A former OSHA executive who believes the Trump administration has cracked down on the issuing of potentially embarrassing press releases about fines has started posting the notices on his own website, and since then he’s revealed 44 cases involving construction firms slapped with $3.9 million in penalties.
“If OSHA won’t do it, Confined Space will,” Jordan Barab wrote on his website April 13, several days after he began posting the reports.
“During the Obama administration, OSHA’s policy was to issue a press release for any citation greater than $40,000,” the former deputy assistant secretary at the agency wrote. “Since Jan. 20, OSHA has issued roughly 200 citations for $40,000 or above.” But it was only on April 12 that OSHA issued news of an enforcement action: a $1.5 million citation to Atlantic Drain Service Co. for killing two workers in a trench collapse.
“Apparently the new threshold is $1.5 million (preferably along with criminal indictments by the state where the tragedy occurred),” Barab wrote.
OSHA officials did not reply to requests from REMODELING for comment, other than providing a link to the Department of Labor press releases page.
In an earlier post, Barab argued that press releases matter because they “help leverage resources” in an agency where just 2,000 inspectors oversee 8 million workplaces. “Instead of a citation just affecting the company that was a cited, a strong press release will impact other companies in the same geographic area, as well as companies in the same industry,” he wrote. “Industry attorneys repeatedly told me over the past several years that their clients don’t really care about the low fines OSHA issues; what terrifies them is being mentioned in a press release.”
“Business associations have previously vilified OSHA press releases for allegedly ‘shaming’ employers,” he added.
Barab has been updating his list of fines every couple weeks: you can find his first, second, and third installments here. According to the most recent update, four companies have been fined upwards of $150,000:
- GM Contractors Plus Corp. of Lakewood, N.J., was fined $173,647 for allegedly not providing fall protection.
- Barringer Brothers Roofing Inc. of Belleville, Ill., was issued two separate fines totaling $428,417 for allegedly not providing fall protection
- Speedy Gonsales Construction of Lowell, Mass., was fined $159,343 for allegedly not providing fall protection.
- Florida- based Great White Construction was issued three fines for locations in Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Palm Coast for failing to provide fall protection. The fines totaled $392,197.