Hearing Planned on Miner Safety & Health Act

In early October, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee is expected to hold a hearing on the AGC-opposed Miner Safety and Health Act.  This bill would make significant changes to both MSHA and OSHA. AGC is a strong advocate of worker safety but is concerned about the direction of the bill. The legislation turns the clock back on well over 10 years of progress in improved workplace safety, which has lead to a nearly 50 percent reduction in the construction fatality rate, by creating a more adversarial relationship between employers and OSHA.  The bill does nothing to help facilitate worker safety on a site or help businesses, especially small businesses, improve worksite safety. Instead, it focuses solely on introducing vague new standards for criminal liability and imposes complicated and costly procedures for adjudicating whistleblower cases. This legislation is ultimately a punitive measure, and does not promote injury prevention. This approach fails to take into account the construction industry's successful accident prevention strategies that have resulted in reducing workplace injury, illness and fatality rates through the successful efforts of business and government working together. Instead it will hamper continued construction industry safety improvements through increased litigation and discouragement of cooperative relationships. In July the House Education and Labor Committee passed the AGC opposed Miner Safety and Health Act.  Thanks to efforts here in Washington, D.C., and more importantly from grassroots efforts nationwide, this bill has not yet been considered by the full House.  Please use AGC's Legislative Action Center to write your Senators and relay your concerns with this legislation.