Doug Landau asks: Does OSHA really work ?

Having tried numerous job injury cases, Herndon injury lawyer Doug Landau is constantly asked why doesn’t OSHA do more to protect innocent workers who are injured or killed on the job. It has been nearly 40 since the Occupational Safety and Health Act was enacted to protect workers. Now, workers, organized labor and members of Congress say the government’s regulations are in need of an overhaul.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, some 6,000 Americans are killed annually in workplace accidents (more than 15 a day) and millions more are injured. But a study conducted by the AFL-CIO, using data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), found that the average fine for deadly violations is only $11,300. The union’s director of safety and health, was quoted in today’s paper as stating, that under current law, “fish, horses, and wild burros have stronger protections from harm than workers. That’s an outrage, and it needs to change.”

OSHA’s records show that workplace violations increased 6.4%, to 89,000, from 2003 through 2007. Serious violations were up 12% — to 67,000 –during that same period. Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D., Calif.) says penalties are “shockingly low,” amounting to a “slap on the wrist for killing or injuring a worker.” Even in the most egregious cases, employers rarely face criminal prosecution, she adds. This has been the experience of ABRAMS LANDAU, where we have seen OSHA issue penalties amounting to only a few thousand dollars after a worker is killed or maimed for life. And, in Virginia, the worker and their family cannot sue, even where there has been an OSHA violation or violation of the criminal law by the employer !

Woolsey, who chairs the House subcommittee on workforce protections, has introduced legislation that would greatly increase both civil and criminal penalties for violations of OSHA rules. The maximum fine for willful and repeated violations, including those causing death, would increase from $70,000 to $250,000. Maximum jail time for willful violations that result in death would go from two years to 20 years.