Washington – Democratic legislators have restored the law on the protection of American workers, which would extend the Osha cover to more than 8 million state and local government employees.
The legal template introduced at the Workers Memorial Day (April 28) would also restore the “Volks” rule. This would enable Osha to quote employers within 5 individually ½ years after an incident instead of six months due to violations of the records. The rule was canceled by a resolution of the Congress Examination Act during the first term of the first term of President Donald Trump in April 2017.
Other provisions would:
- Approval punishment against employers “knowingly commit Osha violations that lead to death or serious physical injuries”. These punishments could extend to corporate officers and directors.
- Ask the Osha to examine all cases of deaths and serious injuries that occur within a place of work.
- Update outdated consensus standards that were taken over by Osha in the 1970s.
- Strengthen the protection of whistleblower.
- Expand injury and illness records that employers have to report and maintain.
- Mandate that employers correct dangerous conditions in good time.
“While the law on safety and health of occupational safety (from 1970) has contributed to protecting the Americans for generations, too many employees will still face injuries, illnesses or death,” said Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT), the sponsor of the law, in a press release. “The Congress must adopt the law on the protection of American workers to ensure that employees can safely return to their families.”
MP Bobby Scott (D-VA), a member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, was one of the four Co sponsors of the law on May 6th: Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Or), Donald Norcross (D-NJ) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
The legislation has been introduced several times in the house and in the Senate in the past two decades. None of these previous legislation has come out of the committee. The first was introduced in April 2004 by the late Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy (D-MA).
“The law on the protection of American employees presents the enforcement provisions of the law on occupational safety and health long overdue, expands the cover to millions of employees who are currently excluded from the protection of the law and strengthens the protection of whistleblower,” said Scott in the press release. “These reforms are crucial to prevent the most serious violations that endanger the security of employees at the workplace. The adoption of this legislative template would be an important step to ensure that the employees of our nation do their work and can safely come to their families at the end of the day.”
The draft law was transferred to the House Committee for Training and Staff.