[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 55 (Friday, March 24, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H3794-H3795]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE NEED FOR REFORMING OSHA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Norwood] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. NORWOOD. Mr. Speaker, recently the Subcommittee on Workforce 
Protection heard testimony from Assistant Secretary for Occupational 
[[Page H3795]] Safety and Health Joe Dear. Among the many things Mr. 
Dear told the subcommittee, he said this: ``Every year, work-related 
accidents and illnesses cost an estimated 56,000 American lives * * * 
At the time I was not certain if Mr. Dear and his friends over at OSHA 
were afraid of real OSHA reform. But for them to be using scare tactic 
statistics like these in an effort to puff up a supposed need for OSHA, 
well they must be utterly terrified of OSHA reform. Using incomplete 
and speculative statistics makes for incomplete and poor policy 
decisions. As we look to make real reforms in the way OSHA does 
business, we need to insure that any legislative action is based on 
sound and scientific information. We must use peer review to determine 
the effectiveness of a regulation. But when you consider how loose OSHA 
is willing
 to play with the facts, it makes you wonder whether OSHA can possibly 
be reformed.

  Mr. Speaker, the problem with Mr. Dear's statement is that he has 
stated with certainty about statistics where there is considerable 
uncertainty. There is great disagreement and dispute about the number 
of fatalities from workplace illnesses. But there is a consensus about 
fatalities resulting from workrelated accidents, although this was not 
always the case. Several years ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
initiated a new program called the Census of Fatal Occupational 
Injuries. This program obtains an actual count, rather than an 
estimate, of the number of workplace fatalities. That count for 1993, 
the latest year for which we have numbers is 6,271. The census is 
intended to pick up deaths caused by workplace exposures to toxic 
substances. Although the Bureau of Labor Statistics acknowledges that 
it probably does not produce a complete count of fatal illnesses. In 
fact, at this point in time, no one has a completely accurate count of 
workplace-related fatal illnesses. But the best numbers we do have are 
those produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We pay the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics quite a bit of money to compile these statistics. I 
would think that the good Secretary of OSHA would use his own 
department's numbers rather than using the disputed, speculative 
numbers of others. If Mr. Dear is right, and I doubt that he is, if 
there are really 56,000 workplace fatalities instead of the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics reported number of 6,271, if the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics are wrong by that much, if they are only counting 7 percent 
of all workplace fatalities, someone down there needs to be fired, if 
Joe Dear is right.
  Mr. Speaker, two other points about the number of fatalities should 
be highlighted. First, the number and rate of workplace fatalities have 
been declining steadily since the 1930's. This is significant when one 
considers that OSHA did not come into existence until the 1970's. 
Consequently, it is a matter of debate as to how effective OSHA has 
been in reducing workplace fatalities.
  Second, most workplace fatalities are not caused by factors which one 
would normally consider workplace hazards. For example, according to 
Census on Workplace Fatalities, in 1993 there were 6,271 workplace 
fatalities. However, over 60 percent of these fatalities were due to 
transportation accidents, homicides, suicides, and drownings. As one of 
my colleagues once said ``unless OSHA teaches employees how to drive, 
fly, swim, and cope better, it's not going to have any impact on these 
deaths.''
  I believe the American people are frustrated by burdensome 
regulations. Every day small business people are pulling their hair out 
and fretting about regulatory mandates they can't possibly comply with. 
I know that many of my liberal colleagues scoff at this assertion. But 
I suggest that if they got out of their cloistered existence for just a 
short time and experience what small business people all over this 
country have to put up with, they would change their tune soon enough.
  OSHA is one agency that has turned a reasonable and important mission 
into a bureaucratic nightmare for the American economy. Common sense 
was long ago shown the door at OSHA. OSHA is one agency that needs to 
be restructured, reinvented, or just plain removed.


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