Congress looks at workers' safety Experts blame some injuries, deaths on inadequate funding

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/574267.html

AMES ALEXANDER
[e-mail]

For months, workplace safety officials in North Carolina and about two dozen other states have complained that the federal government is shortchanging them.

Now they're beginning to get the attention of congressional leaders who vow to push for more federal money to states that run their own workplace safety programs.

Safety experts contend that workers are suffering preventable injuries and deaths because of lax government oversight and inadequate funding.

Members of Congress recently have focused on whether OSHA agencies have the tools to do their jobs effectively after an Observer series documented hazards in the poultry industry and failures of regulators to police problems.

Twenty-four states, including the Carolinas, operate their own workplace safety programs, while the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration oversees safety in the remaining states.

Federal funding for the state-run OSHA programs has lagged far behind inflation, rising only about 1 percent since 2001. The remaining states have fared somewhat better; federal OSHA's budget has increased about 14 percent since 2001, but that hasn't kept pace with inflation either.

FULL story at link.