Harrisburg, PA – Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Secretary Nancy A. Walker and other members of the Shapiro Administration today joined Harrisburg labor leaders to renew the labor movement's decades-long fight for safer workplaces and advocate for policies that protect Pennsylvania workers from being harmed on the job. Every April, Workers Memorial Day marks the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), which strengthened workplace safety protections nationwide more than 50 years ago.
Governor Josh Shapiro has urged the General Assembly to pass his proposed 2024-25 budget which invests $1.2 million in L&I's Bureau of Labor Law Compliance, which enforces 13 Pennsylvania labor laws. L&I would use those funds to hire an additional 12 labor law compliance investigators, bringing the bureau's complement to 39 investigators responsible for enforcing labor laws across the Commonwealth's 67 counties.
“Workplace safety thrives best under effective labor law enforcement, and we need more resources at L&I to ensure that all Pennsylvania workers have the benefit of our watchdog role -- especially on the issues of worker misclassification and child labor, two areas where unethical employers motivated by profit are increasingly exploiting the vulnerable," Secretary Walker said. “L&I labor law investigators hold employers accountable to our labor laws – and catch violations before they escalate into tragedies."
The AFL-CIO estimates that each day more than 340 workers are killed and more than 6,000 suffer injury and illness because of dangerous working conditions that are preventable. Each year, the Harrisburg Region Central LaborCouncil (HCLC) gathers at a Riverfront Park workers' memorial near the Susquehanna River to honor lives lost and advocate for safer workplaces.
Private workplace safety standards are governed at the federal level by OSHA. Resources for workers are available on OSHA's website, including a toll-free line to confidentially report a workplace health or safety issue. The phone number is 1-800-321-6742.
L&I supports workplace safety throughout the Commonwealth through various programs and training. Launched in 2012, the Pennsylvania Training for Health and Safety (PATHS) program is a free and comprehensive statewide service that provides safety training sessions and other resources. PATHS training can be customized for an employer's needs to prevent workplace safety incidents. More than 45,000 people annually participate in these trainings.
A full calendar of PATHS training sessions is available on L&I's website.
L&I's Bureau of Occupational and Industry Safety (BOIS) administers and enforces safety standards related to asbestos occupations, boilers, building construction, elevators, flammable and combustible liquid, lead occupations and liquefied petroleum gas.
Finally, L&I reminds employers of the resources available through the Bureau of Workers' Compensation Health and Safety Division to ensure the safety of employees at Pennsylvania workplaces. Certified workplace safety committees are effective tools for Pennsylvania businesses to protect their workers and save money. Pennsylvania employers that establish certified workplace safety committees receive a 5% discount on their workers' compensation insurance premiums.
More than 13,000 state-certified workplace safety committees have been established since March 1994, protecting more than 1.6 million workers. Additionally, employers with certified workplace safety committees have saved more than $906 million in workers' compensation premiums. These savings in insurance costs are due solely to the 5% premium discount provided to businesses that have these committees.
For more information on making Pennsylvania workplaces safer, visit www.dli.pa.gov, and click on “Workers' Compensation Services."