NewsWatch
OEHS NEWS ; GOVERNMENT NEWS ; INDUSTRY NEWS
Michaels Outlines OSHA’s Mission
In his first speech as OSHA administrator, David Michaels described five principles that would govern the agency’s actions
during his tenure. Speaking just two weeks
after his confirmation by the Senate,
Michaels addressed the NIOSH workshop
“Making Green Jobs Safe: Integrating Occupational Safety and Health into Green
and Sustainability.” The workshop was
held Dec. 16, 2009, in Washington, D.C.
According to a transcript of Michaels’
remarks posted on the OSHA website,
Michaels emphasized the importance of
establishing protections for workers in
the nascent green economy. “We must
use our knowledge and skills to identify potential hazards as
they emerge,” the transcript reads. “We can’t wait years for
hazards to be completely characterized, to let industries shift
their responsibility or defer workplace protections by producing
‘doubt’ instead of actively practicing prevention.”
Michaels went on to discuss five “OSHA green reform princi-
ples,” which include the following:
Establish worker/employer partnerships. Ensuring that green
jobs are safe jobs will require workers and employers to work
together to assess and abate hazards. “I dream of a world where
workers can collaborate on an equal basis with management to
find safe chemicals and develop and implement processes that
won’t put workers in danger,” Michaels said.
Increase chemical safety. Citing EPA’s example of working
with Congress to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act
(TSCA), Michaels pledged to reform regulations and controls related to chemical exposures in the workplace. He predicted that
adoption of the Globally Harmonized System for Classification
and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), which OSHA proposed in
September 2009, would lead to greater protection for workers.
He also stated that the European Union’s REACH regulation—
Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of
Chemicals—is providing Americans with more information
about chemical exposures in the workplace than ever before,
and expressed hope that REACH would “challeng[e] the old paradigm where chemicals are considered innocent until proven
guilty—and all too often proven guilty by the sick and dead
bodies of American workers.”
Implement Prevention through Design. Michaels praised the
NIOSH Prevention through Design initiative as an efficient and
thorough way to integrate safety into workplaces. He pledged
that OSHA “will be fully involved in the movement toward Prevention through Design.”
Establish standards. Michaels affirmed the importance of
OSHA rulemaking on urgent matters and asked for help from
scientists, engineers, students, workers and members of the
business community.
Enhance workers’ voice. Michaels called for workers to have a
stronger voice in safety matters. One way to empower workers
is to provide them with accurate injury and illness statistics,
Michaels said. He referenced a recent Government Accountability Office finding that employer incentive programs often dissuade employees from recording injuries and illnesses. OSHA is
currently conducting a National Emphasis Program on record-keeping.
NIOSH Workshop Examines Safety Challenges in Green
Economy
In December, the NIOSH-sponsored workshop “Making Green
Jobs Safe: Integrating Occupational Safety and Health into
Green and Sustainability” addressed ways to protect workers in
“green” jobs—jobs that help improve
the environment. A recent post to the
NIOSH Science Blog summarized six
ideas for increasing worker protection
in green jobs, including defining and
categorizing green jobs; evaluating all
green jobs for their effects on worker
safety and health; integrating worker
safety and health with energy conservation and environmental protection;
and adding safety and health to green
benchmarks. To read the full blog
post, visit www.cdc.gov/niosh/blog/.
For more information about the
Green Jobs workshop, including video of the opening remarks
by NIOSH head John Howard and OSHA administrator David
Michaels, visit www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/PtD/greenjobs.html.
Panel Recommends Listing Formaldehyde as Known
Carcinogen
A panel of experts convened by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) recommends listing formaldehyde as a known
human carcinogen in the NTP’s 12th Report on Carcinogens
(RoC). Formaldehyde is currently listed as “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen” in the 11th RoC.
The panel, which included 10 scientists from the public and
private sectors, met Nov. 2– 4 in Research Triangle Park, N.C. The
panel reviewed a draft background document on formaldehyde,
