Ever want to know what happens after an OSHA inspection, what are the types of violations that you can be cited for, or other issues regarding your post inspection rights?
Contents include Employer Options, Informal Conference and Settlement, How to Comply, How to Contest Citations, The Contest Process, Petition for Modification and Abatement, Follow-up Inspections and Failure to Abate.
Warning, this piece is loaded with facts, not our opinions! Just the facts.
We have written at great length here, here, here, and here, about OSHA’s plans to enforce safety regulations and fine violators. The “new sheriff in town” is on a mission.
So imagine what we felt when we found this reportdetailing 6,300 safety hazards just in Capital HillBuildings.
1058 fire hazards
1742 electrical problems
102 storage shelving violations
70 machine guarding violations (In the last fiscal year, the machining industry had just 56 violations. See the link here. Capital Hill machine guarding violations alone are equal to about 125% of the entire machining industry’s violations for the entire country in 2009)
25% of hazards continue to be high risk to employees and visitors.
6300 violations compared to 56 for the machining industry, thats 11,250% more violations than our machining industry.
Library of Congress- 530 violations- not quite 10 times the violations of the entire machining industry.. “Congress has one standard for itself and another for everyone else.“- Melanie Sloan, committee for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
In other words “Do as we say, not as we do.”
We could go on, but whats the point? You can read the report at this link.
Here’s a wrap up quote from Senator Joseph Lieberman: “We are talking about the safety of real people…Congress’s failure to meet OSHA workplace safety standards means that it is putting the health- and possibly the lives- of its workers at risk…This state of affairs is not just bad public relations, it is bad government.“ (Page 16) So when you hear all that stuff about how the government is somehow more concerned about safety today- well, now you can see that they don’t practice what they enforce. That the push is for revenue not real safety. If it was really about safety, wouldn’t you think they’d make it safe to work for the government? That “new sheriff in town” and this administration is merely trying to enhance revenue collection from private manufacturers – shops like ours. If it was about safety, well, why wouldn’t they start on Capital Hill? Thats where 11250% of the violations are, compared to machining. Thanks to Hypocrisy.com for the cartoon.
Is it just me or have you noticed it too? “What I can say is the Obama administration is business-friendly. We want to help with our actions, not with our words, “ says Nicole Lamb-Hale, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing and Services. She made this comment during a keynote address at Industry Week’s “Pathway to Manufacturing Prosperity Conference” last Thursday in Chicago. Article reporting this here.
Thank you Dr. Jekyll.
And now for Mr. Hyde? “To those who have, for far too long, abused workers, put them in harm’s way, denied them fair pay, let me be clear: There is a new sheriff in town.”Secretary Hilda Solis’ comments following her swearing in at the Department of Labor.
Back to Dr. Jekyll: “We have to nurture manufacturing here. It’s something that traditionally has been a backbone for U.S. economic growth.”
Industry Week reports: ‘ There has often been a sense of distrust between industry and the government sector which has only strained in recent years. That can only change, said Lamb-Hale, in baby steps.So what do you think? Is the current administration business friendly? Photo credit
