The small change that would prevent workplace deaths in Pa.

Working people should not have to go to work and never come home. Yet nearly every other day, a worker will lose their life on the job in Pennsylvania.

These deaths are unfortunately not an anomaly, and they are preventable. In 2021 — the most recent year for which data is available — 162 Pennsylvanians lost their lives at work. Nationwide, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration tallied nearly 5,200 preventable workplace deaths, of which the most frequently violated standards led to problems with fall protection, ladders, scaffolding, and respiratory protection.

Earlier this year, State Rep. Patrick Harkins (D., Erie) introduced the Jake Schwab Bill, which would extend OSHA protections to the public sector, protect employees who file complaints, and ensure that workplaces provide training and familiarity with equipment, matching the private sector standard. This bill is named after Jake Schwab, an Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority mechanic who was crushed by a bus after being given faulty equipment. The bill easily passed.

Our attention must now turn to Senate Bill 93, the companion bill to the House’s Jake Schwab Bill. For years, State Sen. Christine Tartaglione (D., Philadelphia) has stood up for workers by reintroducing bills that would establish a local OSHA office to focus on the safety of public workers across the commonwealth.

Currently, this bill is stuck in committee and has seen little movement. This is unacceptable. Partisan politics aside, our elected officials need to prioritize worker safety.

Pennsylvania runs because of the hardworking individuals who make up the public sector. Our elected officials need to realize that protecting all workers, regardless of their party or union affiliation, should be paramount to their legislative duties. Lifesaving bills should not be held up or left to die in committees.

Last April marked 53 years since the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 went into effect, and along with that, the federal agency was born. OSHA sets federal guidelines and standards for workplaces and workplace safety. Approximately 1,850 inspectors offer educational trainings to employers and employees while enforcing and maintaining federal guidelines. OSHA covers private sector workers across the nation and sets guidelines for states to follow when they implement their own state-funded programs.

Unfortunately, Pennsylvania has not adopted these guidelines. Our public sector workers, who often work in similar conditions as private sector workers, are not protected at work under federally established standards.

Establishing a commonwealth-wide public sector OSHA is the easiest and most effective way to protect workers. Without it, SEPTA drivers, paramedics, health-care workers, and other public sector workers are not afforded the same protections as private sector workers. These public sector workers face limitations in reporting safety concerns and workplace hazards and often do not do so because of fear of retaliation.

This provision alone could save hundreds of lives yearly. Our elected officials have the duty to protect public workers, and we must remind them of that. Work-related deaths like that of Schwab could have been prevented.

Public sector workers should be protected on the job. Philadelphia and Pennsylvania workers do not have to live and die like this. Over two dozen states — including our neighbors in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland — have taken action to protect workers, and Pennsylvania should join them.

Daniel P. Bauder is the president of the Philadelphia Council, AFL-CIO, a federation of more than 100 affiliate unions representing over 150,000 working people in Philadelphia.