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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2017)
PAGE 16 | April 21, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS Six questions for labor’s top workplace safety expert Peg Seminario, the AFL-CIO’s director of oc- cupational safety and health, is a nationally recognized expert on worker safety. She has a masters degree in in- dustrial hygiene from Harvard, and has worked for the AFL-CIO since 1977. The Labor Press interviewed her by phone April 12. What can you tell us so far about the Trump administration’s record on worker safety? Already we’ve seen the Trump administration repeal two impor- tant workplace safety rules. They’ve pro- posed the elimination of funding for worker safety and health training pro- grams. They’ve proposed the elimina- tion of the Chemical Safety Board. And they’ve proposed slashing the job safety research budget. Andrew Puzder, as the first nominee for secretary of labor, ob- viously caused great concern given the record of his company, wage violations as well as workplace safety, and his pub- lic positions on labor matters. So we were glad to see him withdraw. Alex Acosta, who has now been nominated, has a better history when it comes to government service. But we remain con- cerned: During his confirmation hear- ings, he refused to commit to fully im- plementing important safety and health rules, including OSHA’s new silica rule. Speaking of which, on April 6, OSHA announced that it’s not going to en- force the new crystalline silica rule in the construction industry until Sept. 23, 2017, three months later than pre- viously scheduled. For those who aren’t familiar, can you explain what the silica rule is in a nutshell? It’s a re- ally critical safety and health protection that the unions fought for for decades. The rule would cut the permissible ex- posure to silica in half, in general indus- try, and by even more in construction. It would also require employers to use controls —such as wet methods, wetting down the dust, or vacuum attachments and ventilation — to limit workers’ ex- posure to the dust. With the reductions in exposure from the new rule, hundreds of workers’ lives will be saved every year. Do you think the delay is political, and is there danger the new silica rules could be scrapped altogether? We are very concerned. President Trump ran on a platform of deregulation. And he has been clear that he’s going to keep that promise. He has issued several executive orders that are intended to roll back reg- ulation. He has an executive order that says for every new protection issued, two protections must be taken off the books. I say 1 minus 2 is a negative number. That means less protection for workers, and that’s not good. Another executive order directs all agencies to look at all existing rules to see which are burdensome on business or too costly, and to propose rules for elimination or weakening. There is nothing in his agenda that is directed toward improving protections for workers. His budget pro- posal also included a 21 percent cut in the Department of Labor. We don’t know how that’s going to be distributed, because the details haven’t been re- leased, but we know that a 21 percent cut at OSHA would decimate their enforce- ment activities. It would lead to more in- juries and illnesses and deaths. A new rule about workers who are ex- posed to beryllium has also been pushed back two months. Can you ex- plain also what beryllium is, who’s at risk, and what the rule does? Beryl- lium is a toxic metal. It’s used particu- larly in making nuclear weapons, air- craft, certain machining operations. Its use is much more limited than it was in the past because it’s so toxic. The new rule reduces exposure. This is a rule that took nearly 20 years for OSHA to issue. The rule ultimately came as a result of a joint proposal by the Steelworkers union and the beryllium industry. But now, see- A second home Work somewhere long enough, and your co-workers become like family. That’s why workplace safety and health matters. On Worker Memorial Day, we remember those who lost their lives on the job and rededicate ourselves to making Oregon the safest and healthiest place to work. Worker Memorial Day | April 28, 2017 ing a different political environment, some in the industry are trying to weaken the standard. And you’ve seen the Trump administration delay the ef- fective date. President Trump also signed a law, passed by the Republican Congress, that overturns a new OSHA rule about employer records of injuries and illnesses. What that’s about? It was a very simple OSHA rule was issued in December that would clarify employ- ers’ obligation to keep accurate injury records. This is a requirement that has been on the books since 1971. But a court decision had found that … OSHA’s record-keeping rule wasn’t clear…. So OSHA clarified the rule. It didn’t change anything. It just says employers have to record injuries and illnesses in the work- place, those records have to be accurate, they have to be kept five years, and dur- ing that five-year period if OSHA comes in and inspects and finds that there were violations on those records, they can cite. But even this was too much for Re- publicans in Congress, and Trump. Re- publicans voted to overturn the rule, and the president signed it. What that means is that when OSHA goes in workplaces, they’re no longer going to be able to hold employers accountable who had Turn to Page 10
