Washington — The U.S. Labor Department issued a scathing indictment of Nevada’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Tuesday, painting the state agency charged with keeping workers safe on the job as incompetent and ineffective in the wake of a deadly building boom.
The probe examined Nevada OSHA’s oversight of 25 workplace fatalities, some of which occurred during the Las Vegas Strip construction boom and found an agency with staff ill-equipped to investigate accidents and administrators unwilling to impose hefty penalties on companies.
The report is the most significant review of a state program conducted by the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration in nearly two decades. Labor officials said the findings have prompted a nationwide review of state-administered workplace-safety plans and increased federal oversight.
The Labor Department said its investigation was triggered in part by the Sun’s Pulitzer Prize-winning series that examined the Strip construction deaths and exposed the failures of government, management and labor unions to protect workers.
The report documents troubles large and small within Nevada OSHA’s offices in Reno and Henderson — from state lawyers and managers who discouraged harsh citations for company violations to staff communiqués via Post-it notes. In half the fatality cases, families of the workers were not told of investigations, as required.
Safety experts called the federal officials’ findings “grave” and “brutal.” Nevada lawmakers promised legislative action.
In Washington the House labor committee has scheduled a hearing next week to review the Nevada program. In Nevada, state Sen. Maggie Carlton, chairwoman of the state Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, pledged to use the report as a template for new legislation to correct the agency’s failures.
Some experts believe Nevada’s response to the findings could determine whether the federal government takes the unprecedented step of assuming control of the state program.
“This report confirms that there are serious problems with Nevada OSHA that need to be addressed immediately,” said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee in Washington. “Workers in Nevada deserve to know that basic health and safety protections are enforced by the agency tasked to protect them.”
Nevada OSHA officials acknowledged at a news conference Tuesday that they need to make improvements, including in their overall approach to workplace hazards.
“Looking back, we should have taken a more aggressive approach,” said Donald Jayne, the new head of the state Industrial Relations Division, which oversees the agency. “That’s an easy call.”
Union leaders and lawmakers expressed confidence that new agency administrators will make the needed changes.
Still, the report shows the federal government’s lax oversight of worker safety in recent years has allowed the Nevada program to operate with many deficiencies and with impunity.
Under the Obama administration, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has pledged to reinvigorate OSHA as a strong watchdog for worker safety.
“The safety of workers must be priority one, and the U.S. Department of Labor is stepping up its review of state OSHA plans to ensure that is the case,” Solis said.
OSHA sent federal investigators to Nevada over the summer to conduct a comprehensive review of the state-run program after the Sun documented the rising number of construction fatalities.
The Sun reported that during Nevada OSHA’s investigations of the deaths, fines imposed on companies were routinely reduced after negotiations, and the families of workers killed on the job were rarely notified investigations were under way.
During a two-week period in July and August, federal investigators analyzed Nevada OSHA’s handling of 23 workplace fatalities that occurred from Jan. 1, 2008, to June 1, 2009, as well as several cases with high penalties.
Investigators were stumped by the absence of large fines given the number of deaths. They intended to review additional cases with penalties in excess of $45,000. Finding none, they lowered the threshold to $15,000.
The report contains several dozen findings and recommendations.
Among the most damning is that state investigators were discouraged from citing companies’ violations as “willful.” Willful violations carry higher penalties because they signal that employers intentionally broke the law. Only one willful violation was made during the period investigated, but it was later reduced.
“During interviews with the Nevada investigators, it was determined that they are discouraged from pursuing willful violations by management and legal counsel,” the report said. “Any proposed willful violation was reviewed by the Chief Administrative Officer and legal counsel, and those were usually reclassified.”
Stephen Coffield, the newly installed chief administrative officer of Nevada OSHA, said the agency will review its policy toward finding willful violations. He said the legal department has historically taken a conservative approach to willful violations because “they’re hard to prove.” Coffield added that “it’s possible we raised that bar too high. We’re committed to look at it.”
The report further found that state investigators identified hazardous conditions during workplace inspections, but did not cite these problems or issue alert letters. Four of the 23 fatalities “included documented hazards that were not cited.”
In the complaint filed about conditions at the Orleans — where two workers died and a third was injured when they entered a toxic manhole at the resort — Nevada OSHA cited the company for a less serious violation even though the hotel had previously been cited for similar problems. “Clearly supportable repeat violations were not cited,” the report said.
“This is very grave,” said Celeste Monforton, a workplace safety expert and professor of the George Washington University School of Public Health.
Monforton notes that fatality investigations should be a state agency’s best work, prompting her to wonder: “If you can’t even get it right in a fatality case, when you’ve got a dead body, God help the rest of them.”
She said state leaders should establish an independent panel or commission to review Nevada OSHA’s progress on improvements.
Carlton, who pushed for worker safety reform in this year’s legislative session, said the federal report would give her cause new urgency. She said she would convene a legislative working group, if not a subcommittee, to draft a bill to correct Nevada OSHA’s shortcomings.
“There’s absolutely no excuse for not addressing these issues, unless you want to turn a blind eye to worker safety,” she said. “Our job is to protect the public. It is so sad that it had to come to this, to lose that many guys before we had this shake-up.”
The report further found that workers in Nevada OSHA’s offices were ill-prepared for their jobs. Some longtime employees, it noted, had never taken the most basic training courses.
Peg Seminario, director of safety and health for the AFL-CIO, testified before Congress last year about the Strip fatalities and the need to beef up OSHA laws. She called the report’s findings “brutal.”
“This report is a confirmation of the deep problems that exist in that state plan,” Seminario said.
Seminario said the state must be held to timetables and deadlines to make required changes.
“Now what is important is that these deficiencies be addressed and remedied quickly,” she said. “And if Nevada OSHA doesn’t act expeditiously to address these problems, then the federal government has the ability to step in to ensure that the safety of Nevada workers is protected.”
Nevada’s lawmakers pledged to monitor Nevada OSHA’s response.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid believes the report “sends a clear message that Nevada OSHA needs to make changes to improve worker safety,” his spokesman Jon Summers said.
“Additional action may be necessary in the future, but he would like to see how Nevada OSHA follows through on the report’s recommendations first.”
Democratic Rep. Dina Titus, who serves on the House Education and Labor Committee, which will hold next week’s hearing on Nevada, said the report “reveals steps Nevada OSHA could have taken to prevent the tragic accidents along the Strip.”
Since the Sun’s reporting on the Strip fatalities, Nevada’s lawmakers have taken steps to beef up state workplace safety rules.
While shying away from the more sweeping reforms proposed by Carlton, the Legislature did pass SB228, which requires that families be notified when an investigation into a loved one’s death is under way so they can participate — a law the report cited as one the state needs to abide by in involving families in the process. Lawmakers also passed a bill requiring that all construction workers undergo 10 hours of safety training.
Gov. Jim Gibbons’ spokesman Dan Burns said department officials have told the governor they have begun to institute changes, adding, “He expects that work to continue and that every single one of the issues will be addressed.”
Carlton said that after the resistance she encountered while pushing tougher worker safety legislation this year, she’s pleased to now hear state officials adopting a new tone on the issue.
“This state has been too reactive instead of proactive,“ she said. “We will find a way to get this done.”
Mascaro reported from Washington, Mishak from Las Vegas. Sun reporter David McGrath Schwartz contributed to this story, reporting from Carson City.
A letter that I personally handed to Gov. Gibbons asking for help for safety violations at a large gold mine HAS NEVER BEEN ADDRESSED. Mendy Elloitt (former NV Buss & Ind) helped to hide a non investigation/inspection of Round Mountain Gold Corp Smokey Valley Mine reported Safety violations and false records. MSHA and NV MSATS went out of their way to not investigate/inspect violations.
Is this how future accidents are prevented?
Everyone from the Great State of Nevada deserves to work in a safe and Hassle free work environment.
Gov. Gibbons, I am still waiting for your MSATS investigate/inspection of the reported violations.
PRupp B125 SP NV 89047
"Workers in Nevada deserve to know that basic health and safety protections are enforced by the agency tasked to protect them."
After so many deaths at City Center, you would think OSHA would always be on site. If OSHA was called there by someone, they would first meet with Perini and tell them what the alleged violation was and then Perini would cover it up before OSHA actually looked at the violation. And health protections, what is that, there are none. Last I checked Monokote was not breathable. The casino had such bad air quality,it was hazy indoors. Thanks Perini, you suck!
Doesn't anyone else find it ironic that the AFL-CIO, the union affiliation that is suppose to turn out highly trained workers, is involved in wanting tougher OSHA laws?
Safety is everyone's business. It's tragic that there are any jobsite deaths, let alone 25 union jobsite deaths. That being said, everyone bears a responsibility to ensure a safe work site. It's not just the contractors' responsibility.
The danger with tougher OSHA laws is that it doesn't necessarily target the guilty party. We have new laws requiring 10 and 30 hour training for all construction workers. What's going to happen after a worker is trained and then he/she blatantly chooses to commit a safety violation? The company is cited. Where is the accountability for the worker?
Nevada has a no-fault approach to workman's compensation, which is awesome in that the worker's injuries are taken care of, and there is no litigation involved. So why should the contractor be held responsible (monetarily) if the worker is not held responsible for blatant disregard of safety rules? I'm not talking about the random accident, I'm talking about repeated training the worker receives and then chooses to disregard.
during the bush administration the corporate management of existing laws were ignored or diluted whether it concerned energy (enron) the enviornment (global warming and oil leases) or the military(halliburton and blackwater). when casino owners contributed to the republican political campaigns, they bought themselves a free pass from any interference or anybody complaining about an occasional death on the job. las vegas has a monument of corporate greed in the empty shells of buildings dotting the skyline. well done, corporate america.
I agree with you ECM. Personal responsibility must play a part. I think only willful violations should be punished, and severely. At my company, we hold monthly safety meetings and all of our employees undergo extensive safety training. They all hold either OSHA 10 or 30 cards already. All of our equipment and ladders are inspected routinely. We have a full-time safety director who is dedicated to the sole purpose of ensuring the safety of our employees. As a company, what more can we do if an employee blatantly disregards policies and orders and stands at the top of a ladder and falls on his head? Why should the company be punished?
THE END IS NIGH!
As a Union Glazier and Architectural Metal worker, having worked on the City Center project, as well as other larger construction projects(Fontaine Bleu, Panorama, etc.) I have a slight difference of opinion. I have been through the OSHA 30 hour training program, have seen OSHA reps on the job regularly, and felt the wrath consequent of my own absent mindedness. To an outsider it may seem as though there are large, scary numbers of deaths occurring. One only has to stop and think for a moment that, to use City Center as an example, nearly 5,000 workers were on that job site every day at the peak of construction. Some STATES probably don't even have 5,000 Union workers! Not to belittle the deaths of these workers, my heart goes out to the families, but I know that every day I walked onto that job I knew the risk involved of such a huge construction site. OSHA may be slipping but the bottom line is that PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY is the largest, scariest bull in the china shop. I have seen people on the job while inebriated, ill and so tired that it is amazing to me there wasn't a lot more incidents during the peak of construction here. OSHA can patrol job sites, just like the military could patrol our streets. Watch-dog groups and Federal Commissions can censor our media and tell us how to raise our children. Or we could stop for a second, focus, and look left and right before we dump our own problems onto someone else. The safety regulations are strict, an they are enforced to a point where sometimes it makes it hard to get your work done. Every incident I have ever seen or been involved in no matter how minute or how large in scale were ALWAYS the result of a PERSONS poor judgment. So I don't know. Just my opinion but I hate to hear people skirt their own responsibilities.
Wasn't there an article in the review journal not to long ago about all the drunks and stoners staggering back to work after a two hour liquid lunch at some nearby taverns?
Las Vegas, meth capital of the world. Yeah, lets put a speed freak on the job. No sleep in five days. No problem.
Dispicable!!! Just Dispicable!!!
This is sickining but no surprise to me.
2nd dumbest city in America.
#1 Most corrupt city in America.
The new Nevada requirement for additional safety training mandating osha 10 hour and osha 30 hour training is a positive step forward for employers and employees alike. These foundation courses are excellent primers for anyone involved in the safety industry. Many local colleges provide the training along with a number of online providers. Online training allows for more flexibility for the employee and employer inasmuch as you can train anytime and anywhere there is an internet connection. Costs are generally comparable and discounts are available for multiple students. Make sure the online provider's courses have been "reviewed and accepted" by OSHA for online distribution. Once the course is completed you can print out a temporary certificate of completion, and the Dept. of Labor will mail out the OSHA 10 Hour Card in a few weeks thereafter.
Nevada legislators have taken an important first step to improve the workplace...let's hope it is not the last.
Peter Altuch, President
HR Training University
www.hrtraininguniversity.com