[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 19 (Tuesday, January 31, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            REAL OSHA REFORM

  (Mr. HEFLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, the main goal of the Contract With America 
is to make Government smaller, less costly and less intrusive. And 
there is probably no better way to do this than to address the question 
of OSHA. When OSHA first issued its safety regulations in the 1970's 
one provision required workers on bridges to wear orange life vests. As 
Dr. Kip Viscusi commented in 1983, ``The ineptness of OSHA's 
enforcement is epitomized by the fact that one company fined for 
violating this standard maintained that this requirement was unrelated 
to worker safety because the channel under the bridge had been 
diverted.'' There was no water. It was dry. Yet the company was fined 
because these workers did not have life vests on. But they needed a 
trampoline, not a life vest. Some idiot at OSHA decided they should 
fine the company anyway.
  Listen to the concerns of America's employers and workers, and it is 
obvious OSHA has not improved since Dr. Viscusi wrote those words.
  In this Congress I introduced a measure in order to do this. It is 
time for real OSHA reform now.

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