[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 29 (Tuesday, March 17, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H1176-H1177]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE
AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1998
Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 2864) to require the Secretary of Labor to establish a
program under which employers may consult with State officials
respecting compliance with occupational safety and health requirements,
as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 2864
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Occupational Safety and
Health Administration Compliance Assistance Authorization Act
of 1998''.
SEC. 2. COMPLIANCE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.
Section 21 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of
1970 is amended by adding at the end the following new
subsection:
``(d)(1) The Secretary shall establish and support
cooperative agreements with the States under which employers
subject to this Act may consult with State personnel with
respect to--
``(A) the application of occupational safety and health
requirements under this Act or under State plans approved
under section 18; and
``(B) voluntary efforts that employers may undertake to
establish and maintain safe and healthful employment and
places of employment.
Such agreements may provide, as a condition of receiving
funds under such agreements, for contributions by States
towards meeting the costs of such agreements.
``(2) Pursuant to such agreements the State shall provide
on-site consultation at the employer's worksite to employers
who request such assistance. The State may also provide other
education and training programs for employers and employees
in the State. The State shall ensure that on-site
consultations conducted pursuant to such agreements include
provision for the participation by employees.
``(3) Activities under this subsection shall be conducted
independently of any enforcement activity. If an employer
fails to take immediate action to eliminate employee exposure
to an imminent danger identified in a consultation or fails
to correct a serious hazard so identified within a reasonable
time, a report shall be made to the appropriate enforcement
authority for such action as is appropriate.
``(4) The Secretary shall, by regulation after notice and
opportunity for comment, establish rules under which an
employer--
``(A) which requests and undergoes an on-site consultative
visit provided under this subsection,
``(B) which corrects the hazards that have been identified
during the visit within the time frames established by the
State and agrees to request a subsequent consultative visit
if major changes in working conditions or work processes
occur which introduce new hazards in the workplace, and
``(C) which is implementing procedures for regularly
identifying and preventing hazards regulated under this Act
and maintains appropriate involvement of, and training for,
management and non-management employees in achieving safe and
healthful working conditions,
may be exempt from an inspection (except an inspection
requested under section 8(f) or an inspection to determine
the cause of a workplace accident which resulted in the death
of one or more employees or hospitalization for 3 or more
employees) for a period of one year from the closing of the
consultative visit.
``(5) A State shall provide worksite consultations under
paragraph (2) at the request of an employer. Priority in
scheduling such consultations shall be assigned to requests
from small businesses which are in higher hazard industries
or have the most hazardous conditions at issue in the
request.''
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
North Carolina (Mr. Ballenger) and the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Owens) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Ballenger).
Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2864 will amend the Occupational Safety and Health
Act to provide specific statutory authorization and direction for
consultation programs operated by States with the assistance of Federal
funding and direction.
These programs have in fact been operating for over 20 years. In
1975, OSHA began entering into contracts with the States to provide
enforcement consultations for small businesses. The authority which
OSHA used for these contracts is the general contracting authority in
section 7C(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
In recent years the small business community, State consultation
programs and the Clinton administration have all supported amending the
Occupational Safety and Health Act to add a specific authorization and
direction for the on-site consultation programs. So I am pleased to be
able to bring this bill to the House, with bipartisan support in our
committee. And with the support of the Clinton administration.
I want to particularly thank the ranking member of the Subcommittee
on Workforce Protections, Mr. Owens, and the ranking member of the full
committee, Mr. Clay, for their willingness to work with us on this bill
as well as the following bill. And also I want to thank Secretary of
Labor Alexis Herman and Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and
Health, Charles Jeffress, for their support of these bills.
Mr. Speaker, the consultation program allows employers, particularly
small employers, with the opportunity to receive expert advice and
compliance with OSHA standards and improving safety and health in their
workplaces, without the adversarial temper and approach often
associated with OSHA enforcement inspections.
I believe this program truly does implement the approach to safety
and health which many of us have long supported: an OSHA program that
offers assistance, rather than merely the threat of enforcement, to
employers.
I have often said that it seems wrong to me that employers who want
to improve their workplaces are afraid to call OSHA and ask for
assistance. The consultation program is one program that allows and
encourages employers to call OSHA and to get that assistance.
My own company in North Carolina has used the North Carolina OSHA
consultation program; and, in fact, it was our experience with that
North Carolina program that triggered my introduction of H.R. 2864.
Under this program, an employer invites the OSHA consultation service
into the workplace, and the consultant works with the employer in
identifying any violations of OSHA standards and hazards.
If the employer fixes those items within a reasonable time, then
there is no enforcement action connected to it. Under H.R. 2864, an
employer who meets certain listed criteria may also be exempt from some
inspections for 1 year.
I believe the program fills a real need. Unfortunately, it has not
been well enough known, nor has it received enough funding, to fulfill
that need. So I hope that recognizing the program in this statute is
the first step in making it more widely known and increasing in its
availability.
This bill along with the following bill are small but I think
significant steps in bringing about change to the way in which OSHA
carries out the role of protecting and promoting worker safety and
health.
Again, I want to express my appreciation to the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Owens) for working out the legislation. Even though we were
basically following the current program, there were still a few issues
that we had to resolve, and I appreciate his willingness to do so.
It is my hope that with the bipartisan effort and support for these
bills that the Senate will move quickly and cleanly as well. There are
a lot of other issues related to OSHA that we need to plan and deal
with, but I hope that
[[Page H1177]]
these bills do not become entangled in other issues.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to express my appreciation to the gentleman from
North Carolina (Mr. Ballenger), Chairman of the Subcommittee on
Workforce Protections, for his willingness to work with me on this
legislation. I believe the bill before us will further the safety and
health of workers, and I am pleased to support its passage.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling), Chairman of the Committee on Education and
the Workforce.
Mr. GOODLING. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina
for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I want to express my support for the two bills amending
the Occupation Safety and Health Act that are on the suspension
calendar today.
I want to particularly commend the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Ballenger), the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protection,
for his work on these bills and for his leadership on matters related
to OSHA.
Also, I want to commend the gentleman from North Carolina along with
the gentleman from New York, the ranking member of the Subcommittee on
Workforce Protection, for being able to bring not one but two bills
dealing with OSHA to the floor with bipartisan support.
I would note that both bills are supported by the Clinton
administration as well as by the National Federation of Business, the
Chamber of Congress and the Coalition on Occupational Safety and Health
and other organizations. That is a rather remarkable convergence of
support, particularly for bills amending the Occupational Safety and
Health Act.
Mr. Speaker, these two bills are small but important steps in
bringing about change to the way OSHA carries out its role in
protecting worker safety and health. They help move OSHA towards a more
cooperative, less confrontational approach.
H.R. 2864 requires OSHA to provide work-site consultations to
employers, particularly small employers, who request the consultation.
These consultations will be provided through State agencies or public
colleges or universities.
H.R. 2864 in effect codifies the consultation program from OSHA that
began in the 1970s and which has provided thousands of small businesses
with expert advice and assistance in providing a safer workplace for
their employees and compliance with OSHA standards.
I know that in my own State, the consultation program has been
extremely effective in reaching out to small businesses and working
with them to improve safety and health. The biggest problem with the
program has been lack of resources; and we hope that, by specifically
recognizing consultation services in the statute, that we will bring
additional recognition and resources to the program.
{time} 1430
H.R. 2877 prohibits OSHA from using enforcement measures such as
number of citations issued or penalties assessed to evaluate OSHA
inspectors. It addresses the reality as well as the perception that
OSHA inspectors often care less about worker safety than meeting quotas
for citations and penalties. The former director of OSHA has
acknowledged that past policy of the agency was in fact to use numbers
of citations issued and penalties assessed as performance measures. As
a matter of official policy, OSHA says it no longer uses these as
performance measures. H.R. 2877 makes this policy permanent and also
reflects our intention that OSHA's primary focus is not issuing
citations and levying fines, but rather promoting safety and health for
all American workers.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Klink).
Mr. KLINK. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time. I cannot tell my colleagues how pleased I am that this
legislation, in fact both bills that come to the floor today are here.
I want to commend and thank my former colleagues on the Committee on
Education for this legislation, especially the gentleman from
Pennsylvania (Mr. Goodling), the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr.
Ballenger) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens). As far back as
I remember when I had the pleasure and honor and distinction of serving
on this committee back in the 103rd Congress, we wrangled with the
whole idea of OSHA reform. We did not quite get the whole OSHA reform
package together, but I am very pleased that the committee now has
moved this bill and the bill to come after this that really make common
sense bipartisan changes to the OSHA Act. This committee and the House
really do themselves proud when they act in a common sense, bipartisan
fashion to correct these issues.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2864 is good legislation, it follows the old adage
that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This bill will
authorize OSHA's compliance assistance program, which has been in
operation since the mid-1970s and for 23 years it has been working
well. I think we should not only be authorizing this program, but
expanding it because this program would help companies avoid problems
with OSHA and at the same time make the workplace safer for workers.
An employer can ask a State consultant to review their work site for
OSHA violations as long as the employer agrees to correct any hazards.
Even better, a company that participates in the compliance assistance
program then can be exempted from regular OSHA inspections for a year
if they implement hazard prevention procedures and provide for safety
training for management and for employees. I wish that more companies
had the ability to take advantage of this.
One such plant in my district was recently visited in a random OSHA
inspection. I do not know if this bill would have helped them or not
and I do not know if the person who visited from OSHA was on a quota,
but what ended up happening is a lot of picayune things were found, the
company was fined $10,000, called Rijnstaal USA, and they are owned by
a foreign entity. Now the foreign entity is taking a look at perhaps
moving this plant out of Arnold, Pennsylvania to Southeast Asia because
they think that OSHA has been picking on them, that they have not had
an opportunity to go in and correct some of these small problems. In a
case like that, who would win? Certainly the Federal Government would
not win, we would get less tax dollars, less of our people would be
working and paying dollars. Jobs and opportunities are lost to the
community. Taxpayers lose. The employees of this company would lose.
The only people that would gain would be whatever region of Southeast
Asia would get this company.
We must take a more common sense approach, and these two bills today
really begin to do that. My colleagues on the committee are to be
lauded for their efforts. Mr. Speaker, I think this bill is a fine
example of both labor-management cooperation and bipartisan
legislating. I urge my colleagues to support it.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Stearns). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Ballenger) that the
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2864, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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