OSH Anti-gun?
I was looking into the points of the opposition to the appointment of Dr. David Michaels as Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA. Some of topics came up repeatedly, Ergonomics, PEL updating, and regulatory beliefs. I expected this, and desired to understand the resistance to updating these critical topics in protecting worker’s health and safety. However, a common thread that accompanied a majority of the opposition pieces diverted me. The idea was that Mr. Michaels wants to take your guns away. I could not believe this would be the basis of the argument against the OSHA head’s nomination. So here is my exploration of this diversion:
What kind of power would the head of OSHA have to take away your second amendment rights? None, or sort of. But this makes sense, think about it for a second before you come to any conclusions. A recent Appeals Court ruling found that an Oklahoma law allowing employees to keep guns in their cars at work was constitutional. Okay, so this is sounding normal to guns rights people, and concerning to some health and safety people (as well as business people planning on lay-offs.)
So what does OSHA say about guns in the parking lot? Nothing yet. But, one parking lot gun cleaning/showing off incident a la Plaxico Burris, and you could have a General Duty Clause citation under new OSHA leadership. .
What else is at issue here? Um, workplace violence, pretty sure that is one of the leading causes of Occupational fatalities. Good luck convincing the NRA that taking away guns is the solution. After all, they are one of the groups actively opposing Mr. Michaels’ appointment. My question would be is a gun an administrative control, or PPE at work? Sorry, that was not funny. There are definitely a lot of valid perspectives on the effect of OSHA guidance on guns in the workplace. Guns do pose a serious hazard in the workplace, whether it is a criminal, an irresponsible owner, a simple mistake or a mentally unstable employee/employer.
It is obvious there is already a robust campaign to preserve gun rights in the workplace. Here are some of my concerns about this:
1. What about layoffs, and the unstable emotional state this causes? Does easy access to guns, right in the parking lot reduce the amount of time one would have to think about their actions?
2. Do second amendment rights apply to private property, or dare I say, is this taking away property owners’ rights? Despite court rulings, if a property owner requests that no guns are brought on to their property, whose right is it to deny this request?
3. In a workplace violence situation, how do you control vigilantism from creating additional fatalities (not everyone has aim, and most people have no idea how to aim when breathing heavy and nervous, and even more people have perceptual issues in an emergency and mistake the bad guys, i.e. friendly fire)?
4. Security and providing a safe workplace is the employer’s responsibility, right? How can we improve in this area? -I mean convenience stores, cab drivers, gas stations, hospital E.R.’s, etc. Surely there are solutions that can reduce exposure to the hazard effectively, and certainly more than increasing the overall risk by putting more guns into the mix.
5. How are employers to verify guns on property are safely and securely stored? Would this be an fair or unfair burden on employers?
I am admitting this is a very limited discussion of the issue, but from a safety perspective we need to have a solid understanding of how this affects the safety (freedom from unacceptable risk) of our workplaces. I can see 50,000 words not doing this justice, and I plan on giving the issue a lot more thought. Just some late night fun, now that I am fully diverted. . . I need to make a slurpee run. Or, now that I read all of the opposition to Mr. Michaels stance on workplace safety, including guns in the workplace I can go and read his perspective.
