OSHA issued only 4 news releases in regards to worker safety violations since Trump took over compared to 199 last year for the same period

The announcement of safety actions against employers who recklessly put their employees (particularly construction workers) at risk of deadly or dangerous accidents is one of the tools used by OSHSA to prevent workers from being injured on the job. Last year more than one hundred of theses announcements were made by OSHA over the months of February and March. This year only 4 of them were released by OSHA since Trump took over.

The threat of bad publicity has proven to be a good tool to fight safety and health hazards on the job. Now that the Trump administration has been slacking on announcements of major safety actions some Senators are worrying that  OSHA is unable to do its job properly. In a letter to the Department of Labor, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Patty Murray, Al Franken, Robert Casey Jr., Christopher Murphy and Bernard Sanders are expressing their concerns about OSHA’s recent behaviour. The six Senators are asking the Department of Labor to conduct a review in regards to what seems to be a change of policy at OSHA in regards to the announcement of major safety penalties against employers. The Senators also asked the Department of Labor why OSHA recently postponed the planned implementation of a new safety regulation protecting workers exposed to silica and beryllium which have proven to cause lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.