By Jim Stanley
President, FDRsafety

Innocent until proven guilty is a bedrock principle of our legal system, but when it comes to safety and health enforcement, OSHA's leadership has turned this principle on its head. Many of the agency's actions indicate its leaders are more comfortable with the idea that companies are guilty until they prove themselves innocent.

The indicators are everywhere:

• At the area office level, OSHA is conducting fewer intensive reviews of inspectors' case files and recommended violations to be sure the government's burden of proof has been met.
• The agency has made it tougher for companies to enter into the Voluntary Protection Programs, which encourage good employers to work hand in hand with their employees and the agency to build better and more effective safety and health programs. In many cases, it takes a year or more for employers to qualify for VPP.
• Dr. David Michaels, OSHA's leader, has given an unprecedented embrace to the tactic of "shaming" as an enforcement tool -- that is where the agency publishes a press release about the results of significant inspections in the hopes the bad publicity will incentivize other companies to come into compliance. However, OSHA never corrects or retracts a news release when violations are dropped or significantly modified.

As a result, in my opinion, OSHA's credibility with employers is at its lowest point since the agency was founded. And, perhaps not surprisingly, in my opinion, the new approach has not improved worker safety, as can be confirmed by a look at the history of recordable rates for non-fatal injuries and illnesses in private industry. This rate showed annual declines every year from 1994 to 2009, when Michaels arrived. Injury and illnesses rates were essentially flat in 2010 compared with 2009 and 2011 compared with .... READ FULL ARTICLE 

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