SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR AND HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE AND RELATED AGENCIES DANIEL J. FLOOD, Pennsylvania, Chairman WILLIAM H. NATCHER, Kentucky ROBERT H. MICHEL, Illinois W. R. HULL, Jr., Missouri EDWARD J. PATTEN, New Jersey GARNER E. SHRIVER, Kansas Robert M. Moyer and Henry A. Neil, Jr., Staff Assistants TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1971. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR WORKPLACE STANDARDS ADMINISTRATION WITNESSES LAURENCE H. SILBERMAN, UNDER SECRETARY OF LABOR ROBERT D. MORAN, ADMINISTRATOR, WORKPLACE STANDARDS ADMINISTRATION GEORGE C. GUENTHER, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR, WORKPLACE STANDARDS ADMINISTRATION HORACE E. MENASCO, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF LABOR WORKPLACE STANDARDS ADMINISTRATION PETER G. NASH, SOLICITOR OF LABOR CONRAD M. JONES, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF BUDGET POLICY AND REVIEW, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH PROGRAM Mr. FLOOD. We now have the Department of Labor, Workplace Standards Administration, salaries and expenses. The request is for a supplemental appropriation to provide for the 1971 expenses of administering the new occupational safety and health program. The presentation will be made by Mr. Laurence H. Silberman, who is the Under Secretary of Labor. Do we have a biographical sketch of you, Mr. Silberman? BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF LAWRENCE H. SILBERMAN Mr. JONES. We will provide one for the record. (The information follows:) LAURENCE H. SILBERMAN, UNDER SECRETARY OF LABOR Laurence H. Silberman's nomination by President Nixon as Under Secretary of Labor was confirmed by the Congress on September 1, 1970. Previous to the nomination Mr. Silberman was serving as Solicitor of Labor. In that capacity, he (49) was the agency's chief legal officer and supervised all legal activities, including enforcement proceedings under various laws for which the Department has authority. Born October 12, 1935, in York, Pa., Mr. Silberman receive a B.A. degree in history from Dartmouth College in 1957 and an LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1961. From 1961 until 1967 Mr. Silberman practiced law in Honolulu, specializing in labor law. From 1964 until 1967 Mr. Silberman was a partner in the law firm of Moore, Silberman & Schulze. Mr. Silberman also lectured on labor law and legislation at the University of Hawaii and served as a member of the Hawaii Bar Association Ethics Committee. In late 1967, Mr. Silberman came to the Appellate Division of the General Counsel's Office of the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C. Mr. Silberman is married to the former Rosalie Gaull of Boston, Mass. They live with their three children, Robert, Katherine and Anne in Potomac, Md. Mr. FLOOD. I see you have a prepared statement, Mr. Silberman. How do you wish to proceed? GENERAL STATEMENT Mr. SILBERMAN. Mr. Chairman, it is a fairly short statement, and I would propose to read it. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, the supplemental budget request for fiscal year 1971 is for $10,900,000. This is to cover the Department's startup costs for implementation of the WilliamsSteiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, which becomes effective April 28 of this year. In enacting this law, both the Congress and the President have recognized the critical need for rapid and effective action to reduce occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities which are taking such a heavy human and economic toll. The Department is now doing everything it can to be prepared to handle its responsibilities, but the timely appropriation of this supplemental budget request is essential if we are to make a successful start at meeting the many goals of the Act. May I say parenthetically, Mr. Chairman, we are very grateful for the early date of the hearing on this supplemental appropriation. DEPARTMENTAL EFFORTS TO IMPLEMENT THE ACT We are establishing a separate Administration headed by a new Assistant Secretary to carry out the Department's responsibilities under the Act. However, the Department has been planning for implementation of the Act since long before its passage by Congress, and we have been able to commence action rapidly within the present organization. Since the President signed the Act on December 29, Department task forces have been at work with the following objectives: 28. 1. Promulgation of an "initial standards" package on or about April The "initial standards" package will consist of construction, maritime, and general industries safety and health standards. The package is being compiled from established Federal standards and national consensus standards as required by the Act. The setting of construction safety standards has been expedited in order to promulgate them prior to April 28. You may recall that the Construction Safety Act was passed almost a year before the major act, or the Occupational Health and Safety Act. RECRUITMENT EFFORTS 2. Commence national program staffing. The Department has initiated intensive recruitment efforts to meet the responsibilities placed upon it on the effective date of the act, April 28, 1971. We are presently recruiting and training to increase the existing safety field structure of 150 to 540 by June 1, 1971. We plan to supplement the national headquarters staff by 245 new positions by June 1. As you can see, the major thrust of our recruiting is to build up a field staff rather than a national headquarters, even though there is a substantial amount of work to be done at the national headquarters, in the developing of the standards. After the addition of this staff the June 1 deployment including existing Bureau of Labor Standards staff will be : National recruiting efforts to date have produced approximately 4,000 applicants representing all position skills anticipated by the new safety and health program. For the national headquarters staff we are presently recruiting the full new complement of 245-of which 105 have been placed on board. The balance of this requirement will be on board by June 1. The additional 390 field positions are being recruited-125 by March 31, 125 by April 15 and 140 by May 15. This is to allow for 4 weeks specialized training in Washington prior to field assignment. As of this date total additional staff recruited and on board or reporting is 105 in the national headquarters and 45 in the field. We expect no difficulty in meeting our staff buildup requirements either in quantity of recruits or quality of skills on the job. Indeed, it is absolutely extraordinary, the very high qualification of applicants we have for this program. DEVELOPMENT OF STATE PARTICIPANT 3. Commence action with the States to produce maximum State participation in the program. It is the administration's intention to achieve maximum participation by the States. I would like to submit for the record documents which have been mailed to every governor. At this time it is difficult to predict just how many States will qualify for planning grants before the end of this fiscal year, and our estimate may exceed our requirements for this purpose. However, we feel that it is necessary to have the funds available on a contingency basis so that no legitimate application will have to be denied for lack of funds, and thus frustrate those States who would otherwise be able to develop their safety programs quickly. We would like to have this committee provide 2-year appropriation language for the grants operations so that any unused funds would remain available in 1972. Our initial transmission does not provide for that, but in our consideration of this problem, we would ask this committee to provide 2-year money only for the grants. We have, of course, Office of Management and Budget approval for that. INFORMATION DISSEMINATION 4. Inform employers and employees of their responsibilities. As you know, this is a major new piece of legislation, Mr. Chairman, and we feel it is terribly important that we do the necessary job of educating employees, workers and employers as to their responsibilities and their opportunities under the statute. The Department has already produced fact sheets, factbooks, radio and TV spots and slides and made available copies of the act across the country. Hundreds of thousands of these documents have already been distributed and this information effort is only a beginning. As the program matures, specific education and training approaches will be developed for employers to eliminate unsafe conditions and for employees to avoid unsafe acts. We are very much of the view, Mr. Chairman, that this kind of training and education program can often be as effective, if not more effective, than strictly enforcement. We have to combine the two prongs of the fork, so to speak, so as to get maximum impact from the legislation. Numerous appearances and contacts have been and are being made with trade associations, industry and labor groups and others to enlist mximum organized support to achieve the purposes of the act. OTHER PREPARATORY ACTIONS TAKEN 5. Create a statistical "yardstick" to enable effective compliance planning and to provide a measurement of the success of the program. Looking ahead to the passage of the act, the Department requested in 1969 the development by the American National Standards Institute of a new approach to recordkeeping and reporting injuries and illnesses. This new system has been received and will be the basis of the Secretary's recordkeeping requirements which it is planned to activate July 1, 1971. 6. Activate the National Commission on State Workmen's Compensation Laws to evaluate State programs. As you may recall, Mr. Chairman, the legislation we refer to does create this new National Workmen's Compensation Commission. While this Commission will be independent, the Department has been given fiscal and organization responsibility and a package plan has been developed which upon appointment of the Commission will enable it to commence its work immediately. It is expected that the nominees to the Commission will be announced in the near future. 7. Coordinate with HEW to assure maximum program effectiveness. As the chairman is probably aware, the legislation provides a division of responsibilities between Department of Labor and HEW, which could generally be described as a research function in HEW, and the standard setting and enforcement function in Labor. This necessarily requires very close cooperation and liaison between the two Departments, and we are planning such. An extensive information exchange is taking place between the two Departments and will continue. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION 8. Create the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission to carry out adjudicatory functions under the act. The Commission is requesting a separate supplemental appropriation of $100,000 to cover its initial cost, which provides for some staffing, but actually is more for the library and other facilities that they must develop in the slightly over 2-month period remaining in this fiscal year, so that they can be in a position to carry out the adjudicatory role which the Congress provided. Because of the time lag in cases reaching a point requiring hearings and review, the workload is not expected to become too significant until fiscal year 1972. REPROGRAMING FUNDS FOR OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH It should be noted that the Department has already committed substantial resources to this program. It was necessary and essential that these resources be reprogramed within the Workplace Standards Administration, which is where the Labor Standards Bureau is currently budgeted. We believe our action in this regard properly reflects the commitment of Congress and of this administration to activate this vital program as rapidly as possible. I recognize from the testimony earlier today, that the chairman may well refer to this as borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. I confess to that and would throw myself upon the mercy of this committee on the grounds that congressional will was so clear that we get into a position to implement this statute by April 28 that we simply had to do what we could. It should also be noted that without this supplemental no funds can be available for planning documents or grants to the States and such funding is a necessary ingredient to provide them with the incentive to assume responsibility. The Act of course requires additional program efforts above and beyond those mentioned. We believe, however, that we have selected our immediate priorities correctly and that the actions we are taking will produce the results desired. It goes without saying, however, that the funds requested are essential if we are to cover the reprogramed resources and continue implementation action in the balance of this fiscal year. This request also includes a relatively minor nonoccupational safety matter. The appropriation language currently authorizes transfer of an amount not to exceed $32,000 from the appropriation to the Longshoremen's and Harbor Workers' compensation trust fund. This request includes a change in the language to authorize transfer authority not to exceed $150,000 in order to insure continued solvency of the trust fund. No additional funds are requested for this purpose. |