Worker safety eroded during the Bush years

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/dec/02/worker-safety-eroded-during-bush-years/

Bush administration has stripped workers of basic protections and slowed OSHA

Tue, Dec 2, 2008 (2:04 a.m.)

After President George W. Bush took office, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration quickly felt the effects of the administration’s anti-government bent.

In its first two years, the Bush administration pulled 22 items off the agency’s regulatory agenda, its working list of proposed safety and health rules.

The administration cut several proposals that would have increased safety in the construction industry, which is a concern in Las Vegas. During boom times, more than 10 percent of the Las Vegas workforce has been employed in construction.

After Bush took office, OSHA ended work on plans that would have increased protection for workers on scaffolding, as well as a requirement that would have added protection for workers on residential construction projects. The agency also shelved a mandate to make construction companies participate in safety programs designed “to reduce the incidence of occupational deaths, injuries, and illnesses.”

In pulling the items, the administration cited “resource constraints and other priorities.”

The Bush administration’s only real priority has been to prevent the agency from doing its job. It has stopped OSHA from updating old regulations or writing new ones, changed rules already on the books and gutted the agency’s budget. In doing so, the administration has left workers in jeopardy of injury and death.

FULL story at link.

[sam sarrha]

1. if you aren't rich what hasn't been eroded ..??