Veteran safety official blasts government efforts to weaken Cal/OSHA worker safety protection "Brown’s business-friendly Cal/OSHA cuts are worse than those imposed by Republican Governor George Deukmejian"

Veteran safety official blasts government efforts to weaken Cal/OSHA worker safety protection "Brown’s business-friendly Cal/OSHA cuts are worse than those imposed by Republican Governor George Deukmejian"
http://www.ilwu.org/?p=4952
• FEBRUARY 2014 DISPATCHER

Veteran safety official blasts government efforts to weaken Cal/OSHA worker safety protection
• FEBRUARY 11, 2014 3:19 PM

A veteran state safety inspector says top government officials are weakening California’s workplace protection agency – leaving the state’s 18.6 million workers exposed to unnecessary illness, injuries and fatalities. The problems plaguing California’s Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) include:

• Systematic and continuing understaffing.
• Failure to meet federal inspection benchmarks.
• Failure to investigate accidents in a timely manner
• Failure to inspect California’s most dangerous workplaces.
A report detailing these and other problems was authored and made available in February to The Dispatcher by Garrett Brown, a recently-retired 20-year Cal/OSHA veteran employee with an impressive resume of safety and health expertise. Brown is a Certified Industrial Hygienist with decades of field experience plus policy skills honed in health and safety projects around the world. For more than two years, he was Special Assistant to former Cal/OSHA Chief Ellen Widess. Like Brown, Widess was a strong advocate for worker safety rights, but became the target of California corporate interests who successfully lobbied Governor Jerry Brown’s administration to remove her in late 2013. Garrett Brown’s report is impressively documented with official public records, making the dismal state of Cal/OSHA immediately apparent from key statistics.

Severe understaffing

Neglect from the Governor’s office has left Cal/OSHA with only 170 enforcement field inspectors as of December 2013, to protect the state’s 18.6 million workers. These “Compliance Safety and Health Officers” (CSHOs) are the front-line inspectors responsible for ensuring that California employers are complying with worker safety laws.

Worse than Republicans

While Democratic Party candidates often promise to help workers, and often criticize Republicans for turning their backs on workers, the statistics reveal that that former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fielded significantly more CSHO enforcement officers at Cal/OSHA (190) than the Brown administration is allowing (170).

Worse than Fed OSHA

When the Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed in 1970 – thanks to work by union activist and dissident Tony Mazzocchi, occupational health expert Eula Bingham, and consumer advocate Ralph Nader – it was envisioned that many states would create their own OSHA programs and exceed the enforcement and policy standards governing federal OSHA. California, Oregon Washington and other states organized their own safety programs and were once recognized as leaders in enforcement and policy. But Cal/OSHA’s standing has failed in recent years due to political attacks from corporations and budget neglect from the Brown administration. Official records show that only one Cal/OSHA inspector is now available for every 109,000 workers – compared to Fed OSHA’s ratio 1 to 66,000. California looks even worse when compared to Washington State where one inspector is available for every 33,000 workers, or in Oregon where the ratio is 1 for 28,000 workers.

Fish & Game has more

The Brown administration’s neglect has allowed the Department of Fish & Game to field 33% more enforcement officers than Cal/OSHA does to protect workers. While outdoor advocates agree that the Department of Fish & Game is understaffed at 253 wardens – the situation effecting workers is far worse with only 170 Cal/OSHA’s inspectors for 18.6 million workers.

Flunking key tests

The Brown administration’s enforcement cuts has caused Cal/OSHA to fail meeting federal benchmarks in key areas, including response to worker complaints, closing inspections in a timely manner, and investigating non-fatal accidents in a timely manner

Cal/OSHA cutbacks have caused the agency to conduct fewer planned inspections at the state’s most dangerous workplaces with higher-than-average injury rates. Staffing cuts have also hit workplaces where low-wage, non-union and immigrant workers are concentrated, and the agency hasn’t been able to hire enforcement inspectors who speak languages other than English. Another critical failure is the agency’s inability to conduct “follow-up” inspections –as required by state law – at workplaces where “Serious” citations have been issued.

Unused funds neglected

The cuts at Cal/OSHA under the Brown administration can’t be explained only by years of budget cuts and austerity from politicians who are afraid to raise taxes. That’s because Cal/OSHA does not receive any funding from California’s General Budget – half it’s budget comes from annual federal grants provided by Fed-OSHA. The other half of the Cal/OSHA budget comes from money directly collected from employers through fees directed to special state funds, including the “Occupational Safety and Health Fund,” which has shown a positive balance of over $20 million in every year for the last three years. These funds could have been used to protect California workers, but the money has been left untouched. The Fund will receive an extra $8 million this year from the ending balance of a related state fund that is being merged into the OSH Fund.

Who’s to blame?

Former Cal/OSHA Chief Ellen Widess was constantly pressing the administration for sufficient funding to protect workers, but she was unable to secure additional funding and was ultimately removed from office. Cal/OSHA’s demise is best explained by Governor Brown’s philosophy of “small government” and “austerity budgeting” – views that happen to fit nicely with the interests of big business and corporations.

Business friendly philosophy

Similar “business-friendly” views have been expressed by Christine Baker, Governor Brown’s Director of California’s Department of Industrial Relations, who oversees Cal/OSHA. Baker has spoken candidly about the need for a “new paradigm” that emphasizes “partnerships” with employers and relatively less emphasis on aggressive enforcement of health and safety regulations.

“The vast majority of employers either do the right thing, or would do the right thing if they knew how,” Baker has frequently told stakeholders and Cal/OSHA staff. Cal/OSHA’s primary role is to “provide compliance assistance, partnerships and consultations with these employers.” The “new paradigm” views expressed by Baker are virtually identical to arguments made by the Chamber of Commerce and other business interests.

More austerity ahead

Putting a “business friendly” philosophy into practice explains why the Brown administration has proposed a 2014-2015 Cal/OSHA budget that falls below enforcement staffing levels that existed 14 years ago, in the year 2000.

How low can you go?

Brown’s business-friendly Cal/OSHA cuts are worse than those imposed by Republican Governor George Deukmejian, who defunded the entire agency in 1987 but state funding was restored by a voter-backed ballot measure in 1988. In 1989, when the agency was fully re-established, there were 185 CSHO’s protecting 14.6 million workers – roughly 15% more enforcement officers than Governor Brown is funding 25 years later.

Staffing like OR & WA

Correcting Cal/OSHA’s decline and neglect could be cured – with sufficient staffing and a serious commitment at the top to tough enforcement. Using the programs in Oregon and Washington State as a guide, Cal/OSHA would require a total of 556 enforcement officers to match staffing levels found in Washington State where there’s one inspector for every 33,000 workers. Matching Oregon’s ratio would require 658 enforcement officers at Cal/OSHA instead of the current 170. If the Brown administration refuses to let Cal/OSHA hire enough inspectors, then the agency is certain to continue falling short – and California workers will continue to suffer.

“Understaffing and weak enforcement at Cal/OSHA threaten all workers in California,” said ILWU International Vice President Ray Familathe. “ILWU and other union members have protections and rights on the job that most workers don’t, which is why we’re standing up for 18 million California workers who need more protection than they’re getting now from Cal/OSHA.”