Unions insist on better workplace safety laws in emergency meeting with Dr. David Michaels

In a two-day emergency meeting of USW oil industry workers and United Mine Workers at the Pittsburgh Hilton hotel, Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, stated, "There is a pattern in recent weeks of fires, major injuries and fatalities in the oil sector, and we're not immune to the fact that the same things are going on in the mining and other industries."

The Steelworkers leader said the oil industry during April and May experienced 19 fires and explosions, the largest being the April 2 explosion at a Tesoro Corp. refinery in Anacortes, Wash., which killed seven, and the April 20 blowout on the British Petroleum drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11. Roberts also pointed to the April 5 explosion at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia, in which 29 miners lost their lives, as the latest example of placing profit before safety in the workplace.

During the emergency meeting, David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, discussed the various problems with national health and safety laws. Michaels pointed out that OSHA's enforcement penalties haven't changed much in 40 years. Current laws aren't sufficient to deter companies' inaction in preventing workplace accidents.

"Our maximum civil penalty for serious violations, those that pose a substantial probability of death or serious injury, is $7,000," Michaels said. "The maximum criminal penalty upon conviction where a willful violation of an OSHA standard results in death is six months in jail." "If you harass a wild burrow on federal land, you can get over a year in jail," Dr. Michaels said, by way of contrast.

Leo Gerard, president of the United Steel Workers International stated that "It's time to change the law so that people who go to work to earn a living can expect to come home with their lungs and their health and their lives and their limbs all in place."

It's obvious to many that current federal standards and regulations definitely need to be changed and strengthened. Standards for assessing company's safety records need to be tightened and violations fines need to be increased. For industry giants, such as BP, that have billions of dollars in profit, current monetary penalties mean nothing. There have been too many companies in all industries that have put safety second to profit.

Sources:
Belser, Ann. "Unions Advocate Better Workplace Safety Laws." Post-Gazette.com. Web. 16 June 2010.
Stouffer, Rick. "Unions Press Penalties for Workplace Violations - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review." eb. 16 June 2010.