On average 5,680 workers in America die each year in work-related incidents. The US Department of Labor's (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is supposed to enforce federal laws to protect workers from these incidents. It's core mission is "to promote the safety and health of America's working men and women."
A new report released this week by the DOL's Inspector General revealed, however, serious problems in OSHA's enforcement efforts between 2003 to 2008. According to the report, employers with reported fatalities were not always properly identified or inspected by OSHA. This problem led to cases where employers with fatalities in their workplaces were not properly inspected or subjected to OSHA's "enhanced enforcement program" (EEP).
Simply put, between 2003 and 2008 many employers with habitually dangerous workplaces got away without closer scrutiny or punishment from the very agency mandated to protect workers' safety and health.
The Inspector General’s report identified huge corporations like Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Waste Management, Inc., which should have been designated for EEP action but did not receive closer scrutiny from the agency.
In addition, the investigation of OSHA found that at the worksites of 45 employers where OSHA oversight was deficient, 58 workers subsequently were killed by job hazards.
The release of the alarming report was followed by a sharp rebuke to OSHA by the country's two leading labor federations.
Eric Frumin, health and safety coordinator at Change to Win, described the report as "devastating news," and added, "dozens of workers died at employers who were previously inspected by OSHA in dangerous and severe situations. It is outrageous that these employers neglected to prevent their workers’ deaths or severe injuries at other locations."
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney stated that OSHA's failures "may well have cost workers their lives."
Both federations pointed to the Bush administration as the main culprit. Upon entering office, George W. Bush turned important oversight agencies like OSHA over to individuals with financial ties to the very industries they were entrusted to regulate.
Frumin said, "Given the Bush administration’s longstanding record of failing to enforce laws related to workers’ rights or protections, we are not surprised by the Inspector General’s horrific findings."
"This report is an indictment of the Bush administration’s unwillingness to protect and safeguard America’s working men and women," Sweeney added. "It also demonstrates that many employers, including some of the country’s biggest companies, are failing to meet their responsibility to protect workers."
Both labor leaders expressed optimism that under the Obama administration and Labor Secretary Solis, OSHA will be provided the mandate and the resources to fulfill its mission to protect workers' health and safety.
Indeed, during a press conference in February, White House Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Rob Nabors stated that an early review revealed that OSHA's situation was "appalling." President Obama's budget proposals, which passed this week in Congress, sought to beef up the agency's enforcement efforts.
Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would remove barriers to unionization, would also increase the likelihood that safety and health measures would be provided for in collective bargaining agreements, labor activists say.
