Safety comes last in construction industry

Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.) said that with an average of four construction workers dying on the every day, construction is one of the most dangerous industries for workers. The House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on “Is Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) failing to adequately enforce construction safety rules?”

Edwin Foulke, assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, defended the administration’s accomplishments in maintaining the lowest levels of injury, illness and fatality rates in the nation’s history. Foulke also pointed out that the overall fatality rate in construction has declined by 18 percent since 2001.

George Cole, ironworker and the brother-in-law of Harold “Rusty” Billingsley who was killed in a recent Las Vegas construction accident, was seated next to Foulke. Cole testified that OSHA had failed to enforce safety standards for steel erection and misused Compliance Directives that removed safety provisions for ironworkers at construction sites. According to Cole, Foulke had left Las Vegas without taking any action on the Compliance Directive which contributed to the death of Billingsley.

Compounded to that, Cole said that OSHA had withdrawn all citations and fines. When Miller asked Foulke why the fines had been removed, Foulke said that it was the Nevada OSHA’s responsibility, not his, because they have full jurisdiction over their own safety programs.