H.R.2067 - Protecting America's Workers Act of 2009 (PAWA)

Even though the statistics for 2008 appear to show improvement in worker safety, there is very important legislation being developed in the U.S. Congress, one is the Protecting America's Workers Act of 2009 (PAWA. Some highlights of

$70,000 OSHA Fine to Contractor in Massachusetts

This incident was "willfull" and the potential fall was 50' high - no fall occured and no injury occured. OSHA is doing the right thing!

http://safetyduck.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-just-dont-get-it.html

It's like getting people to wear seat belts (or helmets) - inconvenient, time consuming, uncomfortable - and it flies in the face of the "it won't happen to me" attitude. The fact is, people have car (and motorcycle) accidents and seat belts (and helmets) save lives, and prevent injury - at least as compared to not wearing one. Think about the costs to business of all the accidents that could be avoided. Think about the cost to businesses when a worker dies. Insurance companies should charge higher premiums to those who don't comply, and offer discounts to those who do (like safe driver programs). Workers who fail to wear their PPE should get fines (ie "tickets") every time it happens, and 3 strikes and you are out ("FIRED!"). If the employer or the property owner / manager or general contractor doesn't enforce this, they should be fined severely - and let those fines help pay for the financial bailouts (ha!).