(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray
(D-WA) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA) sent a letter to Secretary of Interior Ken
Salazar urging him to work with the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) to craft strong regulations to protect workers in the gas
and oil industry, especially those working on the outer continental shelf.
“As
you know, we have begun a series of hearings looking at workplace safety in the
oil and gas industry, and how we can improve and make consistent standards and
worker protections across the industry. It appears clear to us that when
considering oversight of safety requirements and standards off-shore and on the
outer continental shelf there is a lack of consistency and a lack of coordination
between various federal agencies,” the
Senators wrote.
Earlier this month, Senator Murray chaired
a hearing of the Senate Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee to
investigate the failure of oil and gas companies to learn from previous
tragedies and implement effective worker safety processes.
The full text of the letter appears below:
The Honorable Ken Salazar
Secretary
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Secretary
Salazar:
As
you know, we have begun a series of hearings looking at workplace safety in the
oil and gas industry, and how we can improve and make consistent standards and
worker protections across the industry. It appears clear to us that when
considering oversight of safety requirements and standards off-shore and on the
outer continental shelf there is a lack of consistency and a lack of
coordination between various federal agencies.
We
are aware that Bureau of Ocean Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOE),
the renamed successor to the Minerals Management Service (MMS), is in the
process of preparing a “Safety and Environmental Management Systems” regulation
which will cover worker safety on the outer continental shelf, including oil
and gas drilling rigs. We are also aware that while there was some preliminary
interaction between BOE/MMS and the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) at the start of this process nearly a year ago, there has
been no follow-up or active consultation with OSHA since that time.
We
strongly encourage that BOE work closely with OSHA as this regulation is being
developed and finalized, and that BOE take full advantage of the expertise in
workplace safety and worker protections available through OSHA. We believe that
BOE should take into account the best aspect of all existing guidelines,
standards and recommendations.
We
urge BOE to reengage fully with OSHA and to not delay the issuance of this much
needed regulation. As this process moves forward we would ask that our staff be
briefed on a regular basis. Thank you for your attention to this letter.
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