President's FY 2007 Budget Request for OSHA Maintains Balanced Approach to Workplace Safety and Health

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Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jonathan L. Snare announced that President Bush has requested a $483.7 million budget for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in fiscal year 2007. The request represents a boost of $11.2 million over final FY 2006 appropriations and includes increases for federal enforcement, compliance assistance and safety and health statistics.

Snare explained that the increase will help the agency maintain its balanced approach to workplace safety and health which includes enforcement programs, outreach, education and compliance assistance, partnerships and cooperative programs. Said Snare, "As we celebrate our 35th anniversary as America's workplace safety and health leader, the President has proposed a budget that gives us the resources we need to continue to improve our efforts to further cut worker injuries, illnesses and fatalities. This budget reinforces our balanced approach to worker safety and health-an approach that works."

The budget contains two major initiatives to enhance OSHA's mission. First, a total of $7.5 million has been allocated to develop a new occupational safety and health information system (OIS) that will replace the agency's 15-year-old Integrated Management Information System (IMIS). The new system will ensure OSHA's ability to measure results and provide accurate and timely information on all OSHA enforcement and compliance assistance programs. Secondly, the budget proposal includes $2.6 million to expand outreach for Hispanic and other non-English speaking workers, as well as for workers involved in cleanup and recovery operations along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

As in previous years, the President's proposed budget emphasizes a continued strong, fair and effective enforcement program. OSHA has planned 37,700 workplace inspections throughout the year and will continue to focus its resources on workplaces and industries with high rates of injuries and illnesses.

The budget proposes discontinuing the Susan Harwood training grants program-those monies will fund the new OIS system and increased compliance assistance activities. "The availability of a variety of programs and capabilities to provide outreach and training to the regulated community allows us an opportunity to discontinue a rather narrowly-focused training program," Snare explained. "Funding these high priority initiatives is critical and we can accomplish it without compromising the high-quality training available for employers and workers."

Employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthful workplace for their employees. OSHA's role is to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health. 

OSHA FY 2007 Proposed Budget (Highlights)
The President's FY 2007 proposed budget will enable OSHA to continue making progress in its efforts to keep driving workplace injuries, illnesses and loss of life toward zero. Workplace injury and illness rates continue to trend downward. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last December that the number of workplace injuries and illnesses requiring time away from work during 2004 declined by 4.3 percent from 2003. While fatal workplace injuries in 2004 increased by two percent over the previous year, the total (5,703) was the third lowest annual total recorded by the census. During FY 2007, OSHA is positioned to continue its focus on workplace safety and health through an overall balanced approach that includes:

• strong, fair and effective enforcement;
• outreach, education and compliance assistance, and
• cooperative and voluntary programs.

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Proposed FY 2007 Budget (Dollars in Millions)
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Selected OSHA Workload Data
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OSHA and the Consulate of Mexico in Seattle Form Alliance to Assist Workers

Giving employers and workers of Mexican descent the information and training resources to understand their rights and responsibilities under the Occupational Safety and Health Act is the goal of a new alliance to be signed Feb. 8 by the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Consulate of Mexico in Seattle.

Richard Terrill, OSHA regional administrator in Seattle said, "This alliance will allow OSHA and the Mexican Consulate to combine resources to get effective workplace safety and health messages out to workers and employers of Mexican descent. Information, training, and guidance in safe work practices and employee/employer rights and responsibilities under the law will help reduce the number of fatalities and injuries that occur in this segment of the working population in this country."

Under the alliance, OSHA and the Mexican Consulate in Seattle will develop training programs and materials, including brief, plain-language fact sheets or pictorials to simplify complex regulations or potential occupational hazards. Other safety and health-related information will be offered to affected workers and employers during 'mobile consulate" programs, through Spanish radio broadcasts and other electronic media, and at events or forums such as the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce meetings and the annual Mexican Festival of Independence celebration in Seattle.

Consul Jorge Madrazo will sign the alliance on behalf of the Mexican Consulate in Seattle.

OSHA has created more than 400 alliances since 2001 with organizations committed to fostering safety and health in the workplace. They are part of U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao's ongoing efforts to improve the health and safety of workers through cooperative partnerships with employers, trade associations, community groups and labor unions, as well as consulates.á
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OSHA Cites San Antonio Bakery for Safety and Health Violations

OSHA has cited Lone Star Bakery Inc. in San Antonio for failing to adequately protect employees from breathing a toxic substance. Proposed penalties total $78,300.

OSHA cited the company for one alleged willful and 10 alleged serious violations of health and safety standards following an investigation that began Sept. 9 when the agency received a complaint that employees were exposed to ammonia while shutting off ammonia valves at Plant 2 on Highway 87 E. The incident resulted in a worker receiving medical treatment for burns at the scene.

"Fortunately no one was seriously injured at this worksite," said Eric Harbin, OSHA's Austin area office director. "The company did not have an effective emergency plan in place under OSHA's 'process safety management' standard. These safeguards are designed to prevent unexpected releases of toxic, reactive or flammable liquids and gases in processes involving highly hazardous chemicals."

The willful violation was issued for failing to provide employees with proper respiratory protection when responding to an emergency involving chemical leaks. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with intentional disregard of or plain indifference to the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

The serious violations included failing to: properly train employees on the operation of opening and shutting down valves containing hazardous chemicals; provide adequate machine guarding on baking equipment; protect employees from electrical hazards, and properly inspect forklift equipment. A serious violation is one in which there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

Lone Star Bakery, which produces baked goods such as breads and pies, employs about 515 people at two locations in San Antonio. About 215 work at Plant 2.á
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OSHA, Associated Builders and Contractors, Bayou Chapter, Form Partnership to Promote Construction Safety
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Providing better health and safety for construction workers in Louisiana is the goal of a new strategic partnership between the OSHA and the Bayou Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. (ABC).

"The Labor Department is committed to protecting the well being of construction workers," said OSHA's Acting Regional Administrator Frank Strasheim. "This partnership goes a long way towards meeting that goal."

The ABC Bayou Chapter, one of 80 chapters nationwide, has more than 200 member companies. Located in St. Rose, the Bayou Chapter has been a partner with OSHA's Baton Rouge area office for more than five years. The new agreement will actively promote and track mentoring a tool that has been very successful with OSHA's Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP).

Partnership objectives include reducing electrocutions and injuries and illnesses from falls, struck-by and caught-in mishaps and increasing the number of ABC member companies participating in mentoring activities. The partnership will also foster the association's Safety Training and Evaluation Process (STEP), a voluntary program that guides employers in evaluating and increasing the effectiveness of their safety and health programs, policies and procedures.

OSHA's strategic partnerships for worker safety and health are part of U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao's ongoing efforts to improve the health and safety of workers through cooperative relationships with groups, including trade associations, labor organizations and employers.
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Two NIH Initiatives Launch Intensive Efforts to Determine Genetic and Environmental Roots of Common Diseases

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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the creation of two new, closely related initiatives to speed up research on the causes of common diseases such as asthma, arthritis and Alzheimer's disease.
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One initiative boosts funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for a multi-institute effort to identify the genetic and environmental underpinnings of common illnesses. The other initiative launches a public-private partnership between NIH, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) and major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, especially Pfizer Global Research & Development of New London, Conn.; and Affymetrix Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., to accelerate genome association studies to find the genetic roots of widespread sicknesses. The genetic analysis component of the two initiatives is highly complementary.
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Genes and Environment Initiative
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HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced on Monday that the President's budget proposal for fiscal year (FY) 2007 includes $68 million for the Genes and Environment Initiative (GEI), a research effort at NIH to combine a type of genetic analysis and environmental technology development to understand the causes of common diseases. The FY 2007 budget represents a $40 million increase above the $28 million already planned for these efforts in the NIH budget.
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If approved by Congress, this additional federal funding will begin in FY 2007 and continue for multiple years. Of the first year's funding, $26 million will go to genetic analysis and $14 million for the development of new tools to measure environmental exposures that affect health.
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"The discoveries made through these efforts will ultimately lead to profound advances in disease prevention and treatment," Secretary Leavitt said. "These are the kinds of innovative efforts that we should support. We must seize the historic opportunity provided by the Human Genome Project and the International HapMap Project, to speed up the discovery of the genetic causes of common diseases like diabetes and hypertension. At the same time, it's critical that we also understand the environmental contributors to sickness, and the interplay among genes and environment. There is not a moment to be lost."
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GEI will have two main components: a laboratory procedure for efficiently analyzing genetic variation in groups of patients with specific illnesses and a technology development program to devise new ways of monitoring personal environmental exposures that interact with genetic variations and result in human diseases.
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The proposed federal funding level will enable GEI to perform genetic analysis - or genotyping - studies for several dozen common diseases. The exact diseases to be studied will be determined by peer review. An initial survey of existing NIH-supported clinical studies identified more than 100 with sufficient numbers of already characterized patients to get this effort started. In addition, NIH expects to develop four new environmental monitoring devices a year.
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"This initiative would not have been possible a year or two ago," said Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., Director of the National Institutes of Health, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. "This is a tangible result of the nation's increased investment in medical research over the past 10 years. We are now poised to combine what we have learned from years of population studies, with newly available technologies, developed with NIH support. These technologies reduced the cost of genotyping by more than 100-fold, making such a comprehensive effort affordable. Equally important, this effort will dramatically increase our understanding of the environmental factors of health and disease, and help us develop novel measures of gene-environment interactions. We stand on the threshold of creating a future that will revolutionize the practice of medicine by allowing us to predict disease, develop more precise therapies and, ultimately, pre-empt the development of disease in the first place."
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Public-Private Partnership
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At the same time, a public-private partnership between NIH, FNIH, which is a non-profit foundation established by Congress to support the mission of the NIH; Pfizer and Affymetrix is being created to further accelerate this important research on the genetic association studies.
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The new partnership, called the Genetic Association Information Network (GAIN), is being launched with a $5 million donation from Pfizer to set up the management structure and $15 million worth of laboratory studies to determine the genetic contributions to five common diseases. Affymetrix, a biotech company that develops the types of tools used in these kinds of genetic studies, will contribute enough laboratory resources to study two additional common diseases. On average, it costs about $3 million to carry out one study.
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"We've translated early information from genetic research into valuable medicines for HIV/AIDS, heart disease and the prevention of organ rejection," said Martin Mackay, Ph.D., Senior Vice President Worldwide Research & Technology, Pfizer Research & Development. "But these advances have only scratched the surface of possible revolutionary approaches to treat and cure diseases. Pfizer, the NIH and other public/private biomedical research interests have complementary missions greater than the sum of their parts. Our hope is that this public/private initiative will encourage a deeper collective understanding of the genetic factors of disease for major new therapeutic advances."
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GAIN will be an FNIH-managed partnership that includes NIH, industry, foundations, individuals and advocacy groups. Governance will include an executive committee, a steering committee, as well as peer review and data access committees.
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"Our partnership with pharmaceutical and biotech companies to speed up this research exemplifies the aim Congress had in mind when it established the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health to support the mission of NIH," said John E. Porter, Vice Chairman of the foundation's Board of Directors. "Through the financial support of the private sector, NIH will now be able to launch into this exciting initiative immediately. Moreover, the interaction of scientists from the public and the private sector dramatically increase the likelihood that this initiative will get off to a quick and efficient start that will genuinely produce important advances for all patients."
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Genetic Factors
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The genetic analysis of both GAIN and GEI will focus on the alternative spellings - called single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs - that normally occur in the order of the 3 billion DNA base pairs or letters that make up a person's genome. SNPs are like single-letter misspellings of a word. Most of these genetic variations are biologically meaningless. But a small fraction of these SNPs alter the function of a gene - often only slightly. The combination of many slightly altered genes may significantly increase the risk of a specific disease, but identifying such a complex set of genetics changes is challenging. Finding these disease-causing variants is one of the highest priorities of current biomedical research.
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"Virtually all diseases have a hereditary component, transmitted from parent to child through the three billion DNA letters that make up the human genome," said Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH and chairman of the GAIN Steering Committee and co-chairman of the NIH Coordinating Committee for GEI. "But progress in identifying the genetic factors that influence health or disease, or even the response to treatment, is difficult. Both initiatives promise to rapidly identify the myriad genes in an individual that, taken together, contribute to an increased risk of illness - or that increase the chances of a healthy life. As the genetic underpinnings of health and common diseases become clearer, researchers will be empowered to develop targeted treatments that either prevent illness from occurring or treat it effectively once it does."
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There are about 10 million common SNPs in the human population. Scanning the genomes of large numbers of patients for such a large number of variants would be prohibitively expensive. Fortunately, a major shortcut has been discovered that reduces the workload about 30-fold. The International HapMap Project, led by the NIH and completed in October 2005, demonstrated that the 10 million variants cluster into local neighborhoods, called haplotypes, and that they can be accurately sampled by as few as 300,000 carefully chosen SNPs. New technological systems allow these SNPs to be systematically studied in high-throughput facilities that dramatically lower the cost.
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For each study of 1,000 to 2,000 patients with a specific disease and a similar number of people who do not have the illnesses (controls), an investment of $3 million to $6 million (depending on the number of patients and controls) is needed for the first stage of genotyping. Follow-up studies to validate the results with additional patients and controls, data analysis, and patient management expenses will add to these basic costs. It is important to note, however, that these costs are a small fraction of what has already been invested in enrolling these study subjects, examining them, carrying out extensive laboratory investigations, and collecting their DNA.
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The genotyping work itself will be performed by either commercial or government laboratories. The initial GAIN genotyping supported by Pfizer will be carried out by Perlegen Sciences, Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., and will start in late summer 2006; Pfizer is contributing these Perlegen-produced genotypes as an "in kind" donation to the project. A similar arrangement will be worked out with Affymetrix. Federally funded genotyping for GEI will be managed by an NIH coordinating committee under the usual government rules, subject to competition between research facilities, and begin in FY 2007.
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The research will lead directly to the identification of major genetic susceptibility factors for common diseases of substantial public health impact - disorders such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, osteoporosis, asthma, cataracts, hypertension, Parkinson's disease, autism and obesity. The target diseases and the populations studied have yet to be selected and will be subject to a peer-review process.
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Environmental Factors
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Genes alone do not tell the whole story. Recent increases in chronic diseases like diabetes, childhood asthma, obesity or autism cannot be due to major shifts in the human gene pool. They must be due to changes in the environment, including diet and physical activity, which may produce disease in genetically predisposed persons. Therefore, GEI will also invest in innovative new technologies to measure environmental toxins, dietary intake and physical activity, and to determine an individual's biological response to those influences, using new tools of genomics, proteomics and metabolomics.
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"Differences in our genetic makeup certainly influence our risks of developing various illnesses," said David A. Schwartz, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, also part of NIH, and co-chairman of the NIH Coordinating Committee for GEI. "We only have to look at family medical histories to know that is true. But whether a genetic predisposition actually makes a person sick depends on the interaction between genes and the environment. We need better tools to evaluate environmental exposures, dietary intake and activity levels, and then to determine how those risk factors interact with specific genotypes to either maintain health or lead to disease. Without these more precise measures of exposure, it will be very difficult to figure out why certain people develop disease and others do not. We also need to find out why a disease has such a different prognosis from one person to the next. Given the recent advances in biomedical research, this is the right time to take on this challenge."
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To determine how the environment, diet and physical activity contribute to illness, investments will be made in emerging technologies, such as small, wearable sensors that can measure environmental agents that have contact with the body and individual measures of activity. Devices also will be developed that measure changes in human biology, which can be observed in samples of blood or urine. In aggregate, these new tests will provide the precision needed to help determine how these factors influence the genetic risk of developing disease. The goal is to produce devices for application to eventual population studies, to speed up data processing, to enhance accuracy and to reduce cost.
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With the $14 million annual investment in the environmental component of this initiative, NIH will develop technologically advanced measures of dietary intake, precise personalized measures of physical activity, and biological measures that identify prior exposures to potential toxins such as metals and solvents. NIH also will assess disease indicators like inflammation and oxidative stress that are known to be influenced by environmental toxins.
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The National Center for Biotechnology Information, a part of the National Library of Medicine at NIH, will develop databases to manage the vast amount of genetic, medical and environmental information that will emerge from these initiatives. To encourage rapid research advances, and in keeping with the principles pioneered by the Human Genome Project and increasingly common in such pre-competitive public/private partnerships, all data generated through these initiatives will be placed in the public domain.
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L&I Workers' Compensation Wallet Cards Now Available to Employers

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To help ensure that employers are promptly notified of a workplace-injury claim, the Washington Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) has created wallet cards that employers should fill out and give to their workers.
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. They can also be ordered from L&I by calling 1-360-902-5400.
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In a continuing effort to ensure that employers are promptly notified of injury claims, L&I also is supporting legislation this session that would give some injured workers the option of filing claims through their employer. If the legislation becomes law, and a pilot program succeeds in improving worker outcomes, it could be expanded to include all workers and employers. Currently, all claims are filed through the injured worker's doctor.
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