美国国家公共电台 NPR Congress May Undo Rule That Pushes Firms To Keep Good Safety Records

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Right now, companies have to keep track of workers' injuries on the job or face penalties. But Congress could make it almost impossible for the government to enforce that requirement. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reports the Senate could vote as soon as this week.

NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE¹: Congress has the power to review and cancel regulations issued in the last days of an outgoing administration, and one that's caught the eye of lawmakers comes from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Since 1971, it's required lots of employers to keep careful records of any worker injuries or illnesses.

DAVID MICHAELS: Everything from steel mills to poultry² processing plants.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: That's David Michaels, the former head of OSHA who's now at George Washington University School of Public Health. He says companies must keep injury records for five years. And this isn't pointless paperwork.

MICHAELS: The only way employers and workers understand what's going on in the workplace and why workers are being hurt is by looking at the log and by investigating the injuries that occurred.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: If employers' logs are inaccurate³ or fake, they can be fined. But in 2012, there was a big change that made it a lot harder to punish companies for bad logs. A court ruled that if someone got injured, maybe burned or cut, and that injury didn't make it into the log, the government has only six months to check the log and issue a fine. Michaels says there just aren't enough safety inspectors⁴ to catch problems so fast.

MICHAELS: Enforcement actions around record keeping are way down. And the big cases that OSHA used to have where they could issue fines because an employer had not recorded dozens of injuries - they've essentially⁵ disappeared.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: So the Obama administration wrote up a new regulation to basically put things back the way they'd been before the court ruling. That was finalized⁶ late last year. Now industry groups want Congress to ditch it. Marc Freedman is with the U.S. Chamber⁷ of Commerce.

MARC FREEDMAN: The regulation was trying to do something that OSHA didn't have the authority to do.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: The House has already voted to do away with this. Soon the Senate will vote. Rosario Palmieri is with the National Association of Manufacturers. He says dumping this regulation will help businesses.

ROSARIO PALMIERI: That have had the uncertainty⁸ hanging over their head about whether they could be cited for record-keeping issues from many, many years ago.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: But if Congress kills this, some advocates for workers say that accurate record keeping on injuries will effectively become voluntary.

PEG⁹ SEMINARIO: There won't be any ability to make sure that injury and illness records are accurate.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Peg Seminario is with the AFL-CIO, which represents more than 50 labor¹⁰ unions.

SEMINARIO: Employers will have, you know, license¹¹, and they'll know that they can falsify their records and not be held accountable.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: And she says that will make it harder to find and fix problems that hurt people at work. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF JOEY FEHRENBACH SONG, "INDIGO ROAD")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

3 inaccurate   

adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的

参考例句：

• The book is both inaccurate and exaggerated.这本书不但不准确，而且夸大其词。
• She never knows the right time because her watch is inaccurate.她从来不知道准确的时间因为她的表不准。

4 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

6 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

8 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

9 peg   

n.木栓，木钉；vt.用木钉钉，用短桩固定

参考例句：

• Hang your overcoat on the peg in the hall.把你的大衣挂在门厅的挂衣钩上。
• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

11 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。