Proposed changes by the Labor Department would make jobsites less safe for IBEW members working in construction and mining, plus make it harder to be compensated if they are injured on the job.

The proposals were announced in mid-July. Trump administration officials maintained that they remove burdensome regulations for private industry, but they damage the department’s commitment to protect employees at their workplace. A final ruling is expected later this year.

“Safety is a core element of IBEW membership, and we will fight back against anything that threatens that, which these proposals clearly do,” International President Kenneth W. Cooper said.

“While not unexpected, it’s another sad reminder of how little this administration respects working families and that it intends to roll back decades of progress under both Democratic and Republican administrations when it comes to safety on the job,” Cooper added.

Safety Director Mark MacNichol said the proposals underscore the importance of members following their own safety training and looking out for their union brothers and sisters at work.

“IBEW members have worked in dangerous conditions since our founding and continue to do so in all sectors,“ MacNichol said. “I can assure them we will fight these ridiculous proposals, but at the end of the day, it’s up to all of us to perform our work safely on the job. This administration has no intention in helping us do so.”

The proposed changes include:

• The Occupational Health and Safety Administration would be allowed to rescind a requirement for employers to provide adequate lighting on a construction site.
• “There have been many fatalities where workers fall through a hole in the floor, where there’s not adequate lighting,” Rebecca Reindel, the AFL-CIO’s occupational safety and health director, told the Associated Press. “It’s a very obvious thing that employers should address, but unfortunately, it’s one of those things where we need a standard, and it’s violated all the time.”
• OSHA’s power to enforce its “general duty” clause, which allows it to punish employers for not having a plan to combat unsafe working conditions, would be virtually eliminated.
• The Mine Safety and Health Administration would no longer require mine operators to submit plans for preventing proper ventilation and roof collapses.
• More than a dozen proposals would seriously curtail OSHA’s ability to protect workers against dangerous substances on the job.

“People are at very great risk of dying on the job already,” Reindel told the AP. “This is something that is only going to make the problem worse.”

Trump has nominated former UPS and Amazon executive David Keeling to be OSHA administrator. Keeling’s previous employers have fought against proposals to give workers working in excessive heat additional protections on the job.

“The battle for safety on the job is an ongoing one, and it’s more important than ever now,” Cooper said.

In all, the Labor Department proposes to do away with more than 60 workplace regulations. They include ending minimum-wage requirements for home health care workers and eliminating most protections for migrant farm workers. A total of 25 involved changing OSHA regulations that would make working conditions less safe.