He may be the lamest of all lame ducks, but President Bush and his administration are not going out without trying to make it harder for workplaces to regulate toxic substances.
The Labor Department is racing to complete a new rule, strenuously opposed by President-elect Barack Obama, that would make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job.
The rule, which has strong support from business groups, says that in assessing the risk from a particular substance, federal agencies should gather and analyze “industry-by-industry evidence” of employees’ exposure to it during their working lives. The proposal would, in many cases, add a step to the lengthy process of developing standards to protect workers’ health.
Public health officials and labor unions said the rule would delay needed protections for workers, resulting in additional deaths and illnesses.
I expect and hope that any such rule would be repealed in the Obama administration, but if there was any doubt in anyone’s mind, the Bush Administration will go down in history as one of the most anti-labor administrations in the history of this country (Reagan would be proud).
Somewhat interesting that Bush started his first term by destroying the ergonomic standards and now is attempting to give his business allies one last gift on the workplace safety front.
Cross posted at Workplace Prof Blog.