Introduction
OSHA stands for Occupational Safety and Health act. OSHA seeks to enhance safety and health at places of work whether indoors or outdoors. This paper seeks to discuss congress modification of an OSHA bill whose amendment was introduced on 7th January, 2009. The paper will discuss some of the proposed modifications at that moment, what the proposed modifications were intended to accomplish and who the proposed modifications would benefit.
The Congress Modification of an OSHA Bill
The bill referred to in this paper is HR 242. The bill was submitted to the committee on education and labor on the 7th January, 2009 and forwarded to the subcommittee on workforce protection on 16th of March of the same year. The amendment bill was introduced as “to direct the Secretary of Labor to revise regulations concerning the recording and reporting of occupational injuries and illnesses under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970” (Thomas n.d., p. 1).
The proposed modifications were on the twenty ninth title of part 1904 of the constitution. It required “site-controlling employers to keep a site log for all recordable injuries and illnesses occurring among all employees on the particular site” (Thomas n.d., p. 1). This count was to include both workers employed directly by the subject and those employed indirectly to a contractor of the subject or any other indirect relation to the subject.
The proposed changes include penalties on non complying employers. Other proposals included “Rules that would no longer grant employers an automatic stay of requirements that they abate an OSHA violation that they are contesting and Increased protection for whistleblowers” (Stanley, 2010, p. 1). The proposed amendments would improve the safety of workers at the sites as it would make the employers keen on ensuring the safety of workers under their jurisdictions.
Among the, would be, accomplishments of the proposed amendments, the improvement of safety conditions in the sites would be achieved by the fact that it would be more economical for the employer to comply with the OSHA requirements in order to avoid the legal charges. The bill was meant to push the employers to comply with the safety measures meant to ensure the safety of the employees. The proposed modifications would benefit a number of parties. The direct beneficiary would notably be the site workers. The bill would have brought about increased security to the workers by the sense that the employers would be aware of the number of employees under his/her watch.
Knowing the exact number of people in a site would make it easy for proper precautionary measures to be taken in case of emergency. The records would make it possible for the employers to properly address specific needs of the employees especially in tasks which would require some physical strength thus keeping the chances of accidents occurring low. Generally, the bill would make it possible for the employers to be accountable to all the employees under their services (Stanley, 2010).
Conclusion
The proposed modifications would positively improve the working conditions at the work sites. It would likely make the employers be more accountable for all the people working under them. The accountability aspect of the bill on the part of the employers is likely to be seen as a disadvantage however properly adhered to the bill would not be an advantage to any party.
Reference
Stanley, J. (2010). Proposed changes to OSHA Act punish business. FRD Safety. Web.
Thomas, C. (n.d.). Bill Text111th Congress. Thomas. Web.