Democrats raise alarm as states accused of warning employers before ‘surprise inspections’

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 331 points – Democrats alarmed at alleged warnings to employers of ‘surprise inspections’
theguardian.com

US lawmakers have written to the Department of Labor inquiring into reports some state safety agencies are tipping off employers before workplace inspections are conducted.

The letter from ranking Democratic members of the House committee on education and the workforce, the congressman Robert “Bobby” Scott and the congresswoman Dr Alma Adams, cites testimony from farm workers and advocates in California and a New York Times article on child labor where an employer in South Carolina admitted to ordering workers to clean up and prepare for an inspection after receiving a tip-off about an upcoming inspection from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha).

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It happens regularly with the EPA too. Source is my friend who works there.

Yes, he has reported this practice multiple times. No, they don't care but at least they haven't retaliated against him.

I remember the EPA inspections when I worked in pest control. They were basically a joke.

He said the EPA is a glorified tax collector with no real powers to enforce the law. Advance notice of such inspections mainly serves as a cost management measure, forgetting their main purpose which is of course to protect the environment.

Also the health department, except not by the health department themselves. The managers in an area sometimes know each other and do food exchanges, and will text each other when the inspector does come because they usually do a few restaurants in a day

I think with health inspections and other sorts of audits. In multiple jobs now I've had to clean and help put up the facade it takes to pass one of these audits before the inspectors ever arrive on site.

Take them out of office, screaming and scratching the doorways on their way out. Never allow them to pull their shit again

democrats are sounding the alarm that OSHA tips off employers? Anyone here work in an OSHA 'regulated' job? Are y'all surprised? cuz i saw it happen myself, and the old-heads told me it was a pretty standard practice.

Just because it's normal doesn't mean it's right or good.

if it seemed that way its on me. I don't think its right, I am poking fun at the "Democrats" this article is mentioning who are 'sounding an alarm' about an issue their constituents have known and have been complaining about for decades

Some historians think we only got FDR's New Deal because socialism was on the rise and liberals were scared there would be a socialist revolution. It wouldn't surprise me if liberals only get their shit together when they are scared that people are considering alternatives to our broken 2 party system.

Same. Happend in the factory I work in a few years ago... We were told the same, to clean up and wear protective gear.

Naturally they came during the most beautiful day too so they couldn't even see that we are quite literally a sweat shop. 75° dew point and 90° literally swimming in the air but OSHA happens to come on a beautiful 70° day...

Profits are more important than the truth. You can't eat the truth, can you? Or use it to buy a holiday in Fiji.

If I were to tip off one of my coworkers about an OSHA inspection I'd be slapped with fines and fired. Even if I see one on the job site I wouldn't even technically be allowed to point them out to the dude next to me. You know... If they were doing what they are supposed to be doing. I think the people that trained me on OSHA regulations took it more seriously than actual OSHA.

I think the people who trained me on OSHA regulations took it more seriously than actual OSHA

Real. My training required 30hrs of OSHA and it was the same smorgasbord of bull you get from every "safety first" company out there. You learn how it should be done and then you go work daily and see how work is really done. All that safety paperwork stuff is encouraged to be pencil whipped to cover the company's ass, only used when something does go wrong to prove the employee was at fault and shift the blame to the employee for not following their official safety protocols. As you say OSHAs guys might say pop a guy or at least pull them aside for working unsafely so it looks like their doing something, but in my experience docking the jobsite itself just doesn't happen.

My experience is limited of course, but i feel like most of the safety construction workers enjoy is down to insurance companies and the fact companies who have a poor safety rating get blackballed from big projects

Outta curiosity did you do that big 500hr class to become a safety specialist?

These are the kinds of quieter remnants of a trump admin... You can't heal all 1000 cuts, so you triage the gushing wounds you can see with the time/energy you have.

But when you let a fox in the hen house and they don't always slaughter all the hens immediately, sometimes kill a couple, but they loosen a bunch of fence boards so other foxes can steal hens for years to come.

Edit: a word

we had to wait until killing fetuses was deemed illegal again so now it matters to ban fetus killing things too

Often they have to do this. Most places that you would inspect have bio-security, safety, or other policies that need to be followed for good reasons. The first step of any inspection needs to be find out what those policies are and follow them. Generally the policies are reasonable and based off of sound science, but they are just different enough from place to place that you need to check. Often the place you are inspecting will arrange someone who knows the policies to go with you - but they need to ensure that person isn't on vacation (or otherwise doing something that must be done). Of course checking in like that tips people off that you are going to inspect.

If you enter a barn your clothing needs to be disinfected, you need to shower, and you can't enter any other barn for a day (most farms with this policy have more than one barn so the inspection will be several days or you needs lots of inspectors). A forklift will not see you, so you need to understand where the safe places are so the forklift doesn't run you over.

I am for surprise inspections. However there is very good reason you cannot have them despite the value.

I would argue physical security is one of the big things tested by a surprise inspection: how your org/company/whatever handles unexpected visitors or intruders.

Sure, but if you cannot get past the outside gate the inspection wasn't worth much. (The Army would have no problem opening the gates, but that would probably be worse than whatever evil they are doing inside)

lil distinction. If i recall correctly OSHA doesnt have jurisdiction over the military excepting its civilian operations. i think their inspections are handled by the USACE (army core of engineers).