Riiiight ... OSHA hurts workers.
A Philadelphia-area business owner is refusing to allow the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to inspect his plant without a warrant. He's claiming it's a principled stand,
but he has some history with OSHA:
Marsh, 42, acquired the company in a liquidation purchase in 2003. He said a "disgruntled employee" complained to the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), prompting the federal inspector to make an initial visit in March 2011.
[American Bar Products president William] Marsh said he gave the inspector "free reign" to investigate, which led to citations and a settlement in which the company paid an $8,400 fine, according to OSHA inspection reports that identified 10 "serious" workplace violations.
But it's OSHA that "hurts workers" according to Marsh. Speaking of workplace safety, though, this is
too too rare:
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels today issued the following statement regarding the sentencing of Craig Sanborn in Coös County Court in New Hampshire for manslaughter in connection with the May 2010 explosion at the Black Mag LLC plant, which killed employees Jesse Kennett and Don Kendall while they were manufacturing a gunpowder substitute. Sanborn, who was the company’s president, managing member and primary owner, was sentenced to five to 10 years on two counts of manslaughter, to be served consecutively, for a total of 10 to 20 years, and assessed fines of $10,000.
“The disregard for safety cost two workers their lives, and this jury agreed that Craig Sanborn’s actions were criminal.
“Sanborn recklessly ignored basic safety measures that would have protected their lives. His criminal conviction and sentence won’t bring these men back to life, but it will keep him from putting workers' lives in peril. And it should drive home to employers this message: Worker safety can never be sacrificed for the benefit of production, and workers’ lives are not—and must never be—considered part of the cost of doing business. We categorically reject the false choice between profits and safety.
It'll take a lot more convictions like this to get employers to take workplace safety seriously, though.
And more:
- Eva Moskowitz's Success Academy gets some seriously preferential treatment from New York City:
During the past two years, the DOE gave Moskowitz’s controversial chain, Success Academy, rent-free space in city school buildings to open 14 new co-location sites. In each handover, Moskowitz demanded the DOE deliver the space clear of furniture and broom-swept by 5 p.m. on the last day of the school year, according to sources and emails obtained by DNAinfo New York.
But since students used the space until the second-to-last day of the school year, the DOE was left with less than 36 hours to clear the area — costing the department tens of thousands of dollars in overtime from contracted workers scrambling to meet the onerous deadline.
- Not what you want to be hearing from Democratic candidates on Social Security.
- Where has ALEC introduced the most bills and what do they focus on?