A House hearing on Trump administration calls to prioritize collaborative approaches with industry at OSHA highlighted a sharp divide on the issue, with Republicans and industry seeking to simplify regulatory requirements and ease enforcement while Democrats called for strict enforcement to deter bad actors and promoted a bill to bolster protections under the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act.
House lawmakers are holding a Feb. 27 hearing where they plan to explore ways to bolster Trump administration calls to increase OSHA's focus on collaborative compliance-focused approaches with industry, an effort intended to avoid the Obama-era's focus on strict enforcement but which Democrats say jeopardizes worker protections.