[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 6] [Senate] [Pages 7713-7714] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]WORKERS' MEMORIAL DAY 1999 Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the men and women in our labor force that put their health and safety on the line every day at work. Today, we observe the passage of the landmark Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed into law 29 years ago, and the tenth anniversary of Workers' Memorial Day. Mr. President, today is a chance for all of us to celebrate, and to mourn--to recognize the strides we've made on worker safety, and to mourn those who have lost their lives while they were simply doing their job. Although the workplace death rate has been cut in half since 1970, 60,000 workers still die every year from job hazards, and six million more are injured. In Wisconsin our workplace accidents rate of 11.4 workplace accidents per 100 workers is higher than the national average. This is not a statistic anyone should be proud of, but it does help us maintain our focus as we work toward stronger laws, stricter enforcement, and safer workplaces. We need to work together to protect the workers that have built our communities and helped them thrive. Unfortunately we still hear stories of workers like Vernon Langholff, who in 1993 fell 100 feet to his death when a corroded fire escape collapsed beneath him while he was cleaning dust from a grain bin. Just this year a company in Jefferson County was convicted in a state court for the recklessness that caused Langholff's death. In 1996 the company was fined $450,000 for its deliberate indifference to worker safety--because they delayed spending the $15,000 it would have taken to fix the [[Page 7714]] fire escape and prevent Langholff's death. Stories like this remind us that an unsafe workplace can mean disaster for everyone involved--it can bring untold tragedy to a family, it can bring serious, long-term financial and legal repercussions for an employer. The consequences of delaying the repair of a fire escape or ignoring safety procedures can often be tragic, and they are always preventable. To prevent more tragedies on the job, we've got to make sure workers can join unions without employer interference or intimidation, we must help protect whistleblowers who call attention to dangerous working conditions, and above all we've got to fight back against attempts in Congress to weaken OSHA laws. I do not understand the yearly assault on worker safety in Congress. Again this year, the Safety Advancement for Employees Act, or SAFE Act has been introduced. This legislation takes away a worker's right to an on-site inspection to investigate a hazard, or permitting OSHA to issue warnings instead of citations. This bill isn't OSHA re-form, it's OSHA de-form. This bill would more appropriately be named the ``UNSAFE'' act. Mr. President, I will work with my colleagues to fight back any attempt to weaken the protection of Wisconsin's workers. It's time to move the workplace forward to the 21st Century, not back to the dark ages. I am proud to stand with this country's workers in the fight for the dignity, respect and safe workplace they deserve. I urge my colleagues to join me in this important and worthy battle. I yield back the remainder of my time. ____________________