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DC3 UNITED STATES SENATE

ra NINETY-SECOND CONGRESS

BEFORE THE

FIRST SESSION

ON

K.;

ROBERT D. MOR..-iN, OF MASSACHUSETTS; JAMES F. VAN NAMEE,

OF PENNSYLVANIA; AND ALAN F. BURCH, OF MARYLAND, TO

BE MEMBERS OF THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

REVIEW COMMISSION

APRIL 2, 1971

Printed for the use of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

59-915—A WASHINGTON 1971
COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE

HARRISON A. WILLIAMS, JR., New Jersey, Chairman

aENNINGS RANDOLPH, West Virginia

CLAIBORNE PELL, Rhode Island

EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts

GAYLORD NELSON, Wisconsin

WALTER MONDALE, Minnesota

THOMAS F. EAGLETON, Missouri

ALAN CRANSTON, California

HAROLD E. HUGHES, Iowa

ADLAI E. STEVENSON III, Illinois

STEWART E. MCCLURE, Staff Director

ROBERT E. NAGLE, Genera/ Counsel

ROY H. MILLENSON, Minority Staff Director

EUGENE MITTELMAN, Minority Counsel

JACOB K. JAVITS, New York

WINSTON PROUTY, Vermont

PETER H. DOMINICK, Colorado

RICHARD S. SCHWEIKER, Pennsylvania

BOB PACKWOOD, Oregon

ROBERT TAFT, JR., Ohio

J. GLENN BEALL, JR., Maryland

II
NOMINATIONS

FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1971

U.S. SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC 

Washington,D.C. WELFARE,

The committee met at 10:15 a.m., in room 4232, New Senate Office

Building, Senator Harrison A. Williams (chairman of the committee)

presiding.

Present: Senators Williams, Randolph, Pell, Kennedy, Mondale,

Javits, Dominick, and Schweiker.

Committee staff members present: Stewart E. McClure, staff director; Robert E. Nagle, general counsel; Eugene Mittleman, minority

counsel and Peter Benedict, minority labor counsel.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. The Labor and

Public Welfare Committee is meeting this morning to hear from the

men who have been nominated by the President for positions established by the recently enacted Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Mr. Robert D. Moran, the President has nominated you for a 6-year

term as a member of the Occupational Safety and Health Review

Commission, a three member body which was created by section 12 of

the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Mr. Moran has been designated by the President to serve as chairman.

The function of this commission will be to provide a formal administrative review of citations of violations and proposed penalties

assessed by the Department of Labor.

I will order placed in the record the biographical sketch of Mr.

Moran's background.

(The biographical sketch of Mr. Moran follows:)

BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT D. MORAN

Robert D. Moran presently holds two positions in the U.S. Department of

Labor. He was appointed Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division by

President Nixon In February 1969, and, in July 1970, pursuant to a reorganization of the Department, was appointed to the newly-established position of Administrator of Workplace Standards.

The Wage and Hour Division is responsible for administration and enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act,

the Wage Garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, plus

a number of laws providing for certain wage and hour standards for employees

of firms with government contracts. The Workplace Standards Administration

includes the above plus all Federal laws administered by the Department of Labor

in the fields of Occupational Safety and Health, Workmen's Compensation, and

wage determinations issued on Federal contracts.

Mr. Moran is an attorney and labor arbitrator. He was in private practice in

Springfield, Massachusetts, prior to his appointment. He has also served as Associate Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industries,

Chairman of the Minimum Wage Commission, and Chairman of the State Board

of Conciliation and Arbitration. He is a veteran of Army service during the

Korean War period and also served briefly as a lawyer on the staffs of the As-

(1)
2

sistant Seccretary of Defense for Manpower and Personnel and the Assistant

Secretary of Defense for Legislative and Public Affairs.

Mr. Moran holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Management from the

University of Maine and a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Boston University School of Law.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Moran was previously confirmed by the Senate

to the position of Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division in the

Department of Labor, a position he has held since February of 1969.

Since July of 1970 Mr. Moran has been Administrator for Workplace

Standards, a newly created post in the Department. In this capacity he

is responsible for enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act and

other wage protection laws as well as existing job safety laws administered by the Department.

Prior to coming to the Federal Government Mr. Moran served as

associate commissioner in the Massachusetts Department of Labor and

Industry, and held other positions in the Massachusetts State government relating to labor matters.

I have a letter here from Senator Brooke, who could not be here, but

wanted me to know of his enthusiastic endorsement of the nomination.

He has a statement which is in strong support of Mr. Moran which I

will include in the record.

(Statement of Senator Brooke follows:)

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. EDWARD W. BROOKE, A U.S.

SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS

Mr. President, in nominating Robert D. Moran as Chairman of the

Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, the President

of the United States has made a superlatively good choice.

Since 1969 he has served with great distinction in the Department

of Labor as Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division and currently as Administrator of Workplace Standards. Previous to that

he rendered stellar service to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,

first as public administrator of Hampden County, then associate

commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Labor and Industries,

chairman of the State Board of Conciliation and Arbitration and

chairman of the Massachusetts Minimum Wage Commission.

I do not endorse his candidacy on the basis of hearsay or secondhand information. I know Bob Moran very well. He is an unusually

talented lawyer and, a gentleman of extraordinary character and dedication to the public service.

I know that he will do an exemplary job in this difficult but important new assignment, and I want the members of the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare to know how pleased I am that

our country will have Bob Moran as its chairman of the Occupational

Safety and Health Review Commission.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Moran, do you have a statement that you want

to submit?

Mr. MORAN. No, Mr. Chairman, I have no statement.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, we would appreciate some of your thoughts,

as we did with Mr. Guenther—some of your thoughts of the significance of this position and your attitude of how your background

will equip you for the duties of this newly created position.
3

Mr. MORAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be glad to. It is my

hope, the Senate willing, to be able in this position to administer and

adjudicate questions that come before the Commission in as just and

reasonable a manner and as expeditiously as possible.

I am somewhat aware of the heavy responsibilities that the Commission will have in making the initial determinations under the Act.

I hope my background somewhat qualifies me for a position of this

nature. I sat as chairman of a tribunal in State government on somewhat related questions for several years, and I have been a practicing

attorney and a labor arbitrator for more years than I care to remember—I believe it was 1952, when I was first admitted to the bar, which

makes it close to 19 years. And I also have had a somewhat similar

experience in administering the Fair Labor Standards Act and enforcing that act. I hope that all of this will be helpful to me if I am

confirmed for this particular position.

The CHAIRMAN. I would like to ask about the attention that was

given in the press to the handling of one of the cases that came up

under the Service Contracts Act. There was a report in a column in

the Washington Post of March 7 of this year, Jack Anderson's column, dealing with a case, as you know, involving—what was the

name of the company?

Mr. MORAN. Dynamic Enterprises.

The CHAIRMAN. I wanted to see if you remembered it. What was

the situation there? The column indicated that a hearing examiner

found that there was a substantial violation in the wages paid by

this one company having contracts in several installations, and the

hearing examiner recommended, it is said in the article, that the company be debarred for 3 years. It was then reported in this column that a political figure was in touch with the Department and a

meeting was set up after which it came to you for decision and you

recommended no debarment. The arrearages were paid up in the

amount of $50,000, and there was no debarment notwithstanding the

hearing examiner's recommendation. It was suggested that there had

been an injection of some political influence here.

I am sure you would like to make a comment and a statement on

this.

Mr. MORAN. Yes, Mr. Chairman, I would be glad to. First, let me

say that the question did not come to me for final determination and

the matter is still pending. My role as Wage and Hour Administrator is only to make recommendations in a case of this nature, and I

did make a recommendation that differed from the recommendations

that had been made by the trial examiner.

As to whether or not there was any outside influence in the case

I can state categorically there was none. I spoke with nobody, received no communication, or had any contact either direct or indirect

with anyone other than employees of the Labor Department on this

particular matter, and I based my judgment strictly on the merits of

the particular case.

The CHAIRMAN. Now it does raise the question, though—this has

not been finally decided.

Mr. MORAN. NO.

The CHAIRMAN. It is your recommendation that there not be debarment, is that right?

Mr. MORAN. That's right.
4

The CHAIRMAN. And I gather it is the general practice that if the

back wages are paid the debarment penalty is not imposed. It would

seem to me that this practice does not create an incentive to comply

with the law, but rather encourages contractors to see how much they

can get away with and then simply pay up if they are discovered.

Mr. MORAN. Well, that is not what I would consider to be the practice. I have acted on a number of cases of this nature, and in a number

of them I have recommended debarment. Each case depends on its

merits. In the position in which I sit I weigh the merits carefully and

base my recommendation accordingly, and each case is disposed of

individually.

The CHAIRMAN. Then it is my understanding it was not your standard operating procedure to not debar if arrearages are paid up.

Mr. MORAN. It is not my practice. Now the record may show that

may have happened in every case. I am not familiar with it. I don't

keep a complete scorecard in my mind as to what has happened in

other cases. I base my judgment in each case on the merits of that

particular case.

The CHAIRMAN. I am advised that the record of prior cases shows

that where the amounts of money have been paid up there is no record

of a debarment.

Mr. MORAN. That may well be true.

The CHAIRMAN. Without an additional factor of falsification of

records or something of that nature.

Mr. MORAN. There has been no conscious effort on my part to judge

all cases according to such a practice, as I have said. I try to judge

them individually on their own merits.

The CHAIRMAN. At any rate, no pressure from outside reached you

in your determination?

Mr. MORAN. Absolutely none.

The CHAIRMAN. I would like to hear from my colleagues now.

Senator RANDOLPH. Mr. Chairman, I have had the opportunity to

talk informally with Mr. Moran, as I had the other gentlemen, including Mr. Guenther who was before us earlier today. I think the

practice of calling on the members, giving them the opportunity prior

to the meeting to discuss with you your philosophy and any questions

you may have, is good. I enjoyed talking to Mr. Moran.

Mr. MORAN. Thank you, Senator.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Dominick.

Senator DOMINICK. Mr. Moran, I had the pleasure of visiting with

you in my office a couple of days ago, and I enjoyed meeting you.

I had the understanding, and maybe I am wrong, that the review

panel set up under this would be separate and apart from the Labor

Department. Am I wrong on that? In other words, you would be

leaving your position as a member of the Labor Department.

Mr. MORAN. You are correct in that, Senator. The Review Commission will be an independent agency completely separate from the

Department of Labor, and I will be, if confirmed in this position,

leaving the Department of Labor. As a matter of fact, one of the

nominees that is here this morning has been nominated to succeed me

in the position I now hold.

Senator DOMINICK. Are all members of the review panel formerly

connected with the Labor Department?
5

Mr. MORAN. No, Senator. I am the only one of the three nominees

who is presently employed by the Department of Labor. The other

two gentlemen who will follow me on the witness stand are both from

nongovernment positions.

Senator DomiNicK. And in your job, which is going to be a very

uncomfortable job, as I pointed out in the office, and I admire your

fortitude in taking it on—your job, as I understand it, is to try and

determine whether alleged violations as charged by the Labor Department are in fact violations of this law and what the punishment ought

to be.

Mr. MORAN. That will be one of the functions, yes.

Senator DOMINICK. What will be the other responsibilities?

Mr. MORAN. To determine whether or not the proposed assessment

of penalty is a reasonable one and one that should be enforced. And

there is another provision under which any employee or employee

representative, who feels that the Department of Labor has set a

time for correction of a violation which is unreasonable, has a right

to make that point before the Commission, and the Commission will

make a judgment on that particular question.

Senator DOMINICK. We still have, however, the situation where the

Labor Department will first establish the rules and then will inspect

to determine whether the rules are being complied with and then will

allege violations, is that correct?

Arr. MORAN. That is correct.

Senator DOMINICK. How many inspectors does the Labor Department have?

Mr. MORAN. Mr. Guenther, who preceded me on the witness stand,

indicated that at some point the size of this organization may well

reach approximately 2,000. It is my recollection that initially there

will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 or more inspectors as

of the effective date of this act.

Senator DOMINICK. And those are now available in the Labor Department, 200 or more?

Mr. MORAN. The majority of them are now presently employed in

the Labor Department as maritime safety inspectors or inspectors

under the various Federal contract laws. Since the beginning of the

preparations for the implementation of the Occupational Safety and

Health Act there have been recruited, I believe, close to 100 additional

people who are now in training to take over assignments as of the effective date of this act.

Senator DOMINICK. Is there a right of judicial review from your

decision?

Mr. MORAN. Yes, there is, Senator.

Senator DOMINICK. That's all the questions I have, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Pell.

Senator PELL. I have no questions. I had the pleasure of meetinc,

the various nominees in my office a few days ago. I would just make

a general comment concerning a relatively beefed up program. In

order for the new regulations to have credibility there must be a

requirement for fairly stringent enforcement, particularly in the

heginning stages, as opposed to easing them in slowly. I think you

will find it harder for credibility to be attached to the regulations,

if enforcement is a gradual thing.

I am glad to support Mr. Moran's nomination.
6

Mr. MORAN. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Schweiker.

Senator SCHWEIKER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I had a very interesting talk with Mr. Moran, too, in my office. I have no questions

to ask him at this time.

Senator KENNEDY. I have no questions. I would like to welcome a

fellow citizen from Massachusetts; look forward to working with him.

Mr. MORAN. Thank you, Senator.

Senator MONDALE. I just want to make one point. Your responsibilities include emphasis of the problem of occupational hazards to farm

workers. Last year an expert from the Department of HEW testified

that possibly as many as 800 farmworkers a year are killed, and up to

80,000 are injured from use of pesticides. Can you tell us how you view

the magnitude of that problem? What is your personal view in terms

of enforcement policy?

Mr. MORAN. Well, as you know, Senator, the Commission will not

have the initial enforcement responsibility. That will rest with the

Department of Labor, and I believe that Mr. Guenther addressed himself to this question probably before your arrival. And if I can recall

his position correctly, I believe he agreed with the nature of the problem in response to a question which was addressed to him from Senator Stevenson through the Chair. Mr. Guenther took the position that

he r:Tognized the problem and that the Department would be addressing itself to it.

Senator MONDALE. Well, do you see it as a serious problem?

Mr. MORAN. I certainly do, Senator.

The CHAIRMAN. Anything further?

Thank you very much.

Mr. MORAN. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Alan F. Burch, nominated to the Commission.

Mr. Burch is from Maryland, nominated for a 2-year term to be a

member of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Mr. Burch's biography will be included in the record.

(Mr. Burch's biography follows:)

PaoGRApirr Or ALAN F. Bumna

Mr. Burch has been Director of the Department of Safety and Accident Prevention of the International Union of Operating Engineers for 6 years. He previously held the post of Assistant Director of Research and Education for that organization, of which he has been a member for more than 23 years. Prior

to this membership he spent a number of years in the Merchant Marine as an engineer officer and traveled extensively both during, and prior to, World War II.

Mr. Burch was born in San Francisco, California, and had residence there for

some forty years before moving to the Washington, D.C., headquarters of his Union. In San Francisco he was active in safety, training and apprenticeship

matters for both his Local Union and the Western Conference of Operating Engineers. During this period he wrote a textbook on Radiation Safety which is used in the International Union of Operating Engineers' nuclear energy train- ing program.

Mr. Burch coordinates the safety work of the International Union of Operating Engineers' local unions, and is an active member of the National Safety Council's Labor Conference. He is also a member of the Construction Section of the Na- tional Safety Council's Industrial Conference and is presently serving on the National Safety Advisory Committee for the United States Department of Labor and on the Environmental Control Advisory Council of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
7

He is a member of two standards committees and two standards boards of

the United States Standards Institute and works closely with technical committees of the Society of Automotive Engineers and other professional societies.

He also works extensively in the field of apprenticeship and training, serving

on the National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee for Operating

Engineers, as well as on the National Joint Apprenticeship Committee for Stationary Engineers.

Recently, Mr. Burch has made two trips to Viet Nam in an advisory capacity

for the Agency for International Development.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Burch, I understand you have been a member

and officeholder of the International Union of Operating Engineers

for 23 years, the last 6 of which you have served as director of that

union's department of safety and accident prevention, and you

have been an active participant in a number of government advisory

committees and private standards-setting committees in this field of

occupational safety and health.

You are in an industry, of course, that has a high rate of accidents.

You were here when Senator Randolph developed certain questions

on the older equipment.

Mr. BURGH. Yes, I was. •

The CHAIRMAN. It was useful to have that colloquy. I know in this

position you are not in on standards setting, but it would seem to me

having come from a background where this is part of your professional work, it should be useful to you on this Commission.

Mr. BURGH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am sure it will. I have

been involved directly in the setting of standards for various kinds of

protective equipment on heavy construction equipment for a number

of years now, and I am sure this experience as well as other experiences in my industrial background will give me a helpful insight on

a number of problems that may come before the Review Commisison.

The CHAIRMAN. Well, it impresses me that your background will

be very helpful to the Commission in this job.

I have no further observations or questions.

Senator Pell.

Senator PELL. No questions. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr.

Burch and support his nomination.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Dominick.

Senator DOMINICK. Mr. Burch, you have been active, as the chairman said, in a number of different safety fields. Most of them have

been involving, as I understand it, rather large operations, is that

right?

Mr. BURGH. Yes, sir.

Senator DOMINICK. There are going to be covered under this bill,

as I recall it, having debated extensively on the floor, every employer

who affects interstate commerce in any way at all who has one employee or more. This is going to cover an awful lot of people, practically everything that I can think of where there is an employee.

How do you plan to handle standards which may be applicable to

a large number, but totally economically nonfeasible for a small group

if they are going to stay in operation? Like a filling station with one

employee, for example. How are you going to handle that kind of

thing if there is an alleged violation?

Mr. BURGH. I feel in any case, regardless of the size of the employer

and his number of employees, it would have to be judged on its merits.

Certainly the size of the company involved, the number of employees,
8

the degree of hazard, costs of alterations that might be required, I

would think would be taken into account in making an assessment.

Senator DOMINICK. I have no further questions.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Kennedy.

Senator KENNEDY. Would you tell us what was your estimate as

the number of workers that will be covered under the act? Have you

looked into that at all?

Mr. BuRcx. Well, I simply read the statement by the Secretary of

Labor, Senator, that approximately 57 million workers will be

covered.

Senator KENNEDY. Do you know whether that includes or excludes

the Government contract workers?

Mr. BURGH. I don't believe that it does so specifically.

Senator KENNEDY. Is it your understanding it did not include it by

the coverage?

Mr. Bum'. Well, in my understanding they are included, but I

believe the act provides in certain cases government agencies who

already have responsibility in areas will in some cases at least proceed

with their own enforcement.

Senator KENNEDY. I'm sorry.

Mr. BURGH. Proceed with their own enforcement activities.

Senator KENNEDY. There is h provision 4(b) (2), which states that

the standards shall become the occupational health and safety standards for all workers on the passage of the act. You don't think that

covers the Government contract workers?

Mr. BURGH. I am not exactly sure, Senator. I believe that it does

cover them, although I believe—I can't cite the section of the act.

I believe the act also provides that there are existing Government

standards the agencies who now are responsible for those other than

the Labor Department would continue for some certain period of time

to enforce as regards the employees, the contract directly under their

jurisdiction. And I believe there is a further requirement that their

standards be at least similar to and provide somewhat similar protection as the standards set forth by the Secretary 

i

of Labor. And I believe the Secretary of Labor is also authorized n the interim period

to use any of those other established Federal standards that he sees

fit to set his standards under the new act.

Senator KENNEDY. The individual workers have a right to investigate the conditions and dangers which they may be exposed to, I

understand. Section 13(d) says that a worker also may petition for

special inspection to find out if a condition of emergency exists. The

worker should have the right to require such an investigation. Is this

your understanding also?

Mr. BURGH. Yes, Senator.

Senator KENNEDY. And would he be able to use the dust monitors,

light monitors and so forth, which would be available?

Mr. BURGH. Yes, sir.

Senator KENNEDY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Schweiker.

Senator SCHWEIKER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't have any

questions. I did have a chat, too, with Mr. Burch. I think he has a

good background and will provide a good balance to the Board, and

I feel with the three nominees we have, we have a good chance to get
9

the Board off to a good start. So I am pleased to support him, and I

have no questions.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much.

Mr. BURCH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. The final nominee, for a 4-year term as a member

of the Review Commission, is James F. Van Namee. Mr. Van Namee

has been Administrator of Accident Prevention for the Westinghouse

Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, since 1961. Prior to that he held

a number of positions in the field of safety engineering.

We have your biographical sketch, Mr. Van Namee, and we will

include that in the record.

(Biographical sketch of Mr. Van Namee follows:)

BIOGRAPHY OF JAMES F. VAN NAMEE

Prominently identified in the safety field over a period of many years, James

F. Van Namee has served as Administrator of Accident Prevention for the

Westinghouse Electric Corporation of Pittsburgh since 1961.

From 1959 to 1961 he served with the same company as Division Administrator, Accident Prevention, at Bloomfield, New York.

He is a former Director of the Engineering and Research Division of the

Association of Casualty and Surety Companies of New Jersey, serving from 1936

to 1959.

Earlier in his career he was Supervising Engineer and Safety Engineer with

the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, from 1935 to 1956.

He is a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers, Safety Executives and the Western Pennsylvania Safety Council, and he is currently serving

•as President of the American Society of Safety Engineers.

His career activities have included:

Vice President, American Society of Safety Engineers, 1968-1969; Treasurer,

American Society of Safety Engineers, 1967-1968; Regional Vice President,

American Society of Safety Engineers, 1961-1967; Past Chairman, Safety and

Health Committee, Electronic Industries Association; Member, Secretary's National Safety Advisory Committee, U.S. Department of Labor; and Chairman,

Management Safety Committee, Bureau of Labor Standards, U.S. Department

of Labor and Member, Board of Directors, National Safety Council and Western Pennsylvania Safety Council, and the Industrial Conference of the National

Safety Council.

A native of Boothbay Harbor, Maine, born October 12, 1912, Mr. Van Namee

was educated in the public schools at Malden, Massachusetts, and in Wentworth

Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.

He was married to the late Wilhelmina Payne Van Namee.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have any statement?

Let's see. Yours is a nomination for a 4-year term. Mr. Burch's

is a 2-year term, Mr. Moran a 6-year term.

Do you have any statement?

Mr. VAN NAMEE. I have no statement, sir. I will be glad to answer

any questions you might care to direct to me.

The CHAIRMAN. It is a decade that you have been the administrator

of the accident prevention program for Westinghouse Company?

Mr. VAN NAMEE. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. That should bring a great deal of knowledge about

all of the problems that will reach you for determination in terms of

violations, in terms of penalties.

Mr. VAN NAMEE. Yes, sir; I might add that I am also currently national president of the American Society of Safety Engineers. This

is the professional society of the safety engineers and represents approximately 10,000 members.

The CHAIRMAN. You are the present president?

Mr. VAN NAMEE. I am presently the president.
10

The CHAIRMAN. How long a term do you have?

Mr. VAN NAMEE. One year. It ends June 30.

Senator PELL. No questions.

Senator DOMINICK. I yield to Senator Schweiker, and then will

come back.

Senator SCHWEIKER. Well, I just want to say I am glad to see a

fellow Pennsylvanian here. It is unusual for Pennsylvania to get all

these appointments we have had lately. I don't know how we do it,

but I am very glad to have Mr. Van Namee here, and I am sure he

will be very successful.

Thank you.

Senator DOMINICK. I want to join Senator Schweiker in welcoming

you here. We had a very interesting conversation the other day in

my office. In the process of your work with Westinghouse, Mr. Van

Namee, did you find yourself going around the 'country as a whole?

Westinghouse is a pretty big corporation and it has got a lot of

branches in a variety of places.

Mr. VAN NA1VIEE. Yes, sir; my position is that of a staff adviser to

the corporation. I do not direct the activities of the individual plants.

However, in my dealings with them I have developed a corporate-wide

safety program which we feel is probably one of the most comprehensive in industry today. I have been most successful in securing the

cooperation of most of our top management.

Our chairman of the board, I am happy to say, is very much safety

oriented, having come from General Motors, and has supported our

program entirely.

In my dealings with the plants we have actually measured their

performance and their implementation of the safety program against

a norm that I have created and we audit the programs annually to

be sure that the plants are up to standard. I wish I could report that

every one of them was completely up to the standard that we have

established. HoWever, we are moving up each year.

It may be of interest to the committee as to the steps that we have

taken internally in order to apprise our management of the impact

of this law and the steps that are going to have to be taken to put it

into effect. We are holding a meeting on April 22, at which time we

are bringing into Pittsburgh all of our industrial relations managers,

all of our safety people, and all Of our managers of manufacturing.

We have top-level participation by our vice president of industrial

relations, our vice president of manufacturing. I am going to interpret the law for them and tell them what they are going to have to

do, and then it is to be followed by a 1 day seminar for our safety

people wherein we are going to actually explain the standards to them,

the steps that are to be taken to bring themselves into compliance.

Senator DOMINICK. I would assume that upon confirmation you

would have resigned from Westinghouse.

Mr. VAN NAIVIEE. Yes.

Senator DomiNicx. You have not as yet?

Mr. VAN NAMEE. No, sir; but my successor has already been selected.

Senator DOMINICK. In the process of your safety work for Westinghouse were you dealing only with the Westinghouse factories or were

you dealing with distributors and subcontractors?

Mr. VAN NAMEE. NO, sir; my dealings would be strictly with Westinghouse people. Of course, the breadth of the corporation is so great
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today that we are involved in construction work. So we go from electronics all the way to heavy construction.

Senator DOMINICK. Well, my concern, as I expressed to you before,

and I will say it for the record, is the impact of this bill on relatively

small business, and by that I mean people with two or three employees

or one employee, whatever it may be. This I know will not necessarily

be part of your job because you will be on the Review Commission as

opposed to the Standards Commission. But I can see an enormous

impact on small business and can see it as being largely adverse to their

ability to survive. And I wondered whether within the act, as far as

you know, as long as you are going to give a seminar on what this

means as far as they are concerned, whether economics plays any part

in this or whether just plain pure safety regardless.

Mr. VAN NAMEE. Economics very definitely plays a part in this.

And it is going to be very costly regardless of whether it is large

industry or small industry, bringing themselves into many facets of

compliance. However, many of the things that have not been done are

conducive to some very serious injuries to the worker, and it is my

hope that sufficient funding will be available through the Small Business Administration to assist small industries in funding for this.

I would also point out that there are the variance provisions in the

law wherein employers can apply for temporary variances in order to

permit themselves to come into compliance or whereby if they actually can provide equal or greater degrees of safety by a different means

that permanent variances could be granted, and I believe this facility

is one that possibly some of the small businesses may avail themselves

of.

Senator DOMINICK. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Kennedy.

Senator KENNEDY. I have no questions. I welcome the nominee.

Mr. VAN NAMEE. Thank you. I am a former Massachusetts person.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much.

That concludes our nominees to the Occupational Safety and Health

Review Commission.

This concludes the hearings this morning on the nominees before

us. We will go into executive session, and we thank all the nominees

and their sponsors.

(Whereupon, at 11 :50 a.m., the committee went into executive session.)

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