The Workers' President

• Publication year: 2017

The Workers' President

Jonathan D. Karmel

THE WORKERS' PRESIDENT

Jonathan D. Karmel^*

The election of Donald Trump sent shock waves through both sides of the political divide and into all recesses of American life. Among advocates for safe and healthy workplaces, the impact of his election will be immediate and profound. Hoping to continue in a Clinton Administration the steady advance of long overdue regulatory changes that picked up steam in the closing months of the Obama presidency, the election unequivocally signaled an end to this progress. The new silica rule, expanded injury reporting, and increased OSHA penalties, just to name a few, are at risk now that the Trump led Republican Party with their anti-regulatory agenda is firmly in control.

For many Americans, the election was deeply personal, and none more so than for the millions of American workers who invested their vote in Donald Trump as their protector and savior, from exactly what is a matter of some debate and discussion. Nonetheless, the evidence of progress in the area of worker safety at the end of the Obama era is a high water mark for Americans to compare and contrast with its likely undoing. Like archeologists unearthing an ancient civilization, we will all be able to decide if American workers are better off and safer in a Trumpian America as an anti-regulatory and pro-business agenda is implemented like never before. The archeological evidence is there without qualification or comment as an unmistakable fault line for answering these essential questions. Are American workers safer? Have we done everything possible to protect American workers from death and injury? And, if not, why not, and what more can we do?

Make no mistake about it; life for workers under the Obama administration was not an Eden-like realm of health and safety perfection. In 2015, the last year for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics published workplace injury and

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death data, 4,836 Americans died from acute workplace injuries, or 13 workers a day who died and did not return home at the end of their work shift.¹ In addition, more than 50,000 workers die each year from occupational illnesses.² All totaled, an estimated 150 Americans die each day from workplace hazards.³ At the same time, workers reported nearly 3.8 million work-related injuries and illnesses.⁴ While this is a far cry from the high of 16,000 occupational deaths in 1951, 4,836 is still far too many.⁵ Nonetheless, under Obama's first Labor Secretary Hilda Soliz, and later Tom Perez, and importantly OSHA Director, Dr. David Michels, along with the unwavering persistence of worker safety advocates and labor unions, real progress was achieved in the past eight years that promised an even safer future for American workers.

An impressive list of regulatory changes, new rules and OSHA initiatives were realized during the Obama administration, some of which were many years in the making. Following are a few of the highlights. After proposing a final rule in September 2013, and after 34,000 pages of a public record in the rulemaking process, a new silica standard finally became law on June 23, 2016, protecting an estimated 2.3 million workers exposed to silica dust.⁶ Effective August 2, 2016, OSHA's civil penalties were adjusted upwards for the first time since 1990.⁷ The penalty for repeated and willful or repeated violations will increase to $124,709.⁸ Enhanced employer reporting has been upgraded.⁹ The new rule, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2017, requires certain employers to electronically submit injury and illness data that they are already required to record on their onsite OSHA Injury and Illness forms.¹⁰ Analysis of

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this data will enable OSHA to use its enforcement and compliance assistance resources...