Government Accountability Project

Protecting Corporate, Government & International Whistleblowers since 1977

OSHA Investigative Unit Woefully Inadequate

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by Shanna Devine on October 07, 2010 ( The Whistleblogger / 2010 )
The Labor Department Office of Inspector General recently released a sobering report on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigative wing for whistleblower complaints. The OSHA Office of Whistleblower Protection Programs (OWPP) administers first stage investigations and initial rulings for 19 corporate whistleblower protection statutes.

The report’s title, Complainants did not always Receive Appropriate Investigations under the Whistleblower Protection Program, was an understatement when examined within the context of it’s findings: After a one year review period of over 1,200 cases from 2009-2010, the OIG found that 80% of whistleblower investigations did not meet one or more standards in OSHA’s own Whistleblower Investigations Manual; OSHA only found merit for 2% of retaliation complaints; OSHA issued final rulings without conducting any face to face interviews in nearly half its “investigations”; and only 21% of cases settled prior to a ruling. Out of those, only 3% of employees went back to work and 13% received any financial compensation.

These stats are not surprising given the ad hoc conditions of OSHA investigations. According to the OIG’s findings, investigations are conducted without:
  • required training for supervisors
  • written guidance to conduct investigations under new corporate whistleblower statutes, or
  • subject matter experts available to help investigators with technical issues

Further, the report found that investigators are regularly assigned up to four times their proper caseload, and that timeliness - not quality - is the sole performance standard to evaluate work on whistleblower cases. This sends a message to employees who try to report abuse that OSHA is more concerned with the quantity of cases it closes rather than the quality of its fact-finding and willingness to decide cases in the merits.

These findings should not be taken lightly by new OSHA Director David Michaels, given the broad public health and safety statutes that his agency has jurisdiction over. OSHA oversees whistleblower laws related to the trucking, nuclear power, pipeline, environmental, rail, consumer product safety, medical care, and financial industries. Nor should these findings come as a surprise; an August report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) also scrutinized OSHA’s whistleblower protection program.

Shanna Devine is Legislative Coordinator for the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower advocacy organization.

 
:Government Employees

Comments (2)

  1. avatar Lindsay, i-Sight Case Management Software makes this comment

    Wednesday, 20 October 2010

    As enforcement increases in the US and other countries, timeliness does play a factor in investigations, but the importance of a thorough, quality investigation vastly outweighs the ability to close cases quickly. Investigating complaints, especially those reported to OSHA, need to be taken seriously. When an employee reports an incident or feels their workplace is unsafe, their complaint can’t be taken lightly. I find it odd that final rulings were issued when investigation interviews weren’t even conducted- seeing as they are one of the most important components of any workplace investigation. Investigators need to be properly trained- and given manageable case loads. Companies and organizations can no longer get away with conducting sloppy investigations. Hopefully the new director will take the report seriously and make some (much needed) changes.

  2. avatar osha online makes this comment

    Thursday, 07 October 2010

    Looks like OSHA has some work to do if they are going to fulfill all of their responsibilities properly. Great coverage here, keep up the good work.8-)

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