110th Congress Progress Report on Occupational Safety and Health Inspections
During the first year of the 110th Congress, the Office of Compliance (OOC) inspected approximately 50% of the 16 million square feet under legislative branch jurisdiction in the metropolitan Washington, DC area.
Already we are seeing a reduction in the number of hazards found. The OOC identified 5,558 hazards with varying degrees of risk in office spaces, workshops, warehouses, and firing ranges. We project that, by the time our inspection is completed in 2008, the OOC will have identified roughly 10,000 hazards. This is a reduction of nearly 25% from the total found in the 109th Congress.
Further, our inspection to date has revealed that the number of hazards in the offices of Senators and Members of the House of Representatives has been reduced from an average of eight to an average of four hazards per office. And so far we have found four times the number of hazard-free offices among Senate and House Members as we identified in the 109th Congress.
Although the total number of hazards is dropping, the danger posed by these hazards is significant: approximately 25% of the hazards are classified as high risk, which can cause serious bodily injury if not abated.1
