Press Release Drought Continues

When Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta testified last month before the US Senate, he committed to citing employers who have the information about how to make the workplace safe, but don’t do what they need to do to provide a safe workplace.  Well, to their credit, OSHA continues to enforce the law. But all that enforcement stuff seems to embarrass them. They don’t want to talk about it.

Why do I think they’re embarrassed? First, they continue to issue very few press releases. Second, even the press releases they do issue are tepid, to say the least, even when a worker has been killed. For example, OSHA issued a hefty $714,142 citation against Arrow Plumbing, including six willful and eight serious violations after the death of  a 33-year-old employee died on Dec. 15, 2016, when a 12-foot trench collapsed at a home construction site. Even killing one of its employees apparently didn’t teach the company a lesson. OSHA issued more citations a month later for the same problems. One would think that the death of an employee in a trench over twice as deep as allowed, and the same violations a month later would generate a sense of outrage at OSHA (and certainly would have in the last administration.) Instead, the headline on the OSHA Press Release reads “Missouri citations highlight importance of vigilance in preventing trench cave-ins, protecting workers.”

The “importance of vigilance?” How about something like: “OSHA Cites Employer After Worker Dies in Trench Collapse;  Employer Continued to Endanger Workers?”

Of course, maybe I should just be thankful that the agency issued any press release.

But not really. The fact that OSHA isn’t issuing more than a few press releases — or can’t develop a new press release policy is inexcusable. Out of over 400 enforcement cases that would have been eligible for press releases in the last administration, only seven — seven! — have been issued since inauguration day. Even if the agency went back to the press release policy of the last administration — only cases over $70,000, instead of cases over $40,000 — 181 press releases should have been issued by now.

OSHA’s failure to issue press releases is not only absurd, but it’s harmful to worker safety.

OSHA’s failure to issue press releases is not only absurd, but it’s harmful to worker safety. OSHA is a very small agency that can only reach a tiny number of workplaces every year. Employers need to comply with the law even if OSHA is unlikely to appear in their workplace, and the only reason that many employers make the investment to protect workers and comply with the law is if they fear they may be inspected.  If there are no press releases, no news about OSHA enforcement, more and more employers will assume that OSHA is not on the job, is even less likely to visit their workplaces, and they will be less likely to protect their employees.

And unless workers understand that OSHA is on the job, inspecting workplaces and issuing citations — even before someone is seriously injured or killed — they will be less likely or willing to file an OSHA complaint.

If Secretary Acosta is really serious about worker safety, if he’s really serious about enforcement (despite his emphasis on compliance assistance), then he will go back to publicizing major enforcement cases, or at least explain why he has radically changed the policy of every past administration.

Recent Enforcement Cases in the News

Happily, despite OSHA’s failure to issue press releases, a few intrepid reporters have dug out enforcement information anyway. And some of the state plans, like Oregon and California, still issue press releases.  Here are some cases that have been in the news recently.

Mile Square Roofing Co. Inc. of Hackensack, N.J. was fined $30,675 for alleged safety lapses at the Mount Kisco Commons shopping center for violating three worker safety rules, the biggest being for an alleged repeat violation related to scaffolding totaling $19,250.

American Fine Sinter Co. Ltd., a Tiffin, Ohio automotive parts supplier has been fined$82,462 by the U.S. Department of Labor following an inspection that officials said revealed a number of potential safety issues, including several that the firm had been cited for three years ago. The company had not established proper procedures for cutting off power to equipment that was being serviced, did not use safety blocks when employees changed dies on mechanical presses, did not have proper guards in place on machinery being tested, and didn’t have the proper controls in place to ensure press modes could not be changed without the operator’s knowledge. The company — a subsidiary of Fine Sinter Co. Ltd. in Japan — was cited for all four of those issues in 2014.

Amsted Rail Company, a manufacturer of steel rail parts in Groveport, Ohio has been fined $610,034 for exposing workers to machine hazards and harmful levels of silica. OSHA found 30 workplace safety violations, including failure to implement engineering controls to lower silica exposures, failure to implement a respiratory protection program, and failure to affix locking devices to machinery during maintenance. OSHA inspected the facility after agency inspectors responded to the facility after a maintenance worker’s leg was crushed in a machine. Inspectors documented four incidents of workers exposed to silica above the agency’s permissible exposure limit (PEL). Amsted Rail has been placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program. OSHA Press Release here. 

The Brock Group was fined more than $23,000 for the death of Jesus Ruiz died December 1, 2016 while working at Western Refining in El Paso, Texas.  Ruiz was a paint-spray machine operator who put on his air-supplied hood and suffocated because of low oxygen. According to Western Refining, Ruiz was an employee of a contractor, the Brock Group, based in Houston.  OSHA has fined that company for two serious violations.

OSHA cited Arrow Plumbing LLC of Blue Springs, Missouri, for failing to provide basic safeguards to prevent trench collapse and did not train its employees to recognize and avoid cave-in and other hazards. OSHA opened its first investigation of Arrow Plumbing after a 33-year-old employee died on Dec. 15, 2016, when a 12-foot trench collapsed at a home construction site in Belton. A second investigation began on Jan. 20, 2017, at a Kansas City work site where inspectors found the contractor’s employees working in an unprotected trench at another residential work site. No employees were injured there. Overall, OSHA cited Arrow Plumbing for six willful and eight serious violations of workplace safety standards and proposed $714,142 in penalties. OSHA Press Release here. The citations for the Dec. 15, 2016, fatality inspection may be viewed here. Citations for the Jan. 20, 2017, inspection can be viewed here.

Environmental Remediation Services Inc. of East Syracuse, the employer of a demolition worker killed at the Gap Inc. distribution center in Fishkill has been fined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for violating regulations on the removal of steel construction. ERS was cited for one “serious” violation and fined $8,149 in connection with the death of James Parisella, 58, who died when a 100-foot section of steel pierced the cab of his excavator on Dec. 10. He was helping take down a building at the Gap site that had been destroyed by fire on Aug. 29.

Cal/OSHA has cited Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company, an explosives manufacturer, in Hollister for  $293,235 for multiple serious and willful accident-related workplace safety violations. The citation resulted from an investigation of an explosion at the company’s Hollister facility after one of its female technicians was seriously injured on Dec. 1, 2016. Cal/OSHA inspectors determined that Pacific Scientific failed to take the steps necessary to protect the worker from explosive hazards.  “This explosives manufacturer put employees at risk by failing to follow their own safety procedures, and unfortunately a worker was seriously injured,” said Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum.

The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) announced June 19 that it has fined Jordan, Minn.-based Abhe & Svoboda Inc. $189,000 for nine safety violations that exposed employees to death or serious injury during a project to restore the Ross Island Bridge in Portland. Two of the violations are classified as willful, according to Oregon OSHA, which issued the citations after investigating a Feb. 8, 2017, incident on a scaffolding system. Read the Press Release here. (Confined Space wrote about safety problems on this project previously: “Hit the fu**ing Road Jack: Why we need a strong OSHA enforcement program.)