Monday, March 03, 2008

Education and Labor Committee to Hold March Hearing

The Education and Labor Committee announced legislation to prevent combustible dust explosions Today. The E&L committee will hold a full hearing (on Wednesday, March 12, 2008) into workplace dust explosion risks.


From the news release
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration already has the authority to issue such a rule without Congress passing new legislation, but the agency has failed to act despite the fact that the dangers of combustible dust have been well known for years.

U.S. Reps. George Miller stated “The tragedy at Imperial Sugar shows that the threat of dust explosions is very real at industrial worksites across America and needs to be addressed immediately,” It’s unfortunate that it takes the Congress of the United States to tell OSHA how to do its job. The agency has known about these dangers for a long time and should have acted years ago to prevent explosions like this one. Workers cannot be asked to wait any longer for these basic protections.”

“The explosion at Imperial Sugar is a tragedy that we never want to see repeated in the 12th District, or anywhere else in the country, We owe it to the victims and their families to do everything we can to prevent this kind of disaster from ever happening again.” said Barrow.

Please take the time to visit OSHA Underground and view the comments section to see what Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga) and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, and Congressman Jack Kingston (GA-1) plan to do, then scroll down a bit to view what I had to say.

Keep your fingers crossed and pray often. We will get it done one way or another. Don't forget to thank your reps backing it!

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