Congressmen say OSHA blocked GAO investigation
December 1, 2000 3 minutes read
Congressmen say OSHA blocked GAO investigation
Several prominent members of Congress wrote to the Department of Labor (DOL) criticizing what they call the agency’s delay of an investigation by the General Accounting Office (GAO) of Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s use of paid expert witnesses in the proposed ergonomics rule-making process.
The letter was sent jointly by Senate Govern-mental Affairs Committee chairman Fred Thompson (R-TN), and chairmen James Jeffords (R-VT), Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-MO), and Michael Enzi (R-WY). According to the Senators’ letter, OSHA and the DOL Solicitor’s Office withheld certain essential documents from the GAO investigators.
"Our citizens have a right to know how their money is being spent," Thompson said in an announcement after sending the letter. "As the eyes and ears of Congress, GAO has been conducting an objective investigation of the apparent payment and coaching of witnesses in the ergonomics rule-making process. The DOL allowed GAO investigators to operate for months under the misimpression that they had all pertinent information. The investigators should have had access to these documents much earlier. Before we can consider this matter resolved, we need to know whether the DOL is acting in good faith."
Enzi, chairman of the Subcommittee on Employment, Safety and Training, which has oversight authority over OSHA, said he was disappointed by the agency’s behavior.
"In early July, I asked for the full body of information on this issue, and OSHA has continually kept the information under wraps. OSHA’s efforts to keep this information hidden would be better spent making the workplace safer. The public needs to have access to the facts on the ergonomics rule, and we will make sure they get it," states Enzi.
Bond, chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business said, "OSHA’s tactic of hiding and omitting data requested by Congress and the GAO is another blow to the agency’s credibility on ergonomics. Apparently, OSHA has no interest in giving a fair hearing to the concerns raised by Congress and no interest in playing by the rules when it comes to implementing an ergonomics regulation."
The GAO investigators were preparing to close out their investigation when the omission of the documents was disclosed. The DOL has only recently granted GAO access to the documents. The Senators’ original request to GAO was triggered by findings of Rep. David McIntosh’s (R-IN) ongoing investigation of OSHA’s use of contractors in the ergonomics rule-making, which has revealed that about 70 contractors were paid nearly $2 million to work on the proposal.
The following is an excerpt from Thompson’s letter:
"It is our understanding that, on several different occasions, GAO investigators asked staff from OSHA and the Solicitor’s Office to confirm that the GAO investigators had been given access to all documents relevant to the investigation. On each of these occasions, DOL staff told the GAO investigators that they had indeed been given all relevant information. On one such occasion, GAO specifically requested in writing certain missing documents and was told that the DOL did not have the documents. In fact, the DOL did have some of the missing documents. The DOL’s failure to disclose to GAO the full body of relevant information led GAO investigators to operate for months under the misimpression that they had seen all pertinent documents.
"We expect that any further delay to GAO’s investigation will be avoided and that the DOL will provide GAO with all documents necessary for the investigators to complete their inquiry. We ask that you notify us immediately whether or not any other documents, correspondence, or other information responsive to GAO’s July 6 request have been withheld from GAO for any reason."
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