18 POLITICO TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2010 Rating the Risk Most Frequent Hazards 1,742 Hazard Severity Codes The OOC projects that thousands of hazards exist Probability I II III IV in the 111th Congress, some that could result in 1,058 Categories serious injury or even death. The graphic shows the Likely to occur RAC RAC RAC RAC most frequently discovered hazards. immediately 1 1 2 3 61 23 70 102 Probably will RAC RAC RAC RAC occur in time 1 2 3 4 Electrical Fire Safety First Aid HAZCOM Machine Storage Emergency Guarding Shelving Possible to RAC RAC RAC occur in time 2 3 4 Unlikely to RAC RAC occur 3 4 Some Lawmakers Regard OOC Inspections as Intrusive Severity Category I: Death or perma- nent total disability Severity Category II: Permanent From SAFETY on Page 1 but those reports typically languish in obscurity. access to information required to understand the partial or temporary total disability; off This year, the compliance office is also releasing nature and extent of the hazard. Consequently, work for more than 3 months morning, does not detail the costs of repairing the information more broadly, in an effort to draw employees and visitors may have been unneces- Severity Category III: Lost workday or all the violations it discovered. But other reports the congressional community’s attention. sarily exposed to dangerous hazards, with po- compensable injury and congressional testimony make clear the cost In the background are lingering questions tential for serious injury or worse.” Severity Category IV: First aid or minor supportive medical treatment is steep — one reason some longstanding haz- about how serious lawmakers are about pro- Backers of the compliance office’s efforts, in- ards have lingered. tecting their employees and holding the institu- cluding former congressional officials who have Fixing the Jefferson Building’s stairwells, tion — and themselves — accountable. Further- been involved in the administration of the Capi- Risk Comparison for instance, would be an $18 million job, and more, the report makes clear that the hazards tol Hill complex, say the relationship between The Senate is projected to have the installing better fire protection at the Capitol may prove dangerous to Capitol Hill visitors, the OOC and legislators has been uneven. most potentially deadly RAC 1 hazards. building would be $2 million. including constituents and lobbyists. It starts with a fundamental ambiguity: The 109th Congress 110th Congress While the compliance office’s report paints a The compliance office was formed in 1995 un- office is supposed to monitor workplace prob- 111th Congress (projected) dire picture of workplace safety, it also docu- der the Congressional Accountability Act. lems, even as its efforts are overseen by the very ments some significant improvement. In the This measure was inspired by that year’s new congressional leaders it is monitoring. House compliance office’s report for the 109th Con- Republican majority and some Democrats who In the past, the office’s relationship with 9 gress, it found 13,141 hazards. were aggrieved by what they saw as supreme hy- congressional leaders has bordered on hostile, 3 Even so, the latest study offers arresting de- pocrisy: Congress and regulatory agencies im- sources said, but in recent years, relationships 0 RAC 1 tail. Investigators estimate there are 1,742 electri- posed all manner of rules on the private sector have become somewhat smoother. 1,036 cal hazards, 1,058 fire-safety hazards, 102 storage and the states through laws such as the Family When the compliance office began safety in- 861 shelving issues, 61 first-aid emergency-care laps- and Medical Leave Act and the Americans With spections in congressional offices during the 230 RAC 2 es and 70 machine-guarding problems, to name a Disabilities Act, but lawmakers themselves did 109th Congress, some members were upset by few found so far. Inspections are ongoing. not have to obey those rules. what they considered an intrusion. 4,764 The hazards include industrial machines that The compliance office is a step toward ending The compliance office identified some of the 2,500 lack safety guards, threatening to injure ground- what its latest report describes as a “parity gap.” fire-trap issues highlighted in this year’s report 968 RAC 3 skeepers. In some members’ tiny, antique offices, But skeptics say the step remains modest and since 2000, but Congress has slow-walked the daisy chains of electrical wires often snake across sometimes halting. issue. 372 office floors, overloading electrical outlets, and The compliance office — which often goes by To some, it is obvious by now Congress needs 333 storage shelves block sprinkler systems. the acronym OOC — is small, with about two to act — even if it means spending money to fix 167 RAC 4 The report divides the hazards into catego- dozen employees, and relatively obscure. Many problem buildings — -rather than study. ries, with some more routine and others poten- congressional employees are unaware that there “It’s hard to defend Congress when things are Senate tially life threatening. is an agency to protect their rights. this bad,” said Center for Progressive Reform 3 Senate buildings harbor the highest concen- The compliance office cannot issue investi- board member Sidney Shapiro, who has worked 8 tration of life-threatening hazards, with at least gative subpoenas to Congress and its entities, as an OSHA consultant. “Separation of powers 9 RAC 1 nine top-level fire hazards that could be deadly even to seek information that could solve a is a concern. Congress was sensitive to being 451 or critically dangerous. workplace hazard. subject to fines and edicts from the executive 221 House buildings have an eye-opening 230 vio- Whistleblower protections for staffers who branch. ... But if Congress is going to insist on 97 RAC 2 lations that are slightly less severe, the report report hazards are essentially nonexistent, running its own safety regime, then it ought to found, but that could still cause serious injury. leaving aides responsible for their own litiga- do it the right way.” 1,808 The buildings most likely to harbor an injury- tion costs if they are fired or an office retaliates “If you work for Congress, you’re just not as 981 causing hazard include House office buildings against them. protected as other places,” said Melanie Sloan, 166 RAC 3 Rayburn, Longworth and Cannon — some of the While most workplaces require employers to executive director of Citizens for Responsibility 258 largest in the legislative branch. Hart and Russell publicly inform and educate employees about and Ethics in Washington. “It’s galling that Con- 273 top the most hazardous on the Senate side. their workplace safety rights by hanging post- gress has felt able to legislate for the rest of the 41 RAC 4 The Capitol building itself, by comparison, is ers in break rooms and requiring training, Con- federal government and yet exempt itself from somewhat safer, with only 78 hazards. The most gress is under no obligation to do so. key parts of OSHA. There’s simply no reason for hazardous building on the Capitol Hill campus Even more troubling, according to safety ad- this exemption.” Library of Congress is the Library of Congress’s Jefferson Building, vocates, Congress is not required to keep records But some of the committees that oversee 3 with 537 hazards. of injuries, death or hazardous exposure on the OOC — the Senate Committee on Homeland Se- 8 The compliance office’s report itself is a nota- job, often making it difficult for officials with the curity and the House Administration Commit- 4 RAC 1 ble step toward transparency on a subject that compliance office to discover problems. tee — tell a different story. 641 historically has received little public notice on “To properly assess a hazard and its severity, “Congress has by now come under all of the 764 the Hill. we often need information from employing offic- major nationwide employment laws. As part 302 RAC 2 The office keeps a tight guard and confidenti- es. In past years, we experienced substantial de- of that, the Office of Compliance heads up a ality on employee rights cases, but it is required lays — or, in some instances, refusals — to sup- comprehensive workplace-safety inspection 1,715 by statute to provide OSHA inspection informa- ply information about hazardous conditions and program, and, when safety problems arise, Sen. 1,480 RAC 3 tion to Congress and to recommend workplace employer safety procedures. Employer plans for Lieberman believes they must be — and as far 610 rights laws that Congress should apply to itself. fixing hazards were likewise delayed substantial- as we know are — addressed promptly,” Home- 259 The office releases a biennial report on safety ly,” OOC General Counsel Peter A. Eveleth said in land Security Committee spokeswoman Leslie 293 issues to the five committees (two from the House a statement to POLITICO. “This both prevented Phillips said, referring to the panel’s chairman, 137 RAC 4 and three from the Senate) that oversee its work, early completion of an investigation and denied Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). 2,314 Hazardous Buildings The largest buildings in the legislative branch are the most hazardous, with a combined 684 hazards projected for Rayburn and Longworth House offices alone. 109th Congress 110th Congress 111th Congress (actual) 111th Congress (projected) 1,747 1,197 1,235 1,239 1,081 903 917 831 757 731 768 619 620 638 679 528 537 575 426 428 381 341 317 390 277 303 288 102 102 78 29 Rayburn House Cannon House Longworth House Hart Senate Dirksen Senate Russell Senate Jefferson Office Adams Office U.S. Capitol Ford Office Madison Office Office Building Office Building Office Building Office Building Office Building Office Building Building Building Building Building Building TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2010 POLITICO 19 411 Requests A look at the most popular reasons employees have initially contacted the OOC.