90TH CONGRESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session

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REPORT No. 1824

CONSTRUCTION SAFETY

JULY 31, 1968.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. HOLLAND, from the Committee on Education and Labor, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H.R. 2567]

The Committee on Education and Labor, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 2567) to promote health and safety in the building trades and construction industry in all Federal and federally financed or federally assisted construction projects, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with an amendment and recommend that the bill, as amended, do pass.

The amendment is as follows:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu thereof the following:

That the Contract Work Hours Standards Act is amended by adding at the end thereof the following:

"SEC. 107. (a) It shall be a condition of each contract of a character specified in section 103 (and of any obligation of the United States, any territory, or the District of Columbia) that no contractor or subcontractor contracting for any part of the contract work shall require any laborer or mechanic engaged in the performance of the contract to work in any plant, factory, building, or surroundings, or under working conditions, which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to his health or safety. In the event of a violation of any such condition of a contract of a character referred to in clause (1) or (2) of section 103(a), the governmental agency for which the contract work is done shall have the right to cancel the contract, and to enter into other contracts for the completion of the contract work, charging any additional cost to the original contractor. In the event of a violation of any such condition of a contract of a character referred to in clause (3) of section 103(a), the governmental agency by which financial assistance for the contract work is provided shall have the right to withhold any such assistance attributable to the performance of the contract.

"(b) Sections 4 and 5 of the Act of June 30, 1936 (41 U.S.C. 38, 39), as amended shall govern the Secretary's authority to enforce this section, make rules, regulations, issue orders, hold hearings, and make decisions based on findings of fact, and take other appropriate action hereunder.

"(c) The Comptroller General is directed to distribute a list to all agencies of the Government giving the names of all persons or firms that the Federal agencies or the Secretary have found to have violated this section. Unless the Secretary otherwise recommends, no contract of the United States shall be awarded to the persons or firms on this list or to any firm, corporation, partnership, or association in which such persons have a substantial interest until three years have elapsed from the date of publication of the list containing the name of such persons or firms."

SEC. 2. The first section and section 2 of the Act of August 13, 1962, are each amended by inserting "and Safety" after "Hours" each time it appears.

HISTORY AND BACKGROUND

In 1936, the Walsh-Healey Act was enacted by the Congress, providing that in contracts between the U.S. Government and its suppliers, the prevailing wage should be paid to workers engaged in the manufacture of supplies, and that the work itself should be conducted under safe and healthful working conditions.

In 1966, the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contracts Act was approved, providing that in contracts between the U.S. Government and persons supplying it with services, the prevailing wage should be paid to employees of such contractors, and that their work would be performed under safe and healthful working conditions.

In 1931, the Davis-Bacon Act was approved by the Congress, providing that in construction contracts with the U.S. Government, the prevailing wage would be paid to employees working on such contracts.

Suppliers, service contractors, construction contractors-these three categories constitute the great bulk of Government contractors. In all three cases, it is public policy that their employees must be paid the prevailing wage in the area in which they are employed. In two of the three cases, safe and healthful working conditions must be provided for the employees.

Only in the case of construction workers is the law silent on the question of safety in their working conditions.

On January 17, 1967, Congressman O'Hara of Michigan introduced H.R. 2567, a bill to fill in this anomalous gap, and provide a safety requirement in Government construction.

HEARINGS

Four days of hearings were held on H.R. 2567 before the Select Subcommittee on Labor. On August 29 and 30, 1967, testimony was taken from the labor organizations and trade associations in the construction industry. On February 6 and 7, 1968, testimony was taken from representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Atomic Energy Commission. These four agencies were asked to testify as representative of the scope and nature of Federal construction contracting agencies. On July 18, 1968, the select subcommittee amended and approved H.R. 2567, and on July 24, the Committee on Education and Labor ordered it reported to the floor with the subcommittee amendment in the nature of a substitute. This report discusses that amendment.

BACKGROUND

Construction is a very hazardous occupation. According to the National Safety Council, the accident frequency rate for all industry in the year 1966-the last year for which complete figures are available-was 6.91 injuries or deaths per million man-hours worked. In the same year, according to the same organization, construction had an accident frequency rate of 12.24 injuries per million man-hours worked-almost twice the all-industry figure. Mining, transportation, meatpacking, and forest products industries are the only industries with frequency rates higher than those shown by the National Safety Council for construction. It is important to remember in comparing these figures that the National Safety Council's statistics are based on reports from its members-and that the National Safety Council is a voluntary organization to which only the most safety-conscious firms belong-and to which they alone report.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, while higher for most industries than are those of the National Safety Council, are particularly so in the case of construction. The Bureau's figures show accident frequency rates in construction ranging from 20.7 injuries per million man-hours worked for electrical work through 28.8 for general building contractors, 34.0 for heavy construction, to 43.9 for roofing and sheet metal work.

The frequency of accidents is not the only measure of hazard. Comparative severity rates indicating the days lost to accidents per million man-hours worked are an indication of the degree of danger. In comparing severity rates, we are comparing how badly workers are injured. In severity rates-again turning to the National Safety Council-we find construction has a higher figure than any industries except mining, lumber, and marine transportation.

Given these figures, it seems strange that construction contracts alone among the great bulk of Government contracts, should lack a safety clause.

PROVISIONS OF H.R. 2567

As introduced, H.R. 2567 provided a fairly complex system of standard development and promulgation, judicial enforcement of violation of standards, and the development of programs of worker education. H.R. 2567 was, in a smaller scope, and directed toward a specific industry, a miniature version of H.R. 17748, the broader bill recently ordered reported by your committee, to provide a general Federal program of occupational safety and health standards, neither limited to a single industry, nor limited to Government contracts. But the issues involved in both bills were similar. The questions which the House would have had to consider, were H. R. 2567 reported in its original form, are the same questions on which the House will work its will when it considers H.R. 17748.

For this reason, and because, as has been pointed out above, construction alone is not covered by the Walsh-Healey and McNamaraO'Hara Acts, your committee has chosen to strike all the detailed provisions of H.R. 2567 and replace them with an amendment to the Contract Work Hours Standards Act, providing that contracts involving construction to which the United States, any agency or instru

mentality thereof, any territory thereof, or the District of Columbia, are a party, or which are financed in whole or part by loans or grants from, or loans insured or guaranteed by, the United States, must contain a provision that workers on such contracts shall not be required to work under conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to their health or safety. In the case of a violation of a contract with the Government, the agency for which the work is done will have the right to cancel the contract. In the case where the work is not done for, but merely financed by, the United States, directly or indirectly, the agency providing such financial assistance shall withhold it.

The amendment further provides that the investigative procedures of Walsh-Healy shall govern the Secretary of Labor's authority to enforce, make rules and regulations, issue orders, hold hearings, and make decisions based on findings of fact, and take other appropriate action under this act.

Finally, the bill substantially adopts the Walsh-Healey provision allowing for a 3-year debarment from Government contracts of contractors found guilty of having violated the act, except where the Secretary of Labor otherwise recommends.

This bill does not do for Government contract construction work what H.R. 17748 would do for it and, indeed, for all construction work and for all industry affecting commerce. That issue remains to be decided by the House when the House turns to the more comprehensive bill. But it does place Federal construction contracts on the same basis, with respect to health and safety of the workers, as Federal supply contracts and service contracts. This bill, in short, breaks no new ground. It does remedy long years of oversight with respect to an important segment of American working men.

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

The committee having reported the bill with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, this analysis is of the amendment.

Section 1 adds a new section 107 to the Contract Hours Standards Act (40 U.S.C. 327-332; Public Law 87-581). Section 107(a) will provide that it shall be a condition of any contract of the type specified in section 103 of that act (and of any obligation of the United States, any territory, or the District of Columbia) that no contractor or subcontractor contracting for any part of the work shall require any laborer or mechanic engaged in the performance of the contract to work in any place, or under any working conditions, which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to his health or safety. Where the contract is with the Government, or on behalf of the Government, the agency for which the work is being done may cancel in case of violation, and enter into other contracts, charging additional cost to the original contractor. Where the contract is financed in whole or in part by loans or grants made, guaranteed, or insured by the United States, the governmental agency providing such assistance may withhold it.

Section 107(b) will provide that the Secretary of Labor's authority to enforce this section, make rules, regulations, issue orders, hold hearings, and make decisions based on findings of fact, and take other appropriate action under the section shall be governed by sections 4 and 5 of the Walsh-Healey Act.