State’s Work Safety efforts fall short of the mark

Off late it has been observed that state-based OSHA worker safety programs conduct fewer inspections and fine less than their federal counterparts. In today’s time, when worker safety has become all the more important, it has been observed that the unit that enforces worker safety laws at the state and municipal levels has been conducting fewer inspections and is not giving out penalties for violations.

The state level OSHA was hit hard due to the untimely death of its Director, Richard Palo, in 2009. Because of this and a number of drop outs, workplace inspections have plummeted. Unlike the Federal OSHA that has jurisdiction in public as well as private sectors, the state-based CONN-OSHA can only inspect public sector agencies.

Federal OSHA was responsible for investigating an explosion at the Kleen Energy power plant in Middletown. This disaster killed 6 workers. The number of violations caught and fines given out has brought a lot of attention to this Federal unit.