crossposted from unbossed
The House Education and Labor Committee last week held a hearing on the underreporting of workplace injuries and illnesses and issued a well-researched report on the same subject. There are a number of reasons workplace injuries and illnesses are underreported, and this study discusses them. But among them, I want to pay attention first to willful actions by the Bush administration to prevent reporting and actions to prevent injuries and then to a brief overview of key points.
In no particular order, here are some reasons why Bush has workers' blood on his hands.
One was the ergonomic standard. One of the first actions the Bush administration took in 2001 was to repeal this standard. As the study explains, the result has been serious ergonomic injuries. link
Second, the Bush administration took other actions to forbid reporting of injuries:
In 2001, OSHA published a change in recordkeeping requirements that would have required employers to check a special box on their injury/illness logs if an injury was an MSD. This information would enable OSHA to better understand the magnitude and distribution of work-related MSDs, and would also provide a useful analytical tool at the establishment level. The Bush administration then delayed the effective date, and eventually repealed the provision altogether.
Third, the Bush administration has taken the position that employers are always right and that what is good for employers is good for America. That has led to lax enforcement that verge on the criminal. As the study points out, employers have an incentive to underreport injuries and illnesses and the power to intimidate employees into not reporting. This is especially the case with immigrants, including workers on HB-1 and 2 visas.
Fourth, the Bush administration has actively encouraged employers to contract out work as a ruse to avoid liability. In the case of workplace injuries, employers are not required to count workplace injuries suffered by contract employees or "independent contractors".
Fifth, although not included in the report, a major cause of underreporting is the decline of unionization, something the Bush administration has actively promoted. Workers who have union representation have more ability to stand up for their own safety.
As a result of these and other actions, we have a broken information system, and accurate information is critically important for a number of reasons.
[A]ccurate recordkeeping is essential on the national policy level to ensure that the goals of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, to ensure safe workplaces, are fulfilled:
• Targeting of OSHA Inspections: OSHA relies on accurate injury and illness data to target its inspections at the most dangerous worksites. Inaccurate data mean that OSHA may not be inspecting high hazard facilities.
• Setting OSHA’s priorities: OSHA needs information on where workers are getting injured, sick and killed, in order to identify high-hazard industries where aggressive enforcement programs may be required, and to determine what new standards are needed and how to target its compliance assistance efforts.
• Judging the effectiveness of OSHA programs: An accurate and reliable assessment of the extent of occupational injuries, illnesses and fatalities is essential to enable policy makers to determine whether OSHA’s programs are succeeding or failing and where improvements can be made.
Here are some other quotes from the study:
But extensive evidence from academic studies, media reports and worker testimony shows that work-related injuries and illnesses in the United States are chronically and even grossly underreported. As much as 69 percent of injuries and illnesses may never make it into the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), the nation’s annual workplace safety and health "report card" generated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). If these estimates are accurate, the nation’s workers may be suffering three times as many injuries and illnesses as official reports indicate. Despite these reports, OSHA has failed to address the problem, relying on ineffective audits to argue that the numbers are accurate.
Experts have identified many reasons for underreporting. Twenty percent of workers — including public employees and those who are self-employed — are not even counted by BLS. Work-related illnesses are difficult to identify, especially when there are long periods between exposure and illness, or when work-related illnesses are similar to other non-work-related illnesses. In addition, recent changes in OSHA’s recordkeeping procedures have affected the accuracy of the count of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Finally, some employers are confused about reporting criteria and OSHA staff is often not well-trained to provide accurate advice.
But a major cause of underreporting, according to experts, is OSHA’s reliance on selfreporting by employers. Employers have strong incentives to underreport injuries and illnesses that occur on the job. Businesses with fewer injuries and illnesses are less likely to be inspected by OSHA; they have lower workers’ compensation insurance premiums; and they have a better chance of winning government contracts and bonuses.
The lack of accurate surveillance information leads to the inability to allocate appropriate resources, the inability to initiate and prioritize targeted interventions, and the inability to evaluate the effectiveness of those interventions.
As discussed above, ergonomic injuries are significantly underreported. Here is what the report says, in part.
• In developing OSHA’s ergonomics standard in 2000, OSHA cited extensive peer-reviewed studies that documented extensive and widespread underreporting on the OSHA Log of occupational injuries and illnesses in general. Based on this evidence as well as evidence and testimony submitted during the hearing and public comment process, OSHA concluded that work-related MSDs such as back injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, and tendonitis were being substantially underreported on OSHA Logs and that the number of lost-time, work-related MSDs quantified in the Agency’s risk assessment on the basis of the BLS data was understated by at least a factor of two.
• A recent American Journal of Industrial Medicine study has confirmed OSHA’s findings that ergonomic injuries are underreported. Using worker’s compensation and physician reporting data from Connecticut, researchers estimate that from 1995 to 2001, the actual number of work-related upper-extremity MSDs in Connecticut was as much as six times higher than reported in the SOII. The researchers also conclude that there is no evidence to support the overall declines in MSDs indicated by the BLS survey.
• A study of hotel workers in Las Vegas showed that more than three-quarters suffered work-related pain which was severe enough for over 80 percent to take pain medication and over 60 percent to see a doctor. Yet two thirds of those workers did not report their injuries to their supervisors.
This is an important report and one that is an easy - if maddening - read. LInks to the report and the hearing testimony and video are:
House Education and Labor Committee Hearing, Hidden Tragedy: Underreporting of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, June 19, 2008
House Education and Labor Committee Report, Hidden Tragedy: Underreporting of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, June 19, 2008