Managing Workplace Safety and Health in the Petrochemical Industry

GAO testified on its own work as well as its review of the John Gray Institute study of safety and health in the petrochemical industry. Both GAO and the Institute believe that the collection of data on injuries and illnesses and their causes needs to be improved and that labor-management safety and health committees should be required at all worksites. Combining injury and illness statistics for direct-hire and contract employees on a worksite basis would enhance the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) enforcement effort in two ways. First, it would provide a better picture of problems in those industries in which a large proportion of work is done by contractors. Second, if employers reported these combined statistics for individual worksites to OSHA, the agency could better target its inspections to hazardous worksites, not just to hazardous industries. Increasing the active involvement of employers and workers through committees, rather than relying on OSHA's enforcement efforts alone, also would improve workplace health and safety. A previous report (GAO/HRD-90-66BR) identified options for increasing employer and worker involvement, including requiring joint labor-management safety and health committees.