The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) has released a report titled, “Can OSHA be fixed? What must be done.” The report consists of short articles written by dozens of occupational safety and health experts from around the country. The articles share ideas for getting the regulatory system back on a path that protects workers.

OSHA suffers from a long list of ills. OSHA’s standard setting activity has come to a grinding halt. Jordan Barab from the House Committee on Education and Labor writes in the report, “The Bush Administration issued only one health standard in 8 years—under court order—and failed to finalize even those items that were allegedly high on its agenda.” As a result, the queue of substances in need of regulation continues to stretch, and workers continue to be exposed to toxic substances. Among the fugitive substances, silica, beryllium, diacetyl, according to Barab.

OSHA also struggles to enforce existing standards, in part because of a lack of manpower. “At its current staffing and inspection levels, it will take 133 years to inspect each workplace under its jurisdiction just one time,” according to Richard C. Iannuzzi, president of a New York state teachers’ union. “The ratio of workplaces to inspectors is more than twice what it was when OSHA began,” wrote David Michaels of the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy.

Most of the authors identified lack of funding as an issue that cuts across many of the problems discussed in the NYCOSH report. Budget increases won't serve as a panacea, but they would certainly help. The programs essential to occupational safety and health – writing the rules, inspecting workplaces, investigating accidents, training workers – all need more money. Eric Frumin from UNITE HERE sums it up: “Greater funding is essential to overcome the virtual freeze on agency resources that has hindered these agencies for years.”

President Obama’s first budget request is expected in the coming weeks. His budget may be an early indicator of his commitment to worker safety. Two OMB Watch analyses from 2008 found that both OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration are in need of more money and more employees. Just keeping pace with inflation isn’t cutting the mustard.

Of course, the Senate has yet to confirm Obama’s nominee for Labor Secretary (Hilda Solis), and Obama has yet to nominate leaders for OSHA or MSHA. One would assume that a lack of leadership hinders the administration’s ability to set priorities – through the budget or otherwise.

But increasing resources for both standard setting and enforcement would send a signal that Obama is committed to reversing a trend set by the Bush administration – one in which voluntary compliance with the law was favored and proactive efforts to protect workers were disdained.

Image by Flickr user Rob Shenk;
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