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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219- 8151.
Proposed cuts in funding by Congress for the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) "would have catastrophic consequences
for the safety and health of America's working men and women," Assistant
Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Joseph A. Dear said
today.
"The Senate's proposed 50 percent cut in our fiscal year
1996 budget would totally devastate OSHA's efforts to fulfill its
Congressionally mandated mission of assuring safe and healthful working
conditions for all Americans," Dear said. "It would drastically curtail, if not
eliminate, many of our programs to protect the working men and women.
"Frankly, this is irresponsible. We can't just write
America's workers off. The protection of the health and safety of our workers
must be one of our highest national priorities. I don't think Americans were
voting for more workplace tragedies when they went to the polls last November.
But that is where these proposed cuts would lead us.
"Every year, work-related accidents and illnesses cost an
estimated 56,000 American lives -- more than the total American lives lost in
battle during the entire 9-year Vietnam war. On an average day, 17 working
Americans are killed in safety accidents, an estimated 137 more die from
occupational disease, and another 16,000 are injured. What if one of those
'statistics' were one of your family members?
"Safety accidents alone cost our economy over $100 billion
a year, and occupational illnesses cost many times more. We all bear these
costs, as employers, as workers and as taxpayers.
"OSHA's programs can and do reduce these human and economic
costs. For example, OSHA inspected a Cleveland construction site, insisting
that workers wear safety belts while working on a scaffold 70 feet above the
ground. Four days later, the scaffold collapsed, but the workers were saved by
their new safety belts. In West Virginia, following an OSHA inspection, a
manufacturer of vending machines instituted a safety program and cuts its
workday injury rate by 73 percent. Those are just two of many success stories
we can cite.
"Therefore, we should be doing more, not less, in
providing occupational safety and health in America," Dear said. "Congress
should step up to its responsibilities in workplace safety and health, not
abdicate them."
The House on Thursday passed a budget resolution that
would cut OSHA's budget by 20 percent. OSHA's current budget is $312 million.
Dear said:
- The OSHA enforcement program would be decimated, leaving millions of
Americans with nowhere to turn for safety and health protection. OSHA would
likely have to dramatically reduce inspections, leaving some serious complaints
unanswered because of resource limitations.
"Workplace injuries decline by
as much as 22 percent in the three years following an inspection at a
workplace. A 50 percent cut in the enforcement program would result in an
estimated 50,000 additional injuries, many of them permanent, that might
otherwise have been prevented," Dear noted.
- OSHA's program of developing standards to protect workers against the
most serious emerging worksite hazards would be seriously damaged, leaving
workers exposed to those hazards. There would be many years of delay in issuing
such protective standards, causing further work-related illnesses, injuries and
fatalities that could have been avoided.
- State consultation programs would be severely curtailed. These
federally funded programs provided nearly 24,000 free consultation visits to
small and medium-sized businesses last year, helping them to identify and
correct hazards without citations or penalties.
- OSHA would be forced to dramatically reduce the federal funding share
for the 25 state and territorial OSHA-approved occupational safety and health
plans. Many states might have to terminate their programs, leaving an even
larger burden on OSHA as a result.
- Many training and education programs that have a direct impact on
improving worker safety and health would be severely curtailed or eliminated.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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