Tim Walberg: “With Michigan's unemployment rate consistently higher than the national average, I remain committed to thoroughly…”

“With Michigan's unemployment rate consistently higher than the national average, I remain committed to thoroughly reviewing the implications of burdensome regulations that have the potential to overwhelm my State's and country's job creators. A current effort by the Department of Labor is a new standard being considered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration called the Injury and Illness Prevention Program, or I2P2. The standard will require all employers to implement safety and health programs to ``find and fix'' all hazards in their workplace, even those not otherwise regulated. This regulation could potentially impact every employer covered by OSHA unless OSHA exempts small employers or those with less hazardous workplaces. Many employers who voluntarily issued safety and health programs have improved their workplaces' safety culture, but there are serious problems about this standard that OSHA has not addressed. The moment this regulation gets issued, safety and health programs will go from being a good idea to a legal requirement, which means employers will have to meet OSHA's standards rather than what works best for them and their employees and what is indicated as best in best practices. OSHA will have the authority to come in and second-guess an employer about how well they have implemented their program.…”