Ken Peterson: Safety legislation offers lesson in policy over party

April 26, 2018 by

Minnesota Labor Commissioner Ken Peterson

April 28 is Workers Memorial Day, meant to remember those who were killed at work and to advocate for improved worker safety and health. The day is also a useful reminder that elected representatives don’t need to be locked in acrimony and positional politics and that they can help.

Though the pain is great with each on-the-job death, we can take consolation in the fact that there are a lot fewer workplace deaths today than in 1970, when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created after long Congressional negotiations.

Deaths due to workplace injuries and illnesses have dropped from 14,000 in 1970 to 4,831 in 2015, despite a doubling in the size of the U.S. workforce. When you consider workforce size, 3.4 workers per 100,000 died in 2015 compared to 18 per 100,000 in 1970. Statistically, that 530 percent decline in workplace death rates is one of the greatest public health stories of the past half-century. For comparison, during the same time period, deaths from heart disease dropped 68 percent, while the death rates from cancer dropped 18 percent.

Of course, OSHA is not the only cause of fewer workplace deaths and injuries. Improved technology has made work in industries such as manufacturing, logging and construction much safer and healthier today than in the past. Many employers are also more aware of the emotional and financial costs of unsafe workplaces. Consequently, they emphasize safety and health, even sometimes at the cost of decreased production.

Still, enactment of the Williams-Steiger Act in 1970 creating OSHA marks the turning point for safer and healthier workplaces. Since then, through regulatory enforcement and safety training and advice, OSHA has led in driving down the number of on-the-job injuries and fatalities. However, winning passage of the Act was not easy, taking three years of fighting for and then compromising on the best way for government to help reduce injuries and death.

Almost 400,000 American workers lost their lives from 1945 to 1970. In response to a national outcry, Republican President Richard Nixon proposed a workplace safety bill in 1969 backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The U.S. Senate in 1970, led by veteran Labor Committee chair Harrison Williams of New Jersey, passed a version favored by labor unions; it was based on a proposal by Nixon’s predecessor, Democrat Lyndon Johnson. Williams was assisted by a fellow Democratic committee member, Sen. Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Though the House of Representatives, like the Senate, was nominally controlled by Democrats, real power was in a coalition of mostly southern conservative Democrats and Republicans. Their leader on workplace safety was a talented, young, conservative Republican Rep. William Steiger from Wisconsin.

Steiger was no RINO (or Republican in name only). He was the first to propose cutting taxes to promote prosperity in the form of what later came to be called the Laffer curve; his best friend in Congress was another young member, Rep. Donald Rumsfeld of Illinois; and he had a young intern named Dick Cheney on his staff.

Steiger’s bill, similar to Nixon’s, was backed by the Chamber and passed the House. The two differing bills were sent to a conference committee. Though they disagreed on exactly how to do so, the conservative Steiger and the liberal Williams went into the conference believing action needed to be taken to reduce workplace accidents and illnesses. They talked, argued, wrangled and, most importantly, listened to each other and their bills’ respective backers. Finally, a compromise was worked out, acceptable to both business and labor, led by the AFL-CIO.

When President Nixon signed the compromise measure a few days later, he said that despite disagreeing with some provisions, he believed the Williams-Steiger bill reached “the goal we all want to achieve, the protection of Americans on the job.” Since then, Republican and Democratic presidents alike have supported OSHA, as have all of Minnesota’s governors.

In 1970, Williams, Steiger, other members of Congress and the president could have refused to negotiate and hoped the next election would give their side more votes so they could get their way. Instead, they created OSHA and helped save hundreds of thousands of lives and avoid millions of injuries. They deserve our respect and thanks.

– Ken Peterson is commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

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Ken Peterson: On Workers Memorial Day we remember the dead, fight for the living

April 28, 2017 by

Minnesota Labor Commissioner Ken Peterson

Four workers from St. Louis will not be alive to observe Workers Memorial Day on April 28 this year. Their unnecessary deaths earlier in the month are a stark reminder that despite calls for cutting back government regulations, we cannot allow workplace safety standards or enforcement to be reduced.

At about 7:30 a.m., Monday, April 3, a large boiler blew up in the Loy-Lang Box factory, two miles south of downtown St. Louis resulting in the four deaths.

The force of the explosion instantly killed boiler engineer Ken Trentham and sent a cargo-van size piece of debris rocketing through the factory’s roof and into another building 500 feet away, killing Clifford Lee and newly-weds Chris Watkins and Tonya Suarez-Gonzalez. All three were filling out paperwork to start their new jobs at a medical linen company. Another injured victim remains in critical condition.

It will be weeks, possibly months, before the specific cause of the boiler’s explosion is determined. One thing is known, however, and that is unlike Minnesota and most other places in the U.S., the city of St. Louis does not require boilers to be regularly examined by either government or insurance company inspectors.

Whether a boiler inspection would have prevented the terrible deaths of the St. Louis workers won’t be known until the investigation is done. However, we do know Minnesota has a well-regarded boiler inspection program requiring inspections and licensed operators, and that it’s been at least a half century since an industrial boiler explosion killed anybody in Minnesota.

When enacted in 1971, the goal of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act was to reduce the number killed or injured on the job. Since that time, national fatality rates have been reduced by more than 66 percent and injuries by 67 percent even though the U.S. workforce has more than doubled in size. In Minnesota, both occupational fatalities and injuries are near all-time lows. In 2014, our state had 3.7 injuries for each 100 workers and 2.3 deaths for each 100,000 workers.

Economic and technological changes undoubtedly are partially responsible for the decline in fatalities and injuries. Also, fewer people work in historically dangerous occupations and there is greater employer awareness of the costs of injuries.

Nevertheless, it’s clear today for working people there is a lot less pain and hurt – physically, financially and emotionally – because of enforcement of safety standards.

However, better education of both employees and employers is still needed. For example, in the past two years, three Minnesota workers have been killed by trench cave-ins. To help prevent these tragedies, Minnesota OSHA is encouraging every employer and union involved in excavations to conduct safety stand-downs this spring to remind and inform workers and management to make a plan to protect workers and prevent cave-in accidents.

Safety regulations and education don’t prevent all workplace fatalities. Each year, smaller businesses, which are harder to reach out to, account for a disproportionate number of deaths. So far in 2017, three of the five workplace deaths that Minnesota OSHA has investigated have been at firms with fewer than four employees. Unionized workplaces and those with fifty or more employees tend to have a lower percentage of accidents of all kinds.

Those injured or killed at work should be remembered. Though the injured have their bodies hurt and their lives disrupted, obviously, it’s a greater, more terrible tragedy to have a life cut short, ended too early, by a workplace accident. That’s demonstrated by the five Minnesotans killed this year, as well as the four St. Louis workers killed earlier this month.

On Workers Memorial Day, we should consider the lives of every worker who was killed on the job. Each workplace injury, illness or death is unnecessary. We all need to do what we can to make sure there are fewer in the future.

– Ken Peterson is commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

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Ken Peterson: Apprenticeship training meets workforce needs of today and tomorrow

November 5, 2015 by
Minnesota DLI Commissioner Ken Peterson

Minnesota DLI Commissioner Ken Peterson

Minnesota’s workforce is experiencing tremendous transition. Thousands of our experienced baby boomers are retiring, while many employers are seeking a workforce capable of meeting increased levels of skill to operate new technologies with precision.

An emerging, yet familiar, pathway for some employers to successfully bridge that gap is registered apprenticeship programs.

Registered apprenticeship programs have been referred to as “the other four-year degree” in Minnesota since they began in 1939. Through apprenticeship, Minnesotans have built careers — without debt — by combining paid on-the-job training with focused classroom education. Both at the workplace and in class, training is customized to meet employers’ needs.

As apprentices learn more they earn more and at the end of their apprenticeship they receive a state-issued, industry-recognized credential. Plus, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, a fully proficient worker who completes an apprenticeship earns about $50,000 each year.

Today, there are more than 11,000 registered apprentices in Minnesota. Three-fourths of them are in the construction trades, such as carpenters, laborers and electricians. These programs, financed by employers and unions, have a long history of providing high-caliber job preparation. They are also increasingly diverse, with women and racial minorities now accounting for more than 25 percent of construction apprentices.

Using the same “earn while you learn” model, the state of Minnesota hopes to expand registered apprenticeship opportunities in other industries during the next five years.

A new Minnesota Apprenticeship Initiative will be one way to expand those opportunities. More than 800 individuals, working for 100 employers around the state, will participate in newly registered apprenticeship programs in 29 high-growth occupations in advanced manufacturing, agriculture, health care, information technology and transportation. Everyone who completes a program will receive a credential that demonstrates they possess the skills needed for success in their field. The initiative is federally funded, but will be administered by state agencies.

Another program, the Minnesota PIPELINE Project, provides grants to employers for dual-training in an occupation for which their industry has designed competency standards. The work must be done in collaboration with a training provider and be in one of four industries: advanced manufacturing, agriculture, health care or information technology.

Large and small manufacturers, health care facilities, auto dealers and others have found that registered apprenticeships offer employer-driven solutions to help them recruit, train and retain highly skilled employees. They are good for employers, workers and Minnesota’s future.

For more information about registered apprenticeship programs, call the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry at 1-800-342-5354 or visit www.dli.mn.gov.

Ken Peterson, commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Labor and Industry, wrote this column for Apprenticeship Week, observed Nov. 2-8 as proclaimed by Gov. Mark Dayton and the U.S. Department of Labor.

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Ken Peterson: Job safety and Workers Memorial Day

April 29, 2014 by

peterson_jan2011Work should be less dangerous. Fewer people should die or be injured at work. That’s why Canadian labor unions started the first Workers Memorial Day in 1985. They picked April 28 because it was the date Canada’s first workers’ compensation law was passed in 1914.

Recognizing the significance of what the Canadians had begun, U.S. unions marked April 28 as Workers Memorial Day in 1989. By historical coincidence, it is the same date federal OSHA opened its doors in 1971. Today, more than 20 countries recognize the day to remember those who have died or been injured at work and to commit to the health and safety of today’s workplaces.

In 1989, as the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry commissioner under Governor Rudy Perpich, I attended the first St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly Workers Memorial Day event in St. Paul. That year, to save budget dollars, some legislators were trying to do away with Minnesota OSHA (MNOSHA). The event’s main speaker Steve Dress, then head of the assembly, brought us to our feet by condemning those who would endanger workers’ lives by cutting dollars meant to protect their safety and health.

Like 26 other states, Minnesota runs its own OSHA program, funded with both federal and state dollars. The program enforces safety and health standards and offers advice about how to maintain safe, healthy workplaces. Thanks to leaders like Steve, MNOSHA’s program wasn’t eliminated then and still remains dedicated to protecting the safety and health of Minnesota’s workers.

On average, Minnesota workplaces are safer today than in 1989. Although today’s state workforce is almost one-third larger, both fatalities and workers’ compensation claims dropped by about a third between 1989 and 2012. In 1989, a worker’s chance of getting hurt or sick on the job was 8.2 percent. In 2012, it dropped to 3.9 percent – less than half the odds in 1989.

Still, improvement in overall job safety doesn’t mean much if you or a loved one is hurt because of sloppy safety practices or becomes ill due to exposure to hazardous materials.

Much of MNOSHA’s work is aimed at reducing threats from such safety and health hazards. The most common citation for employers is not providing training under the “Right-to-Know” (handling hazardous materials) law. The third most common citation is failure to involve employees in the employer’s required “A Workplace Accident and Injury Reduction” (AWAIR) program. When implemented, both Right-to-Know and AWAIR have been shown to reduce workplace injuries and illnesses.

Falls in construction are another big problem and focal point for MNOSHA. Nationally, 289 of 775 construction fatalities were due to falls in 2012. In Minnesota, in 2012, six of 10 non-transportation construction fatalities were due to falls. Our agency is particularly concerned about smaller companies, those with fewer than 10 employees, which often experience a higher number of injuries and fatalities.

MNOSHA is joining with federal OSHA, the Minnesota Safety Council, and other employee and employer groups to promote the “2014 National Fall Prevention Safety Stand-down” during June 2 through 6, 2014, to raise awareness about preventing fall hazards in construction.

During this week, MNOSHA encourages employers to stop work to talk about safety topics such as fall protection, ladder safety or proper scaffolding. View MNOSHA’s Web page at http://www.dli.mn.gov/osha/falls.asp for information about how to participate.

The great 19th century labor organizer, Mary “Mother” Harris Jones, would tell audiences to “Mourn the dead and fight for the living.” This Workers Memorial Day, all of us should remember those who have been killed or hurt on the job and focus on ways to reduce workplace deaths and injuries.

– Ken Peterson is Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. For more information on the department’s workplace safety initiatives, go to www.doli.state.mn.us.

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