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ILMA Supports Action Against OSHA Walkaround Rule

May 17, 2024
Advocacy, Regulatory

ILMA Supports Action Against OSHA Walkaround Rule

Yesterday, Representative Mary Miller (R-IL) introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution against OSHA’s worker walkaround final rule. The rule allows union organizers, community activists, or other third parties to accompany OSHA safety and health officers on an inspection of a workplace if as few as two employees request they do so. If passed, the resolution would nullify the final rule and prohibit OSHA from issuing a substantially similar rule in the future. 
This morning, ILMA joined and 57 other members of the Coalition for Workplace Safety (CWS) in sending a letter to members of the House urging them to support the CRA.
 
The letter explains that the rule will result in individuals with agendas against the employer using the inspection process to redirect OSHA inspections away from health and safety, putting OSHA inspectors in the middle of labor disputes. Moreover, it provides no limitations on how many representatives can join the inspection and provides no guidance on how inspectors are to prioritize, approve, or manage employee requests. Finally, it violates workers’ right to choose their workplace representatives in a free and fair representation election as required by federal labor law. 
Worker applies lubricant to large bearing.

“The worker walkaround final rule invites third parties to use the OSHA inspection process to further their own agendas against employers,” said CWS spokesperson Lauren Williams, Associate Vice President of Government Relations at the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors.

"This policy will only hurt efforts to ensure safe and healthy workplaces for American workers."

“It will put OSHA inspectors in the middle of labor disputes and force them to pull their focus away from the crucial responsibility of finding and rectifying hazards in the workplace,” Williams continued.

“Representative Miller’s CRA resolution is critical to safeguarding the OSHA inspection process and thereby ensuring workers across the economy have safe and healthy workplaces. It also protects employers against individuals with their own agendas attempting to use the inspection process to harm employers.”

Read ILMA’s guidance on the rule.

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