Rep. Jeff Landry took on regulations implemented by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA) during hearings Wednesday.
It’s regulations administered by bureaucratic agencies that are making job growth weak and the work environment unsafe, Landry said during the hearings.
Landry said a constituent business owner was forced to pack-up and transport his upstart drilling barge because of costly regulations.
“When they looked at the cost and amount of regulations and red tape that they had to do to build that barge, they decided that they were going to build that barge in Singapore,” Landry said.
Regulation isn’t just costly, Landry said, but dangerous, too.
Landry lamented about the new regulations issued by OSHA, forcing welders to wear heavy clothing even in the summer heat, which he believes are unrealistic.
“It’s a 110 degrees in the shade in Louisiana, how do we keep working under those conditions?” Landry asked. “There’s no waiver for that. What do we do?”
Former OSHA Health Standards Director Adam Finkel couldn’t work up much of an explanation for the regulations, but said that establishing new regulations is often difficult for the government to figure out.
“If I were still there, I could look into that for you,” Finkel said. “There are always really difficult things that government has to do where they can’t satisfy one risk and another.”
When Landry pointed out that three people had passed out in Louisiana, already, from working under heated conditions, Finkel shot back with an enlightening response.
“It’s hard to be cool and safe at the same time,” Finkel said. “These are all kind of difficult choices.”