OSHA under the Trump Administration. What can we expect?
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the regulatory agency in charge of worker safety and health, will almost certainly take a new direction under the guidance of the Trump Administration, according to an article by Safety and Health Magazine.
While the new direction and the timeline of its implementation will almost certainly be decided by President Trump, labor-law experts and other professionals have made some predictions and educated guesses about the future of the agency, and what changes could be expected by employees and workers across the United States.
In particular, Trump’s belief in a smaller government could result in federal funding cuts to OSHA, affecting workers across the country who have suffered serious personal injuries as a result of dangerous and unsafe working conditions.
Regulations
On the campaign trail, President Trump vowed to remove two government regulations for every new one enacted. This could mean the end of some of OSHA’s current regulatory practices, including the injury and illness electronic recordkeeping rule, which currently requires employers to electronically submit injury and illness data. The rule has been criticized by industry for being cumbersome and unnecessary.
Another rule which could be scrapped is the “blacklisting rule” which forces companies that are engaging in work with the federal government to submit any prior instances of labor law violations.
A long-standing familiarity with OSHA
As a private businessman, Mr. Trump’s companies have clashed with OSHA. In particular, a Trump contractor was fined $104,000 after a construction worker fell 42 stories to his death while constructing the Trump SoHo in 2008 in lower Manhattan.
The changes enacted on OSHA by the Trump Administration will almost certainly have an impact on worker safety, though it’s yet to be seen how soon the changes will be enacted.