[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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