Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
OSHA has fewer than 1,900 inspectors and they're responsible for the health and safety of 130,000,000 workers at 8,000,000 worksites. That's eight million worksites. Exactly how are they supposed to inspect all those worksites for safety violations? That works out to 1 inspector for every 4,300 worksites. If every inspector in the agency inspected a job site each and every workday, it would take over 16 years to inspect every place once. And it would be 16 years between inspections.
OSHA make rules that employers are expected to follow. And they make spot checks to see if they are. But it is the employer who bears ultimate responsibility for ensuring that safety rules for their company are enacted and enforced.
Agreed, it's not physically possible for OHSA to inspect every jobsite. Often an unsafe condition must be reported, before OHSA to visits a location. Difficult to place blame on OHSA, unless they visited the location prior and failed to address the hazard.
In general I'm not a huge fan of lawsuits. Too many people fail to use common sense or follow safety procedures that are in place. But in this case I say full speed ahead, sue them for all you can get!
I do wonder if/why no complaint ever was filed by current or former employees about unsafe working conditions.
Gee, ya think? Such a simple thing as a guardrail, but the employer was too cheap to install any. Unbelievable. Horrible. And for routinely exposing employees to high risk, and now--causing a death, they're only getting a slap on the wrist: a $147,000 fine. Wait until the family of the deceased launches a wrongful death suit. Hopefully it will amount to more than a slap on the wrist.
There would likely be punitive damages in addition to general liability, especially if there was an inspection and a documented recommendation that the employer install guard rails.
I’m surprised the Germans didn’t think of this in 1942 at the Wannsee Conference the 2001 movie Conspiracy was based on. End result is steel for the war effort.
Killed instantly. At least he probably didn't have time to feel much pain.
“A Caterpillar employee was “immediately incinerated” when he fell into an 11-foot-deep pot of molten iron heated to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration “
Killed instantly. At least he probably didn't have time to feel much pain.
“A Caterpillar employee was “immediately incinerated” when he fell into an 11-foot-deep pot of molten iron heated to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration “
Gee, ya think? Such a simple thing as a guardrail, but the employer was too cheap to install any. Unbelievable. Horrible. And for routinely exposing employees to high risk, and now--causing a death, they're only getting a slap on the wrist: a $147,000 fine. Wait until the family of the deceased launches a wrongful death suit. Hopefully it will amount to more than a slap on the wrist.
Yeah, the OSHA fine will pale in comparison to the civil settlement.
In some cases it's not so easy. Roofing for example it's hell to get the employees to wear the required safety harnesses as they're annoying. Ultimately it's the employer's responsibility though and when the employee who has been written up five times for not wearing a harness but not terminated does a swan dive... still employer's responsibility.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
