Washington Insider
States in the Forefront of OHS
BY AARON TRIPPLER, DIRECTOR, AIHA® GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
Some people think that occupational
safety and health regulation in America
revolves around Washington. But these
days, the real action is taking place in
the states.
Consider what states have accomplished this year. California addressed
the airborne transmissible disease issue
and has one of the better plans for using
N95 respirators to protect against the
H1N1 virus. Illinois became an OSHA
state plan state to provide agency coverage for its public employees. Texas attempted to adopt an OSHA state plan,
and several states introduced legislation
to drop their state plan recognition.
States have successfully addressed mold
abatement and methamphetamine laboratory cleanup. The list goes on and on.
Yes, things are harder to accomplish
on the federal level, partly because many
more people are affected. But progress at
the federal level usually stalls because
politics plays too large a role. When was
the last time both sides of the aisle
agreed on an occupational safety and
health issue? Sometimes I think that
OHS legislation would receive considerable support from both parties if only
the sponsors were anonymous. Yet every
OHS issue encounters divisions between
Republicans and Democrats, labor and
industry, liberal and conservative. The
partisan divide on OHS issues may explain why EPA receives more than $10
billion in annual funding while OSHA
survives with just over $500 million.
Progress toward eliminating workplace illnesses and injuries requires effort from everyone. Labor must
understand that industry is not the
enemy, and industry must understand
that labor is on the front line and de-
serves a place in the debate. And federal
policymakers might think about using
their next recess to see how things are
done in their state capitol.
Congress and OHS
Despite the lack of progress in Congress
on OHS issues, plenty of work on the
OSHA reform measure—the Protecting
America’s Workers Act—is taking place
behind the scenes. Labor supporters want
a simplified bill that has a chance of
passing in the Senate, but they are intent
on keeping sections of the current bill
that address whistleblower protection
and victim’s rights.
OSHA Pursuing Many Issues
Following are brief descriptions of the
most important issues OSHA has addressed recently.
GHS. The September 30 Federal Register
contained a proposed rule for the Globally
Harmonized System of Classification and
Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). At press
time AIHA was still reviewing the proposal. GHS will provide a single, consistent system for classifying chemicals,
labels and safety data sheets. The proposed rule is available at http://edocket.
access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-22483.htm.
Comments are due December 29.
PPE. Both industry and labor have filed
court briefs addressing the OSHA policy
of setting penalties based on the number
of employees affected by employer re-
sponsibility to provide training and per-
sonal protective equipment. OSHA issued
a direct final rule in early September
that revised PPE sections of several stan-
dards to include the most recent national
consensus standards. The rule applies to
general industry, shipyards, longshoring,
and marine terminals.
NIOSH
OHS stakeholders received great news in
early September when Dr. John Howard
was reappointed to a six-year term as
the head of NIOSH. Dr. Howard had the
support of nearly every stakeholder during his previous time at NIOSH and is
expected to pick up right where he left
off. In early statements, Dr. Howard indicated that some of his agenda will involve a closer look at risk assessment,
continued research into nanotechnology
and an effort to collaborate more with
OSHA.
Aaron Trippler directs government affairs for more
than70localsectionsandservesasAIHA’schieflia-
sonwithCongressandfederalagencies.Hecanbe
reached at (703) 846-0730 or atrippler@aiha.org.
