The Department of Labor budget request for fiscal year 2017 includes a $595 million budget request for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). There is also a request for an additional $6 million in “compliance assistance activities,” increasing the budget for those activities to $143 million. Additionally, the Department of Labor budget request includes a $4 million increase to programs that heighten OSHA’s ability to enforce whistleblower laws that protect workers from discrimination when they report unlawful practices.
The Department of Labor justified these requests by saying
“The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ensures safe and healthful workplaces for the nation’s workers through a combination of enforcement, outreach and training, compliance assistance, and grants to states. OSHA, combined with its 28 State Plan partners, has approximately 2,200 inspectors responsible for the health and safety of 130 million workers, employed at 8 million worksites around the nation.
Although workplace conditions today are much safer than when OSHA was created in 1971, over 4,400 workers are still killed in the workplace each year, millions are injured and tens of thousands continue to die from occupational illnesses. To reduce workplace injuries, illnesses, and fatalities, OSHA enforces statutory protections, provides technical support and assistance to small businesses, promulgates and enforces safety and health standards, strengthens the accuracy of safety and health statistics, and educates workers about the hazards they face and their rights under the law.”
Most of OSHA’s budget will be going to federal enforcement programs ($225 million), and an additional $104 million will go to state programs. There will be $1.5 million devoted to modernizing illness and injury tracking, which will allow for greater safety and efficiency in businesses nationwide.
About $5 million will go to enforcing new Executive Orders that aim to protect against workplace disasters like one that killed a young worker in West Texas this past year. For more information, read on pages 42-43 of the DOL Budget Request for fiscal year 2017.
