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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 2009)
OR-OSHA Enforcement Activity for Calendar Years 2004-2008 INSPECTIONS VIOLATIONS & PENALTIES ASSESSED Safety Health Total 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 4,399 4,823 4,730 4,460 4,288 4,091 4,090 4,163 4,329 680 848 793 821 816 738 900 898 953 5,386 5,671 5,523 5,281 5,104 4,829 4,990 5,061 5,282 Employers % In Compliance Covered 166,158 199,891 199,160 210,171 228,067 268,095 370,162 239,951 207,718 24.3 24.8 23.9 23.0 24.9 22.2 26.8 24.9 24.1 No. 4,080 4,757 4,312 4,222 4,181 4,334 4,046 4,163 4,622 $ Penalty $1,498,274 $1,540,605 $1,522,055 $1,596,322 $1,477,010 $1,386,025 $1,393,915 $1,517,850 $1,669,908 Willful Repeat Serious Year of Inspection No. 244 258 203 219 213 231 261 274 224 $ Penalty $460,450 $396,630 $303,390 $475,130 $383,555 $458,900 $756,550 $661,100 $486,975 No. $ Penalty 4 2 2 0 2 2 0 2 2 $130,000 $45,000 $100,000 $0 $120,000 $140,000 0 $30,000 $50,000 Other No. 6,464 8,440 7,292 7,177 7,142 6,205 5,657 5,693 5,701 $ Penalty $175,110 $288,845 $252,785 $251,025 $192,815 $178,165 $228,375 $233,725 $200,845 Citations Issued 3,933 4,093 4,034 3,893 3,832 3,755 3,653 3,801 4,010 1) Each set of grouped violations was counted as one violation. 2) All penalties associated with group violations were included. 3) Penalties shown are initial penalties assessed and do not re- flect reducations made after the original citation was issued 4) Data are tallied by open date of inspection. Data will change as updated. 5) Inspection and citation counts do not include orders to correct done prior to Oct. 1, 2002. Source: Research and Analysis Section, OR-OSHA U.S. Labor Department under Bush failed to protect workers WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — A report by the U.S. Department of La- bor’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) reveals that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) un- der the Bush Administration systemat- ically failed to perform follow-up in- spections for employers who put workers in serious danger. That failure may have led to workers being killed. “With 5,680 workers dying on the job each year, this report shows just how callous the Bush Administration was when it came to protecting work- ers,” the AFL-CIO stated. According to the report, OSHA failed to, or was deficient in, following up on 97 percent of the cases in its En- hanced Enforcement Program, which, ironically, was designed to step up en- forcement against serious violators. The OIG found that at 45 worksites where OSHA oversight was deficient, 58 workers subsequently were killed by job hazards. Last year, OSHA changed the rules for which firms made the Enhanced Enforcement Program list, cutting the number from 719 in fiscal year 2007 to 475 in fiscal year 2008. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the findings confirmed what the la- bor federation has said all along about Bush’s OSHA: “This is an indictment of the Bush Administration’s unwill- ingness to protect and safeguard Amer- ica’s working men and women.” Change To Win Health and Safety Director Eric Frumin agreed, but also pointed out the Inspector General cited companies’ failure to protect their own workers, with or without OSHA en- forcement. Frumin called on Congress to give the agency more money, more inspectors — and more power against violators. “The report identifies huge corpora- tions like WalMart and Waste Manage- ment, Inc., which should have been designated” for the EEP. “These com- panies ... and others must be finally held accountable for their cold-hearted disregard of their workers’ safety and health,” Frumin said. The labor secretary in the eight-year Bush Administration was Elaine Chao. General Sheet Metal earns safety recognition status General Sheet Metal was certified April 2 into the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) by the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Acceptance into SHARP is a public acknowledgment by Oregon-OSHA that a model safety and health program exists and that safety is a company value. Participation in SHARP doesn’t eliminate regulatory enforcement, al- though participants do receive a limited exemption from programmed inspec- tions. General Sheet Metal is signatory with Sheet Metal Workers Local 16. Depending on workload, the company employs between 40 and 80 people. Local 16 President Ric Olander re- cently went to work there to coordinate its architectural sheet metal department. Prior to that, Olander was assistant co- APRIL 17, 2009 ordinator at the union’s HVAC & Met- als Institute in Northeast Portland. General Sheet Metal is a Clacka- mas-based, 77-year-old minority- owned company that fabricates and in- stalls sheet metal ductwork, architectural metal, and specialty items for industrial and commercial cus- tomers in the Pacific Northwest. “Every employee is committed to making sure their co-workers make it home safely to their families at the end of each day,” said company president Carol Duncan. Oregon employers that have been in business for more than one year are el- igible to apply for SHARP, regardless of size or type of business. Currently, 64 employer locations in Oregon participate in SHARP, in addi- tion to 84 facilities that have graduated from the program. NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS PAGE 9
