[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 28 (Monday, February 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REFORMING OSHA REGULATIONS

  (Mr. NORWOOD asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. NORWOOD. Mr. Speaker, let us talk about disincentive. In a 
typically bizarre manner, OSHA has created a rule that provides a 
disincentive for employers to look out for the safety of their workers. 
If an employer voluntarily starts a study to see if their employees are 
at risk due to exposure to chemicals or hazardous materials, OSHA 
requires that employer to keep medical records for their employees for 
the duration of their employment plus 30 years.
  Employers are not required to do these self-studies, but if an 
employer wants to begin a voluntary self-study, OSHA makes the costs so 
prohibitive that no employer in his or her right mind would every try. 
What employer wants to keep medical records on employees for over 50 
years? Mr. Speaker, this is just another example of an agency with no 
common sense. This is why we need regulatory reform and a moratorium on 
new regulations until we can sort all this out. OSHA is one agency that 
needs to be restructured, reinvented, or just plain removed.


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