Al Franken: “I rise today in opposition to a resolution that will roll back nearly 45 years of OSHA workplace safety enforcement…”

“I rise today in opposition to a resolution that will roll back nearly 45 years of OSHA workplace safety enforcement precedents. We would be reversing a precedent that helps ensure every American worker heads homes safely at the end of their shift. This resolution is an effort by my Republican colleagues to overturn a rule issued by OSHA on December 16, 2016, entitled, ``Clarification of Employer's Continuing Obligation to Make and Maintain an Accurate Record of Each Recordable Injury and Illness.'' As the title says, this rule provides employers with clarification on the requirements to timely report and record workplace injury and illnesses. This rule adds no new employer requirements that differ from 45 years of policy. The rule supports a practice that law-abiding businesses comply with and have operated under since passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. Passing this resolution and repealing this rule only creates a safe harbor for businesses that have broken the law in the last 5 years or don't intend to follow longstanding rules created to protect the safety and health of workers. For nearly the last 45 years, OSHA has required employers, with the exception of small employers, to timely report workplace injury and illnesses to the Department of Labor and maintain a record of such incidents going back at least 5 years. If an employer failed to do either, they could be cited and penalized.…”