The House Education and Labor Committee has scheduled a July 21 meeting to consider approval of a bill (H.R. 5663) that would expand dramatically the powers of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
The so-called markup hearing follows a July 13 committee hearing on the bill, major sections of which would amend the Mine Safety and Health Act (MHSA) in the aftermath of the West Virginia coal mine disaster earlier this year. However, the bill includes a series of amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act that would affect more than 7 million workplaces overseen by OSHA.
OSHA Administrator David Michaels urged Congress to pass the bill, testifying that a "catch-me-if-you-can' mindset (is) prevalent in corporate America" and that the Occupational Safety and Health Act "must be brought into the 21st century to ensure OSHA has the tools and authority to prevent safety and health violations." But Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., ranking member of the committee, urged that the committee "set aside (the legislation's) misplaced inclusion of OSHA reforms in a bill that ought to be squarely focused on the safety of miners underground."
One of the bill's provisions would authorize OSHA inspectors to shut down operations or make immediate changes to workplace designs without employers having the ability to challenge the new immediate abatement measure prescribed by the inspectors. The bill also would give OSHA the authority to impose a civil penalty of $7,000 per day on employers who fail to either shut down or comply immediately with an issued hazard citation.
In addition, the bill would create a new process for arbitrating claims from employees who believe they inappropriately have been discharged or discriminated against because they reported an injury or unsafe workplace condition, or participated in a proceeding related to safety and health. The Occupational Safety and Health Act currently covers employees who believe they have been discriminated against on the basis of reporting safety violations, and no specific evidence was presented during the hearing to demonstrate existing procedures are not working as intended.
Another section of the bill would impose felony criminal sanctions against "any company officer or director" for "knowing" violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The bill provides no definition of "knowing." Nor does it provide any limitation or guidance on which "officers or directors" could face criminal charges.