Report: OSHA should do better job verifying employer records on workplace injuries

Report: OSHA should improve safety checks

WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said Monday she will move swiftly to correct problems highlighted in a new report on workplace safety that raises concerns about widespread underreporting of injuries and illnesses on the job.

The agency’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is supposed to audit employer records in the most hazardous industries to keep tabs on accident and illness rates. But inspectors often don’t interview workers to verify what is in employer records, the Government Accountability Office report found.

The report said OSHA shouldn’t rely solely on employer data because there is evidence some companies pressure workers not to report injuries or illnesses. And about a third of health providers surveyed by GAO said they have been pressured to withhold medical treatment so a company could avoid filing an injury or illness report.

“Many of the problems identified in the report are quite alarming and OSHA will be taking strong enforcement action where we find underreporting,” Solis said.

Democratic lawmakers requested the GAO report because they are skeptical of numbers that have shown the rate of workplace injuries and illnesses declining between 1992 and 2007.

The GAO did not determine that those numbers are flawed, but concluded that OSHA could get more accurate information if inspectors did a better job independently verifying the data employers provide.

Part of the problem is that OSHA officials don’t audit records until two years after incidents occur. That often means the workers involved in the incidents are no longer available to be interviewed.

Washington Sen. Patty Murray, chairwoman of the Senate subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, said the report confirms “we can’t just take employers at their word” when it comes to documenting workplace injuries.

“The system to this point has been all too easy to game,” Murray said.

In 2007, there were about 4 million cases in which workers were injured or became ill as a result of unsafe or unhealthy working conditions. OSHA inspects work sites in industries that typically have the highest number of workplace injuries, such as the transportation and chemical industries.

But the report also found that OSHA does not audit records in eight other “high hazard” industries — including amusement parks and ski facilities — because it has not updated agency regulations. The report urged OSHA to revise its regulations to include those industries.

OSHA agreed with all the recommendations in the GAO report. Earlier this year, OSHA launched a new program that would increase the number of work sites audited to check the accuracy of injury and illness reports.