[Pages S9528-S9530]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

POSTAL EMPLOYEES SAFETY ENHANCEMENT ACT

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed
to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 501, S. 2112.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report.
The bill clerk read as follows:

A bill (S. 2112) to make Occupational Safety and Health Act
of 1970 applicable to the United States Postal Service in the
same manner as any other employer.

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection to the immediate
consideration of the bill?
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. ENZI. I ask unanimous consent the bill be considered read the
third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table,
and any statements relating to the bill be placed at the appropriate
place in the Record.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The bill (S. 2112) was considered read a third time and passed, as
follows:

S. 2112

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Postal Employees Safety
Enhancement Act''.

SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF ACT.

(a) Definition.--Section 3(5) of the Occupational Safety
and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 652(5)) is amended by
inserting after ``the United States'' the following: ``(not
including the United States Postal Service)''.
(b) Federal Programs.--

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(1) Occupational safety and health.--Section 19(a) of the
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 668(a))
is amended by inserting after ``each Federal Agency'' the
following: ``(not including the United States Postal
Service)''.
(2) Other safety programs.--Section 7902(a)(2) of title 5,
United States Code, is amended by inserting after
``Government of the United States'' the following: ``(not
including the United States Postal Service)''.

SEC. 3. CLOSING OR CONSOLIDATION OF OFFICES NOT BASED ON OSHA
COMPLIANCE.

Section 404(b)(2) of title 39, United States Code, is
amended to read as follows:
``(2) The Postal Service, in making a determination whether
or not to close or consolidate a post office--
``(A) shall consider--
``(i) the effect of such closing or consolidation on the
community served by such post office;
``(ii) the effect of such closing or consolidation on
employees of the Postal Service employed at such office;
``(iii) whether such closing or consolidation is consistent
with the policy of the Government, as stated in section
101(b) of this title, that the Postal Service shall provide a
maximum degree of effective and regular postal services to
rural areas, communities, and small towns where post offices
are not self-sustaining;
``(iv) the economic savings to the Postal Service resulting
from such closing or consolidation; and
``(v) such other factors as the Postal Service determines
are necessary; and
``(B) may not consider compliance with any provision of the
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651 et
seq.).''.

SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON RESTRICTION OR ELIMINATION OF
SERVICES.

(a) In General.--Chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code,
is amended by adding after section 414 the following:

``Sec. 415. Prohibition on restriction or elimination of
services

``The Postal Service may not restrict, eliminate, or
adversely affect any service provided by the Postal Service
as a result of the payment of any penalty imposed under the
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651 et
seq.).''.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of
sections for chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:

``415. Prohibition on restriction or elimination of services.''.

SEC. 5. LIMITATIONS ON RAISE IN RATES.

Section 3622 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by
adding at the end the following:
``(c) Compliance with any provision of the Occupational
Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.) shall
not be considered by the Commission in determining whether to
increase rates and shall not otherwise affect the service of
the Postal Service.''.

Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, this bill that was just passed by the Senate
will dramatically improve workplace safety and health for more than
800,000 U.S. Postal Service employees. Senate bill 2112, the Postal
Employees Safety Enhancement Act, will bring the Postal Service under
the full jurisdiction of the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration. It is my firm belief that government must play by its
own rules, that all Federal agencies must comply with the 1970
occupational safety and health statute. They are not required to pay
penalties issued to them by OSHA. They will be under this bill. The
lack of any enforcement tool renders compliance requirements for the
subsector ineffective, at best.
My first look at this occurred when I noticed that Yellowstone
National Park had been cited for over 600 violations. Ninety of them
were serious. One of them was failure to report a death.
It occurred to me, though, that they may not be the worst violators,
so I checked on the Federal Government and found that the agency that
we needed to start with was the U.S. Postal Service.
What is most troubling about the Postal Service's safety record is
its annual workers' compensation payments. From 1992 to 1997, the
Postal Service paid an average of $505 million in workers' compensation
costs, placing them once again at the top of the Federal Government's
list. Moreover, the Postal Service's annual contribution to workers'
compensation amounts to almost one-third of the Federal Government's
$1.8 billion price tag.
In 1970, Congress passed the Postal Reorganization Act, eliminating
the old Postal Department status as a Cabinet office. Twelve years
later, the Postal Service became fiscally self-sufficient and is to be
congratulated on that.
After carefully listening to the perspectives of the Post Office and
the unions representing its employees, I have concluded that the Postal
Employees Safety Enhancement Act is necessary legislation. S. 2112
addresses specialized problems in a specialized business by permitting
OSHA to fully regulate the Postal Service the way it does private
businesses. In addition, the bill would prevent the Postal Service from
closing or consolidating rural post offices or services simply because
it is required to comply with OSHA. Service to all areas in the Nation,
rural or urban, was made a part of the Postal Service's mission by the
1970 Postal Reorganization Act. The quality of service it provides
should not decrease because of efforts to protect and ensure employee
safety and health.
Along this same premise, the bill would prevent the Postal Rate
Commission from raising the price of stamps to help the Postal Service
pay for potential OSHA fines. Rather, the Postal Service should offset
the potential for the fines by improving the workplace conditions. That
is what we have been trying to do on all OSHA work that we have done--
to get more safety and health in the workplace. That would decrease the
Postal Service annual $505 million expenditure on workers' comp claims,
and, more importantly, it would keep those employees safe. That is why
the money won't have to be spent.
I do not believe that this incremental bill should be looked on as an
expansion of regulatory enforcement. For years OSHA has been inspecting
the Federal work sites and issuing citations to those who are not in
compliance. This will continue, whether this bill is signed into law or
not. S. 2112 would simply require the Postal Service to pay any fine
issued by OSHA to the General Treasury, expediting abatement of safety
and health hazard.
Abating occupational safety and health hazards should be a top
priority of any employer. Now, the U.S. Postal Service recently
announced a $100 million program to entice kids to collect stamps. I
don't question the validity of such a program or the benefit it would
have on the Nation's kids. However, I do question whether this program
should be a priority while workers' compensation claims and injuries,
illness, lost time, and fatality rates remain so high.
We must ensure the safety and health of all employees because they
are the most important asset of any business. The success or failure of
any business, including the Post Office, rests on their ability to
provide efficient care and service to their customers.
In my capacity as a Senator, I have committed much of my time to the
advancement of workplace safety and health by advocating commonsense,
incremental legislation. While it is important for OSHA to retain its
ability to enforce the law and respond to employee complaints in a
timely fashion, the agency must also begin to broaden its preventive
initiatives in an effort to bring more workplaces into compliance
before accidents and fatalities occur.
I want to extend my sincere thanks to Senator Bingaman for
coauthoring the Postal Employees Safety Advancement Act. I believe all
stakeholder meetings have paid off--producing a balanced, incremental
piece of legislation. Chairman Jeffords of the Senate Labor Committee
and ranking member, Senator Kennedy, are to be commended for their
steady commitment to advancing occupational safety and health. I also
thank their staffs for all of the time that they spent on it. I
particularly congratulate and express my appreciation to Chris Spear of
my staff, and the other people on my team in the office who have been
helping on a day-by-day, grind-it-out basis to work on all occupational
safety and health. I am thankful for all the time that everyone has
spent discussing this important issue with me.
I also want to thank all of the cosponsors. This is a very bipartisan
bill. Their support is greatly appreciated.
Finally, I want to thank Congressman Greenwood for authoring the
House version and subcommittee chairmen Ballenger and McHugh for their
careful consideration in their respective subcommittees. Their work has
helped to make this a real team effort.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I am proud to join Senator Enzi and the
other original cosponsors of this bill, Senator Jeffords, Senator
Bingaman, and Senator Brownback, in celebrating the final passage of
the Postal Employees Safety Enhancement Act. I especially want to
commend Senator Enzi

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for his leadership on this bill. His tireless devotion to the safety
and health of the nation's workers has resulted today in passage of
significant improvements for employees of the United States Postal
Service. I am pleased to have worked with him on the passage of this
important legislation, which will extend coverage of the Occupational
Safety and Health Act to employees of the United States Postal Service.
The bill has broad bipartisan support, and it is supported by the
Administration as well.
Few issues are more important to working families than health and
safety on the job. For the past 28 years, OSHA has performed a critical
role--protecting American workers from on-the-job injuries and
illnesses.
In carrying out this mission, OSHA has made an extraordinary
difference in people's lives. Death rates from on-the-job accidents
have dropped by over 60% since 1970--much faster than before the law
was enacted. More than 140,000 lives have been saved.
Occupational illnesses and injuries have dropped by one-third since
OSHA's enactment--to a record low rate of 7.4 per 100 workers in 1996.
These numbers are still unacceptably high, but they demonstrate that
OSHA is a success by any reasonable measure.
Even more lives have been saved in the past two places where OSHA has
concentrated its efforts. Death rates have fallen by 61% in
construction and 67% in manufacturing. Injury rates have dropped by
half in construction, and nearly one-third in manufacturing. Clearly,
OSHA works best where it works hardest.
Unfortunately, these efforts do not apply to federal agencies. The
original OSHA statute required only that federal agencies provide
``safe and healthful places and conditions of employment'' to their
employees. Specific OSHA safety and health rules did not apply.
In 1980, President Carter issued an Executive Order that solved this
problem in part. It directed federal agencies to comply with all OSHA
safety standards, and it authorized OSHA to inspect workplaces and
issue citations for violations.
President Carter's action was an important step, but more needs to be
done. When OSHA inspects a federal workplace and finds a safety
violation, OSHA can direct the agency to eliminate the hazard. But OSHA
has no authority to seek enforcement of its order in court, and it
cannot assess a financial penalty on the agency to obtain compliance.
The situation is especially serious in the Postal Service. Postal
employees suffer one of the highest injury rates in the federal
government. In 1996 alone, 78,761 postal employees were injured on the
job--more than nine injuries and illnesses for every hundred workers.
The total injury and illness rate among Postal Service workers
represents almost half of the rate for the entire federal government,
even though less than one-third of all federal workers are employed by
the Postal Service. Fourteen postal employees were killed on the job in
1996--one-sixth of the federal total. Workers' compensation charges at
the Postal Service are also high--$538 million in 1997.
This legislation will bring down these unacceptably high rates. It
permits OSHA to issue citations for safety hazards, and back them up
with penalties. This credible enforcement threat will encourage the
Postal Service to comply with the law. It will save taxpayer dollars
currently spent on workers' compensation costs.
Most important, it will reduce the extraordinarily high rate of
injuries among postal employees. Ever worker deserves a safe and
healthy place to work, and this bill will help achieve that goal for
the 860,000 employees of the Postal Service. They deserve it, and I am
pleased to join my colleagues in providing it.

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