[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 59 (Wednesday, April 28, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4399-S4400]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       WORKERS' MEMORIAL DAY 1999

 Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the men and 
women in our labor force that put their health and safety on the line 
every day at work. Today, we observe the passage of the landmark 
Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed into law 29 years ago, and 
the tenth anniversary of Workers' Memorial Day.
  Mr. President, today is a chance for all of us to celebrate, and to 
mourn--to recognize the strides we've made on worker safety, and to 
mourn those who have lost their lives while they were simply doing 
their job.
  Although the workplace death rate has been cut in half since 1970, 
60,000 workers still die every year from job hazards, and six million 
more are injured. In Wisconsin our workplace accidents rate of 11.4 
workplace accidents per 100 workers is higher than the national 
average. This is not a statistic anyone should be proud of, but it does 
help us maintain our focus as we work toward stronger laws, stricter 
enforcement, and safer workplaces.
  We need to work together to protect the workers that have built our 
communities and helped them thrive. Unfortunately we still hear stories 
of workers like Vernon Langholff, who in 1993 fell 100 feet to his 
death when a corroded fire escape collapsed beneath him while he was 
cleaning dust from a grain bin. Just this year a company in Jefferson 
County was convicted in a state court for the recklessness that caused 
Langholff's death. In 1996 the company was fined $450,000 for its 
deliberate indifference to worker safety--because they delayed spending 
the $15,000 it would have taken to fix the fire escape and prevent 
Langholff's death. Stories like this remind us that an unsafe workplace 
can mean disaster for everyone involved--it can bring untold tragedy to 
a family, it can bring serious, long-term financial and legal 
repercussions for an employer.
  The consequences of delaying the repair of a fire escape or ignoring 
safety

[[Page S4400]]

procedures can often be tragic, and they are always preventable. To 
prevent more tragedies on the job, we've got to make sure workers can 
join unions without employer interference or intimidation, we must help 
protect whistleblowers who call attention to dangerous working 
conditions, and above all we've got to fight back against attempts in 
Congress to weaken OSHA laws.
  I do not understand the yearly assault on worker safety in Congress. 
Again this year, the Safety Advancement for Employees Act, or SAFE Act 
has been introduced. This legislation takes away a worker's right to an 
on-site inspection to investigate a hazard, or permitting OSHA to issue 
warnings instead of citations. This bill isn't OSHA re-form, it's OSHA 
de-form. This bill would more appropriately be named the ``UNSAFE'' 
act.
  Mr. President, I will work with my colleagues to fight back any 
attempt to weaken the protection of Wisconsin's workers. It's time to 
move the workplace forward to the 21st Century, not back to the dark 
ages.
  I am proud to stand with this country's workers in the fight for the 
dignity, respect and safe workplace they deserve. I urge my colleagues 
to join me in this important and worthy battle.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.

                          ____________________