Since Trump takeover, less public shaming for companies that put workers at risk
Since President Trump took office, not a single worker killed on the job has been added to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s online death tally.
The last entry on OSHA’s worker fatality page was for two men shot to death in an Indianapolis restaurant robbery in early January.
So missing among the dead is Derrick Douglas, 41, a construction worker killed April 25 when a bucket boom lift machine tipped over at Wellington Point Apartments in Cobb County. And Trevor Bryan, 20, a contractor killed April 1 at a Georgia Power plant in Monroe County. And Javier Padraza-Perez, 44, who fell to his death April 4 at Pinewood Studios. And countless others across the country who get killed on the job every day.
The backlog is unusual for OSHA, which in recent years has used its website to publicly shame companies over workplace deaths and injuries. Without the death reports, and with OSHA’s press releases turned to fluff, the public can’t easily track which companies put their workers at risk.
The new silence points toward what some call the Trump administration’s more marshmallowy approach to corporate regulation. Fears abound that under Trump, the federal agency that stands between the working class and Dickensian job conditions will be stifled through a combination of budget cuts, rule rollbacks and a shift in culture.
An OSHA spokeswoman said that’s not what’s causing the holdup in announcing workplace deaths.
“It probably seems suspicious, but it actually has nothing to do with that,” OSHA’s Nancy Cleeland said.
http://investigations.blog.ajc.com/2017/05/05/since-trump-takeover-osha-hasnt-posted-worker-deaths/