Cintas Death Calls into Question OSHA Enforcement

[Omaha Steve]

Several groups have Starbucks under fire for refusing to drop Cintas as it's linen supplier.

http://www.occupationalhazards.com/News/Article/79980/Cintas_Death_Places_OSHA_Enforcement_Authority_Into_Question.aspx

April 24, 2008

By Katherine Torres

House lawmakers and several key witnesses at an April 23 House Workforce Subcommittee hearing emphasized the need for OSHA to strengthen its enforcement efforts, conduct corporate-wide investigations and mitigate hazards so large, multiple-facility corporations like Cintas Corp. are held accountable for the safety of their workers.

The death of Eleazar Torres Gomez, a Cintas employee who fell from a conveyor belt into an industrial dryer at the company's Tulsa, Okla., facility in March 2007, prompted Congressional leaders like Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., and Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., to deem the incident representative of how OSHA's lack of enforcement and oversight of workplace safety and health conditions contributes to such tragedies.

“We want to know if there are ways to enable OSHA to more effectively hold large employers accountable for compliance throughout their operations and ensure broader abatement of hazards,” said Woolsey, who chairs the workforce committee.

Cintas, which has 34,000 employees in hundreds of locations, faces a proposed OSHA fine of $2.8 million – the largest service-sector fine in the history of the agency – followed by a $117,500 penalty against a Cintas facility in Columbus, Ohio, and a $196,000 citation at the company's Mobile, Ala., plant.

But several experts at the hearing claimed that OSHA isn't doing enough. Randy Rabinowitz, a labor union lawyer based in Washington state, suggested that Congress require the agency to conduct corporate-wide investigations when deemed necessary. She stated that OSHA's Enhanced Enforcement Program (EEP) “looks good on paper,” but is too limited and leaves OSHA with too much discretion to follow through with investigations.

“The agency doesn't have to do anything with it,” she said. “And it's just unfortunate, because many times, it's just an empty promise.” She also added that the agency should try to leverages its resources to identify patterns of misconduct and demand abatement of company-wide problems.
Implementing Safety and Health Management Systems

According to ORC Worldwide Senior Vice President Frank White, OSHA currently has sound procedures in place, but he questions whether those procedures are functioning correctly. White added that the agency faces longstanding institutional impediments to adopting more corporate-wide orientation such as the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, which grounds its entire enforcement regime on individual workplaces and not on whole corporate entities.

FULL story at link.