Main Street Backs Legislation Repealing OSHA’s Walkaround Rule

May 29, 2024

Main Street Backs Legislation Repealing OSHA’s Walkaround Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 29, 2024) – The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization, sent a letter of support for legislation that would repeal the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Walkaround Rule. OSHA issued the final Walkaround Rule in April 2024, which allows partial union representatives to accompany OSHA inspectors during worksite investigations. “OSHA’s Walkaround Rule does nothing to increase worker safety, but rather it provides unions a foot in the door to non-unionized small businesses that they would not otherwise have,” said Dylan Rosnick, NFIB Principal of Federal Government Relations. “Instead of focusing on upholding federal workplace safety standards, OSHA inspectors will be responsible for policing the activities of union representatives during inspections. The rule violates small business owners’ property rights and facilitates potential union intimidation of small businesses. We applaud Rep. Miller for introducing this important legislation to stop OSHA from increasing compliance burdens on small businesses.” The legislation, H.J.Res. 147, providing for Congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration relating to “Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process,” was introduced by Rep. Mary Miller (IL-15). NFIB recently joined a lawsuit challenging the rule at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. NFIB also joined the Coalition for Workplace Safety (CWS) in sending a coalition letter supporting the legislation. In an NFIB member ballot, 86% of members agree that employers should not be required to allow union officials to accompany OSHA inspectors during routine health and safety inspections.

Topics:

Labor