Obama Pledges to Increase Safety Enforcement

According to the Kansas City Star, "Asserting that mounting workloads and dwindling staff have hindered the government's ability to protect workers, President Barack Obama is pledging to increase the enforcement of workplace safety.

Obama's budget blueprint, released on Thursday, seeks to increase funding to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. More precise funding details for the job safety agency and other federal programs won't be released until April."

For those of you who have listened to me since the presidential election, this is exactly what I predicted. And I believe its a good thing too. Uninformed employers might get the message that safety on their jobsites IS important. I hope some of the subcontractors "get religion" - it'll make my efforts more effective.

And, it might also eliminate the necessity of OSHA's "inspection blitzes." You know, those things that OSHA says don't exist. I think they call them "saturation." Anyway, if the area offices are better funded, we'll have more consistency from OSHA and get the support we need in the prevention of workplace accidents.

To read the whole story in the Kansas City Star, click here.