June 21, 2009 in Business

GAO says labor safety program is inadequate

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WASHINGTON – Congressional investigators say the Labor Department has poorly managed a program that allows companies with good safety records to skip routine inspections – and mistakenly allowed some businesses with serious violations to participate in it.

In a report issued Thursday, the Government Accountability Office said the agency’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration lacks controls to make sure the right businesses are participating in the program.

Companies allowed into the Voluntary Protection Program are supposed to have exemplary safety and health records, no current enforcement actions and injury and illness rates below the industry average.

Instead, the report found, OSHA officials allowed entry to some companies that didn’t meet the criteria and allowed others to remain in the program even after they were cited for workplace hazards.

One site had three separate fatalities over a five-year period, yet was allowed to stay in the program.

The program, which began in the 1980s under President Reagan, was part of several efforts backed by Republicans to loosen OSHA enforcement and create a more cooperative relationship between business and government.

Under the George W. Bush administration, the program more than doubled from 1,039 work sites in 2003 to include 2,174 sites in 2008. The chemical industry made up the largest number of businesses in the program.

“Taking a hands-off approach to a voluntary enforcement program is a recipe for disaster,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chairwoman of a Senate subcommittee on employment and workplace safety. Jordan Barab, acting assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, said the agency agreed with the GAO’s recommendations. He said officials would develop new performance goals and take other actions to ensure the program is effective.

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