OSHA’s Weak Fines Little Deterrent to Employers to Improve Job Safety

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/06/02/oshas-weak-fines-little-deterrent-to-employers-to-improve-job-safety/

by Mike Hall, Jun 2, 2008

Recently, television viewers in the Greenville, S.C., area saw something that far too few people, in far too many TV markets ever see—an in-depth, local news report on workplace deaths and injuries. The report focused on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) pattern of significantly reducing employer fines for safety violations linked to those deaths and injuries.

On top of that, those fines, as a U.S. Senate hearing found last month, already are too weak to serve as a deterrent to employer safety violations.

Video: http://www.wspa.com/midatlantic/spa/news.apx.-content-articles-SPA-2008-05-19-0024.html

In “Discounted Lives,” News Channel 7 (WSPA) reporter Andy Pierrotti examined four years (2004–2007) of state OSHA records covering 196 serious workplace incidents, including 116 fatalities. He found that in 129 of those cases (nearly 70 percent), OSHA backed off its initial penalty assessment and reduced the fines.

Overall, OSHA assessed some $670,097 in penalties, but after meetings with employers, the safety agency cut the fines by $487,631—more than 72 percent.

Travis Wood, 22, was killed in a 31-foot fall at a Gaffney distribution center in April 2007. After finding 11 safety violations, OSHA fined the employer $15,225, but later cut the fine to just $2,700. Wood’s father, Ronald, told Pierrotti:

It’s just unbelievable that they can actually get by with that small amount of money.


FULL story at link.

[grannylib]

1. It's tragic. I work in OSHA compliance, and it pains me to see

fines that you KNOW are no deterrent; companies with repeated or willful violations should get WALLOPED.