April 16, 2010:NWLP
4/13/10
10:04 AM
Page 13
Pursuing the ‘worst of the worst’
Federal OSHA to roll out
new enforcement program
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) —
The federal Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) will
roll out a new program to identify and
pursue what might be called “the worst
of the worst” companies in failing to
care for their workers’ safety and
health.
Details about the Severe Violators
Enforcement Program (SVEP) are
lacking, but top agency officials dis-
cussed it briefly during an April 7 on-
line dialogue with reporters, workers
and businesses. The online chat cov-
ered the draft version of OSHA’s six-
year strategic goal and outcome blue-
print.
“The new program is aimed at em-
ployers who have demonstrated recal-
citrance or indifference to their obliga-
tions” under the law, Tom Galassi, the
agency’s acting administrator for en-
forcement, told one questioner. “Em-
ployers will be able to get off the list
by demonstrating improved safety and
health performance.”
There will also be “changes in our
penalty calculation method, to result in
higher penalties,” OSHA Deputy As-
sistant Secretary Richard Fairfax
added. Both promised the changes
would be announced in the near future,
and certainly before the final version
of the agency’s six-year strategy is re-
leased in September.
OSHA’s emphasis on the worst of
the worst and on tougher enforcement
in general is in marked contrast to
OSHA’s actions — or lack of them —
under the Bush Administration. It’s
also in line with Labor Secretary Hilda
Solis’ repeated pledge to union audi-
ences that “there’s a new sheriff in
town.”
Under Bush, the agency concen-
trated on its “voluntary protection pro-
gram,” working hand-in-glove with in-
dustry on advising companies on
workplace safety. Workers and unions
were virtually shut out. Companies in
the VPP effort generally escaped in-
spection and enforcement, unless a
worker died on the job. But OSHA per-
sonnel are being shifted from there to
enforcement, agency officials told sev-
eral questioners, including those who
argued for more VPP emphasis.
“We will be working closely with
our stakeholders to identify new or al-
ternative funding sources,” for VPP ef-
forts, said Steve Witt, the agency’s di-
rector of cooperative programs. One
such alternative might be charging
companies fees for using OSHA serv-
ices in the “voluntary” effort, he said.
“In the meantime, we will be shift-
ing field inspection staff from VPP
programs to enforcement activities be-
cause the need in that area is particu-
larly great ... OSHA resources need to
be focused on employers who don’t
APRIL 16, 2010
understand the importance of protect-
ing their workers, particularly small
employers,” Witt added.
While federal OSHA plans to in-
spect more than 40,000 workplaces
this year — not counting states such as
Oregon and Washington, which do
their own inspections — its 110 new
inspectors are still being trained, Fair-
fax conceded. “Consequently, inspec-
tion numbers from these additional
compliance officers will impact in-
spection numbers in 2011 and 2012,”
he said.
Those numbers were disclosed on-
line. OSHA’s draft strategy for the
Ombudsperson can
assist with workers’
comp questions
SALEM — Have you been hurt
on the job, or do you know someone
who has? If so, call Oregon Workers’
Compensation Ombudsperson Jen-
nifer Flood in Salem for guidance in
the complex world of the state’s
workers’ compensation insurance
system.
The ombudsman’s staff can pro-
vide straight answers at no charge in
the areas of workers’ comp claims,
appeal rights, claims deposition
agreements, claim closures, determi-
nation orders, reconsiderations, ag-
gravation rights, conflict resolution
and informal mediation.
Flood can be reached toll-free at
1-800-927-1271, from Portland at
503-378-3351, or by e-mail at
oiw.questions @state.or.us.
next six years was short on specific
goals. It had no numbers at all.
Union job safety specialists told
Congress on March 16 that more en-
forcement is fine, but that it doesn’t
make up for the small fines and short
prison terms for violators, now in the
Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Lawmakers are considering the Protect
America’s Workers Act (PAWA), to
beef up OSHA’s fines and to make ac-
cidents that kill or seriously injure
workers felonies punishable by five
years (first offense) or 10 years in jail.
“The penalties proposed by PAWA
are very modest,” said Change To Win
Health and Safety Coordinator Eric
Frumin. “However, updated penalties
and criminal sanctions will begin to
give inspectors and prosecutors essen-
tial tools they need to more effectively
deter abusive employer conduct.”
AFL-CIO Safety and Health Direc-
tor Peg Seminario said the move to en-
hance enforcement is welcomed. “But
they are not enough and cannot address
the deficiencies in the act itself. Con-
gressional action is needed.”
OSHA’s fines, now a maximum of
$7,000 per serious violation and
$70,000 per repeat and willful viola-
tion, haven’t risen in 20 years. The
agency often negotiates them down-
wards. By appealing fines and delay-
ing judgments, firms continue to oper-
ate with the hazards OSHA inspectors
identify. Only when a worker is killed
on the job can company officials face
charges: a misdemeanor with a maxi-
mum six-month term.
Besides more jail time, PAWA
would raise the fines to $12,000 and
$120,000, respectively.
Former Labor Press editor helped
pass workers’ comp law in Oregon
Former Oregon Labor Press Editor
William A. Marshall was considered “the
godfather” of Oregon’s workers’ compensa-
tion law. A member of the Multnomah Typo-
graphical Union No. 58, Marshall helped
push through a law to provide compensation
to injured workers and widows and orphans
of those fatally hurt.
In 1912, Gov. Oswald West appointed
Marshall to the first State Industrial Accident
Commission, where he served until 1927. In
that job he became known nationally as an
authority on what at that time was referred to
WILLIAM MARSHALL
as “workermen’s compensation.”
Later, he was appointed an administrator
in Seattle of the federal job-injury compensation program for long-
shoremen and harbor workers.
William Marshall died in Seattle in 1963 at age 88.
Zachary
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