The federal government's willingness to trust unscrupulous employers who knowingly put their workers in danger should not be tolerated.
Published December 25, 2003
It is easy to forget in our dot-com, service economy that workers in some occupations are still injured and killed because some employers value profits more than safety. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration exists to protect these workers and to punish employers who recklessly put their employees' lives at risk. Yet a New York Times investigation shows OSHA has done a terrible job in taking on companies responsible for job-related tragedies. The agency needs more staff, better managers and a new regard for the workers whose interests it is supposed to protect.
The Times examined OSHA's handling of workplace injuries for the past 20 years, and found a pattern of federal obsequiousness that is a national embarrassment. From 1982 to 2002, OSHA investigated 1,242 workplace deaths that the agency determined were caused by "willful" violations of safety rules. In 93 percent of the cases, OSHA chose not to prosecute. Some companies became repeat abusers, violating safety laws again, with more employees killed in the process. Present and former OSHA officials told the Times that agency heads, especially at the Washington headquarters, resisted taking employers to court because of the time and effort involved. Even compelling cases of corporate wrongdoing and neglect were dismissed with citations or fines.
Given the hundreds who have been killed or severely hurt in the most inexcusable ways imaginable, OSHA had a duty to pursue criminal prosecutions more aggressively against the worst employers instead of nitpicking companies that take worker safety seriously. In chronicling the story of those electrocuted, buried alive or crushed in a day's work, the Times exposed the gap between the nation's most vulnerable workers and the system in place to protect them. One former OSHA supervisor told the Times that the agency's resistance to tough action was institutional. "They want numbers, lots of inspections," Paul Bakewell said.
A former senior ranking official called the Labor Department's solicitor's office, which decides whether to send a case to federal prosecutors, a "choke point control," meaning it takes political considerations into account before going after employers.
OSHA needs a thorough overhaul. The problem is not just too few inspectors, or political appointees run amok, or corporations having too much leverage with Congress or an intimidated staff.
The Times story paints a culture at OSHA that is as cautious and trusting as some employers are indifferent. That is, and has been, a deadly combination. OSHA should make an example of some employers and embrace a new sense of vigilance. Americans expect reasonable protection at work, and companies that fail to provide it should be held accountable.
