these protections exist beyond the current administration?
Mr. Parker. Thank you. I would--I clearly want to review
some of the provisions of those more closely. I know that I
have--I am familiar with the bill, and I know that it follows
some of the elements of the California standard. It follows
some of the best practices that organizations like NIOSH and
America's Conference of Government Industrial Benefits have
suggested, and so I think that there are certainly valuable
elements of that legislation that we can look at in our own
rulemaking.
I would interact with our current standard-making process
that we are doing. I think we have to look at it a little more
closely, and get back to you on that, but we certainly share--
absolutely share the vision that is expressed in that bill, not
only in terms of the importance of addressing this issue, the
recognition of this as a significant hazard to workers, not
only at the workers who are working outside, like the
farmworker that tragically died, that your bill is named after,
but also a significant number of people who are working indoors
and affected by excessive heat.
We certainly, wholeheartedly support the spirit of the bill
and the need to address this issue, and to follow the science,
and have the appropriate controls.
Ms. Chu. Mr. Parker, I was concerned about timeliness too,
since one of the topics we have been exploring is how long it
takes OSHA to get a final standard produced. I was gratified to
see that OSHA published an advance notice of proposed
rulemaking, but do you think OSHA can publish a final standard
by spring of 2024?
Mr. Parker. I think that could be challenging. It just
depends on the data that is available to do that. The COVID
rulemaking that we had to go through, and the prioritization of
infectious disease so that we do not have to get caught
unprepared for another pandemic in the healthcare industry--it
has taken some valuable time.
An important investment, the way we invested that time, but
it is--but it has set back some of our other important health-
related rulemaking, and certainly people can see the theme here
on the things that we are needing to prioritize and elevate.
Chairwoman Adams. The gentlelady's time has expired.
Ms. Chu. Thank you. I yield back.
Chairwoman Adams. Thank you very much. I would like to
recognize the Ranking Member. Representative Chu, you need to
mute. All right. I want to recognize the Ranking Member of the
Education and Labor Committee. Dr. Foxx, you are recognized
now.
Ms. Foxx. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Mr. Parker, despite
repeated warnings from the Committee and legal experts about
the limits on OSHA's authority, the Labor Department doubled
down on the illegal vaccine-and-testing mandate, causing
massive confusion for employers and threatening workers'
personal medical decisions.
OSHA now lists a whopping 28 planned regulatory actions in
its most recent agenda. What assurance can you provide that
these regulations will be lawful? What safeguards are in place
to ensure that massive regulatory overreach from OSHA will not
threaten workers and job creators again?
Mr. Parker. Well, thank you, Ranking Member. I certainly
take seriously, as the Assistant Secretary, to make sure that
all of our actions are legal and supported by the
Administrative Procedures Act, that our regulations are
supported by evidence in the record, and that they are
supported by substantial evidence, and will continue work with
through that.
Certainly, in the case of the vaccine-and-testing rule, we
did believe that we were on solid legal ground based upon the
scale of the challenges, and the scale of the pandemic, and
ongoing tragedy that we were experiencing. The Supreme Court
ruled otherwise, of course, and that is always--that, at times,
is going to be the case in these issues that involve complex
legal questions.
We cannot guarantee that in every case our rules will be
sustained in some aspect, but we will certainly operate in good
faith, and absolutely take seriously the need to be committed
to the rule of law.
Ms. Foxx. Thank you for that commitment. We certainly are
going to hold you to that, and we will express our opinions if
we feel like you are not issuing lawful regulations.
Mr. Parker, OSHA appropriately allowed the COVID-19
Emergency Temporary Standard for the healthcare industry to
expire at the end of 2021, but the agency's currently pursuing
a final and permanent COVID-19 healthcare industry standard.
The Biden administration seems intent on using the pandemic as
an excuse to exert more Federal control over people in the
workplace. With the pandemic coming to an end, is it time for
OSHA to stop exerting new powers?
Mr. Parker. The powers that we are currently using with
respect to COVID-19 are within our judicial authority. The
COVID-19 healthcare rule, as you know, our Emergency Temporary
Standard by law operates as a proposed rule, and so we have to
move forward on that and make it, ultimately, a decision about
whether to make it permanent.
We have initiated that rulemaking and are committed to
doing something quickly. We think that it is important to have
a rule, certainly by the fall. Our focus with respect to our
COVID-19 activities, whether it is our focused inspections that
we are doing right now in healthcare, our national emphasis
program, or our COVID-19, or our infection disease rule. Those
are really focused on readiness and putting the employers in a
position to be prepared for future eventualities, and future
dangers, so fewer workers die or their families are affected by
this tragic disease or other future infections.
Ms. Foxx. Well, I was in a healthcare facility yesterday,
and that was the only thing they wanted to talk about were the
absolutely unrealistic rules put out by OSHA, particularly as
they relate to masks.
Mr. Parker, the president's budget requested a massive 49
percent increase for OSHA's office in charge of devising and
writing regulations and the agency's plans to pursue an
aggressive regulatory agenda. Has the administration considered
the impact that dozens of new regulations will have on our
Nation's job creators and workers in the struggling Biden
economy?
Mr. Parker. Absolutely, Dr. Foxx, we always consider the
burden on employers and the cost in all the rulemaking that we
do. We take very seriously that factor. We certainly do not
think that there is a--that we have an either/or situation
where we have to keep going with jobs and safety, and health
protections for workers, and that is the approach that we take.
Chairwoman Adams. The gentlelady's time.
Ms. Foxx. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Chairwoman Adams. Thank you very much. Thank you. I want to
thank all of the witnesses. Are there other members who may
have joined the platform who have not been heard? Okay. We are
going to proceed then. I want to first of all thank the
witnesses for their testimony.
I want to remind my colleagues that pursuant to committee
practice, materials for submission for the hearing record must
be submitted to the committee clerk within 14 days, following
the last day of the hearing, so by close of business on June 8,
preferably in Microsoft Word format. The materials submitted
must address the subject matter of the hearing, and only a
member of the subcommittee or an invited witness may submit
materials for inclusion in the hearing record.
Documents are limited to 50 pages each. Documents longer
than 50 pages will be incorporated into the record via an
internet link that you must provide to the committee clerk
within the required timeframe. Please recognize that in the
future that link may no longer work.
Pursuant to House rules and regulations, items for the
record should be submitted to the clerk electronically by
emailing submissions to [email protected].
Again, I want to thank the witnesses for their
participation today. Members of the Subcommittee may have some
additional questions for you, and we ask the witnesses to
please respond to those questions in writing.
The hearing record will be held open for 14 days, in order
to receive those responses. I remind my colleagues that,
pursuant to committee practice, witness questions for the
hearing record must be submitted to the majority committee
staff or committee clerk within 7 days. The questions submitted
must address the subject matter of the hearing.
I now would like to recognize the distinguished Ranking
Member for a closing statement.
Ranking Member Keller.
Mr. Keller. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I would like to
thank the witnesses for participating in today's hearing. As we
have heard throughout today's hearing, the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration plays an important role ensuring
America's workers are safe and healthy.
Committee Republicans support enforcement of the
Occupational Safety Health Act and commonsense policies that
protect workers. OSHA works best when engaging cooperatively
with employers through compliance assistance and other efforts
to protect employees before injury or illness can occur.
I know first-hand from the people I have the privilege to
represent--the employers, job creators in Pennsylvania's 12th
congressional District--that they care deeply about keeping
their team members, the people that come to work every day,
safe. Unfortunately, time and time again, Democrats in Congress
and this administration demonize our job creators.
If President Biden's budget request for OSHA and the
agency's egregious overreach during the COVID pandemic are any
indication of this administration's priorities, I am afraid
businesses and their employees can expect more of the same. We
should reject this approach, and we will continue to hold OSHA
accountable. Thank you, and I yield back.
Chairwoman Adams. Thank you, Mr. Keller. I now recognize
myself for the purpose of making my closing statement.
I do want to again thank our witnesses for being with us
today. OSHA's safety standard and enforcement play a critical
role in protecting workers on the job and ensuring that they
come home safely.
Unfortunately, the agency was missing in action during the
worst safety crisis, COVID-19, in OSHA's history. As a result,
the Biden administration has been left to make up for the Trump
administration's inaction, while also working to advance the
agency to protect employees in the 21st Century workplace.
To ensure OSHA has the tools to fulfill its mission,
Congress must update the Occupational Safety and Health Act and
provide OSHA with the resources it needs. Moving forward, I am
committed to working with my colleagues to advance meaningful
science-based legislation that invests in and strengthens our
workplace safely for our Nation's workers.
Again, thank you to our witnesses for your time and
testimony. Thank you to all of my colleagues as well for being
with us today and for your participation. If there is no
further business, without objection, the subcommittee stands
adjourned.
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[Whereupon, at 1:23 p.m., the subcommittee adjourned.]
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