Thursday, October 29, 2009

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada’s Third District and a member of the House Education and Labor Committee made the following opening statement this morning during the committee’s hearing on “Nevada’s Workplace Health and Safety Enforcement Program: OSHA’s Findings and Recommendations.”

“My home state of Nevada is one of 22 U.S. states that run their own Occupational Safety and Health Administrations.  These state programs are required by law to be ‘at least as effective as’ comparable federal standards, but apparently, according to the recent report, we know that has not been the case in Nevada.

“The rules in Nevada may be comparable to federal standards, but what is clear from the federal OSHA’s special review of Nevada’s OSHA enforcement program is that Nevada OSHA has not been enforcing these standards as well as should be the case.  Perceived undue political influence has been part of the problem and that must be addressed as well as staffing and training.

“Between 2003 and 2007, the construction illness and injury rate nationally declined by 11.4%, but it increased by 21.4% in Nevada.  During an 18-month period between 2006 and 2008, 12 workers were killed on the Las Vegas strip in construction accidents.  Yet as the Chairman pointed out, Nevada is well behind the curve in vigorous targeting and enforcement of the most serious safety violations.  For example, in 2008, only 29% of Nevada’s violations were cited as serious.  This compares to 77% of the federal OSHA’s violations that were cited as serious during the same time period.  And from January of 2008 through June of this year, Nevada OSHA cited only one violation as willful.

“Nevada workers need to know that the state and federal OSHA programs will enforce the laws and keep our workers safe.  So I thank the Chairman for holding this hearing and I thank the Majority Leader, Senator Reid, for his leadership in this area within the state.”

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