With all that’s taking place in the nation right now, OSHA issues aren’t going to get very much from either candidate in the run up to the election. But whoever wins the White House on November 4 will have a significant impact on the future of OSHA. With that in mind, SafetyXChange will profile the positions of both candidates on workplace safety. Today, we’ll do Obama; on Friday, we’ll cover McCain.

BARACK OBAMA

Bio: Born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. Father Kenyan; mother from Kansas. Graduated from Columbia University in 1983. Moved to Chicago in 1985 and became a community organizer for a church group dedicated to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods. Received law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Elected to Illinois state senate in 1996 and to U.S. Senate in 2004.

Position Regarding OSHA: OSHA is not a leading issue in the 2008 presidential election and, Obama’s 64-page “plan,” Blueprint for Change, doesn’t contain a single reference to OSHA or address workplace safety.

However, in his 2004 Senatorial campaign, Obama expressed support for reviving the OSHA ergonomics standard and said he’d work “to require employers to keep records of repetitive stress disorder, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.”

In 2006, he voted for a bill that would have made “wilful” or “grossly negligent” OSHA violations a felony and increased fines for other OSHA violations.

During the presidential campaign, Obama has visited a number of factories and called for a “reinvigorated” OSHA. He has criticized the Bush Administration for:

• Not developing new OSHA standards;
• “Lax enforcement” of existing standards;
• “Promoting weak voluntary programs at the expense of proven enforcement mechanisms;”
• “Reversing key protective standards;” and
• Cutting OSHA staff and funding for training

In addition to restoring the Ergonomics Standard, Obama believes in:

• Increasing OSHA funding including training for small business and construction and other high risk employers;
• Expanding OSHA coverage to all public employees;
• Requiring employers to pay for the safety equipment their workers need;
• “Renewing our commitment” to MSHA (the Mining Safety and Health Administration); and
• Working to get employers and workers to “take a systematic approach to injury and illness prevention.”

As to be expected, Obama doesn’t furnish details or explain precisely what he’d do to accomplish these goals.

Rhetoric: August 2008: Addressing a group of American Airlines mechanics at a hangar in Kansas City: “In a facility like this, it’s pretty standard to lose an eye, lose a limb, lose a life. . . . We’re going to have a government that makes sure workers aren’t put at unnecessary risk.”

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