{"id":3326,"date":"2020-08-28T13:46:03","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T13:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=3326"},"modified":"2020-08-28T13:46:03","modified_gmt":"2020-08-28T13:46:03","slug":"fewer-inspectors-more-deaths-the-trump-administration-rolls-back-workplace-safety-inspections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=3326","title":{"rendered":"Fewer inspectors, more deaths: The Trump administration rolls back workplace safety inspections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“The agency conducted slightly fewer safety inspections during the first three years of Trump\u2019s presidency than during a comparable period at the end of President Barack Obama\u2019s second term, even though the labor force grew by 16 percent, according to a Center for Public Integrity<\/a> analysis of the agency\u2019s inspection data.” 
…
“The slowdown in inspections could prove dangerous for millions of workers: A Public Integrity analysis shows the vast majority of deaths and catastrophes have occurred at workplaces that weren\u2019t inspected by OSHA.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…
“The lax scrutiny comes as Trump continues to trim the regulatory powers of federal agencies. Under his watch, the Labor Department has systematically weakened rules meant to protect workers\u2019 pay, retirement, and safety. The department, for example, scaled back a rule to extend overtime pay for millions of workers. It also tried to change pay rules to let employers pocket workers\u2019 tips \u2014 a move later undone by Congress.
The department also has been slow to hire and replace inspectors at OSHA; their number fell from 952 in 2016 to 862 in January, the lowest number of inspectors in the agency\u2019s history, according to the National Employment Law Project<\/a>.
Staffing has since gone down to 761 inspectors, according to the Labor Department.”
…
“During the first three years under Trump, OSHA conducted about 81,000 safety inspections \u2014 a 4.7 percent decrease from about 85,000 conducted during the last three years of Obama\u2019s presidency, according to a Public Integrity analysis of the agency\u2019s inspection data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnless someone dies at a workplace or there\u2019s some significant accident, [the employer] is very unlikely to be inspected now,\u201d said a former OSHA official under Obama, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press at his new job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Congress hasn\u2019t cut OSHA\u2019s enforcement budget; instead, it has given the agency slightly more funding than the administration has asked for. It earmarked $576.8 million for fiscal year 2020 \u2014 $19.3 million more than requested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former OSHA officials say the decrease in inspectors has more to do with the federal hiring freeze imposed during Trump\u2019s first year in the office. Dozens of inspectors left their jobs in the months following his inauguration, and the Labor Department has been slow to replace them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OSHA \u201chas done a poor job filling the vacancies,\u201d said Rebecca Reindel, safety and health director for the AFL-CIO labor federation<\/a>.”…
“Research shows that OSHA inspections have a significant impact on safety. In 2012, for example, researchers at Harvard University and the University of California Berkeley found that companies subject to the agency\u2019s random inspections showed a 9.4 percent decrease in injury rates<\/a> compared with uninspected ones. They also found no evidence of any added cost to inspected companies from complying with regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2010, researchers with the\u00a0RAND Corporation<\/a>\u00a0analyzed workers\u2019 compensation data in Pennsylvania and found that OSHA inspections were linked to a sharp decline in reported injuries at medium-size companies. Inspections that led to citations with penalties played a role in reducing injuries by an average of 19 to 24 percent each year for the two years following each inspection.\u201cInspections work,\u201d said Reindel of the AFL-CIO. \u201cIf an employer thinks they won\u2019t get inspected, they will take fewer steps to protect workers.\u201d”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/8\/18\/21366388\/osha-worker-safety-trump<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The agency conducted slightly fewer safety inspections during the first three years of Trump\u2019s presidency than during a comparable period at the end of President Barack Obama\u2019s second term, even though the labor force grew by 16 percent, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of the agency\u2019s inspection data.” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“The slowdown in inspections could prove dangerous for millions of workers: A Public Integrity analysis shows the vast majority of deaths and catastrophes have occurred at workplaces that weren\u2019t inspected by OSHA.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“The lax scrutiny comes as Trump continues to trim the regulatory powers of federal agencies. Under his watch, the Labor Department has systematically weakened rules meant to protect workers\u2019 pay, retirement, and safety. The department, for example, scaled back a rule to extend overtime pay for millions of workers. It also tried to change pay rules to let employers pocket workers\u2019 tips \u2014 a move later undone by Congress.<\/p>\n

The department also has been slow to hire and replace inspectors at OSHA; their number fell from 952 in 2016 to 862 in January, the lowest number of inspectors in the agency\u2019s history, according to the National Employment Law Project.<\/p>\n

Staffing has since gone down to 761 inspectors, according to the Labor Department.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“During the first three years under Trump, OSHA conducted about 81,000 safety inspections \u2014 a 4.7 percent decrease from about 85,000 conducted during the last three years of Obama\u2019s presidency, according to a Public Integrity analysis of the agency\u2019s inspection data.
\n\u201cUnless someone dies at a workplace or there\u2019s some significant accident, [the employer] is very unlikely to be inspected now,\u201d said a former OSHA official under Obama, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press at his new job.<\/p>\n

But Congress hasn\u2019t cut OSHA\u2019s enforcement budget; instead, it has given the agency slightly more funding than the administration has asked for. It earmarked $576.8 million for fiscal year 2020 \u2014 $19.3 million more than requested.<\/p>\n

Former OSHA officials say the decrease in inspectors has more to do with the federal hiring freeze imposed during Trump\u2019s first year in the office. Dozens of inspectors left their jobs in the months following his inauguration, and the Labor Department has been slow to replace them.<\/p>\n

OSHA \u201chas done a poor job filling the vacancies,\u201d said Rebecca Reindel, safety and health director for the AFL-CIO labor federation.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Research shows that OSHA inspections have a significant impact on safety. In 2012, for example, researchers at Harvard University and the University of California Berkeley found that companies subject to the agency\u2019s random inspections showed a 9.4 percent decrease in injury rates compared with uninspected ones. They also found no evidence of any added cost to inspected companies from complying with regulations.
\nIn 2010, researchers with the RAND Corporation analyzed workers\u2019 compensation data in Pennsylvania and found that OSHA inspections were linked to a sharp decline in reported injuries at medium-size companies. Inspections that led to citations with penalties played a role in reducing injuries by an average of 19 to 24 percent each year for the two years following each inspection.<\/p>\n

\u201cInspections work,\u201d said Reindel of the AFL-CIO. \u201cIf an employer thinks they won\u2019t get inspected, they will take fewer steps to protect workers.\u201d”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[221,170,574],"class_list":["post-3326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-donald-trump","tag-trump","tag-workers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3326"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3327,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3326\/revisions\/3327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}