Education and Labor Hearing on OSHA

May 24, 2007
Blog Post
Today the Education and Labor Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a hearing examining the need to extend OSHA standards to cover state, county, and municipal workers who are not currently protected by these regulations.

Subcommittee Chairwoman Lynn Woolsey gives opening remarks:

Subcommittee Chairwoman Lynn Woolsey:

"While OSHA covers most private workers and an executive order covers most federal workers, there is no comparable coverage for over 8.5 million state, county, and municipal workers. The tragedy is that the Congress gave the states the opportunity to cover their public employees with the promise of matching funds, but today, 37 years after the passage of OSHA, 26 states still do not have OSHA approved state plans."

Casey Jones, widow of a municipal worker killed on the job in Daytona Beach, Florida, testifies:

Casey Jones:

"On January 11, 2006, my husband and best friend Clyde Jones was taken from me and the children, family, friends, and community that loved him... there had never been any safety meetings for him or other workers."