What’s the Matter With OSHA?

More problems with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) — Brian Kates writes for the New York Daily News that OSHA botched an investigation into a deadly upper East Side crane collapse last May.

“The heavily censored report by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration got the time of the May 30 tragedy at 333 E. 91st St. wrong by five hours and even misstated what the massive crane was doing when it collapsed, according to lawyer Bernadette Panzella.”

Ms. Panzella represents the family of Donald Leo, the crane’s operator, who was killed in the disaster. Leo was days away from getting married at the time of his death. Panzella had to file a Freedom of Information Act petition to get the report at all, and the report she finally received was heavily redacted and riddled with errors.

What’s the matter with OSHA? A 2008 study by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee found that OSHA rarely seeks criminal charges against employers. Even when it does, the penalties are absurd. A willful safety violation that results in a worker’s death carries a six month sentence. By contrast, a conviction for mail fraud comes with a maximum 30 year sentence.

OSHA also lets employers get away with no penalties at all, even fines. At the time of 2008 study, more than $27 million in penalties in cases involving fatalities remained unpaid. And it’s not as if the government doesn’t need the revenue!

When workers are killed instantly on a job it makes news, but most workplace fatalities come from the slow effects of toxic substances such as asbestos. Deadly asbestos-related diseases include lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis.

But OSHA’s standards are so lax it hasn’t even protected its own workers. In 2002, an OSHA official named Adam Finkel became concerned that some OSHA inspectors were being exposed to dangerous levels of the toxic metal beryllium, which like asbestos causes serious lung disease. But OSHA refused to offer the inspectors blood tests. Finkel leaked the story to news media, and on the day the story appeared he was demoted. He eventually won a “whistle blower” settlement and left OSHA.

Eventually, OSHA began testing employees for beryllium poisoning, and nearly 4 percent of those tested had positive results. Many inspectors and retirees remain untested, however.

Barbara O’Brien
April 7, 2009

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.