House of Representatives Passes Four OSHA Reform Bills to Improve Worker Safety, Promote Fairness for Small Businesses, Encourage Further Job Creation

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House of Representatives today passed four bills sponsored by Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairman Charlie Norwood (R-GA) designed to improve worker safety by making it easier for employers to work voluntarily and proactively with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to ensure workplaces are as safe and secure as possible.

“More than 3.7 million new jobs created since May 2003, but we want to make sure onerous government regulations don’t hamstring small businesses’ ability to continue to hire new workers and compete in our economy,” said Education & the Workforce Committee Chairman John Boehner (R-OH).  “These OSHA reform bills will help enhance business competitiveness and encourage further job creation, but most importantly they will help improve worker safety by promoting a climate of cooperation between OSHA and employers that focuses on results.”

“Small businesses that make good faith efforts to comply with OSHA standards deserve to be treated fairly and have their day in court, and these common sense bills will help ensure they receive that opportunity,” added Boehner.

Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairman Charlie Norwood (R-GA), sponsor of the four measures, said the OSHA reform bills focus on “improving workplace safety by reforming heavy-handed OSHA enforcement tactics against small businesses and establishing better safety compliance by improving working relationships between the federal agency and small businesses.”

“No person, group, corporation, or agency in America should be above the law,” added Norwood.  “When these bills are signed into law, American citizens will once again have their full due process rights if faced with OSHA charges, and the ability to hold this agency accountable in court if those charges are frivolous.” 

OSHA under the Bush Administration has made significant efforts to supplement traditional enforcement programs with cooperative partnerships between the agency and employers.  According to a Government Accountability Office report released last year, these voluntary programs have proven successful in reducing workplace injuries and illnesses.  Workplace injuries and illnesses have declined significantly to a rate of just 5.0 injuries or illnesses per 100 workers under the Bush Administration, their lowest point in history.  Moreover, workplace fatalities have made similar declines.  There has been a 5.8 percent reduction in workplace fatalities since the Bush Administration took office.

The four bills approved today are designed to remove the arbitrary and unintentional “legal traps” in current OSHA law that hamstrings better trust and voluntary cooperation between the agency and employers.  Brief summaries of the bills are included below.

• Allowing Small Businesses to Have Their Day in Court.  The Occupational Safety and Health Small Business Day in Court Act (H.R. 739) gives the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) additional flexibility to make exceptions to the arbitrary 15-day deadline for employers to file responses to OSHA citations when a small business misses the deadline by mistake or for good reason, ensuring appropriate disputes will be resolved based on merit rather than legal technicalities.  The House passed the bill by a vote of 256-164, with 31 Democrats supporting the bill.

• Ensuring a Timely Review of Backlogged Cases.  The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Efficiency Act (H.R. 740) promotes government efficiency and ensures important workplace safety and health cases are reviewed in a more timely fashion by increasing the membership of Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) from three to five members, improving the current system of a judicial inertia that only results in government waste.  The House passed the bill by a vote of 234-185, with eight Democrats voting for the measure.

• Establishing Independent Review of OSHA Citations.  The Occupational Safety and Health Independent Review of OSHA Citations Act (H.R. 741) restores the original system of checks and balances intended by Congress when it enacted the OSHA law and ensures that OSHRC (“the Court”), and not OSHA (“the prosecutor”), would be the party who interprets the law and provides an independent review of OSHA citations.  The House passed the bill by a vote of 226-197, with nine Democrats supporting the bill.

• Allowing Small Employers to Recover Attorneys’ Fees.  The Occupational Safety and Health Small Employer Access to Justice Act (H.R. 742) levels the playing field for small businesses and encourages OSHA to better assess the merits of a case before it brings unnecessary enforcement actions to court against small businesses.  The House passed the bill by a vote of 235-187, with 17 Democrats voting for it.

# # # # #