Protecting America's Workers Act

Protecting America's Workers Act

This bill amends the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) to increase the scope of the Act by applying its coverage to federal, state, and local government employees or individuals performing work for such employees. However, the bill makes OSHA inapplicable to working conditions covered by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.

The bill revises requirements governing worker protection, including by:

• increasing protections for whistle-blowers as well as employees participating in or aiding inspections;
• directing employers to furnish a hazard-free place of employment to all individuals, not just employees;
• requiring the posting of employee rights concerning protection from retaliation;
• requiring site logs of employees' work-related injuries and illnesses, including those of employees of other employers and contractors;
• directing employers to report work-related deaths or hospitalizations;
• prohibiting employers from discouraging accurate record keeping and reporting of work-related injuries or illnesses;
• requiring the Department of Labor to investigate an incident in the workplace that results in the death of an employee or one that results in the hospitalization of two or more employees;
• establishing rights for victims, or representatives of victims, with respect to inspections or investigations of work-related bodily injuries or deaths;
• setting the permitted period for employers to correct serious, willful, or repeated violations while citations for the violations are being contested;
• increasing civil and criminal penalties for certain violations;
• expanding enforcement requirements relating to state occupational safety and health plans, including by allowing Labor concurrent enforcement authority in states where the state plans fail to meet minimum requirements; and
• expanding requirements for workplace health hazard evaluations by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.