The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "OSHA violations" ...
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Renegade Refinery
Just weeks after the Deepwater Horizon disaster began, an analysis of inspection data obtained from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that two oil refineries owned by BP accounted for a staggering 97 of the most flagrant violations found by OSHA inspectors. Most of these citation's were categorized as "egregiously willful."
Tags: Deepwater Horizon; BP; oil spill; OSHA; Gulf of Mexico
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Discounted lives
The KC Star analyze the Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection database for the Kansas City metropolitan area, reviewed public records and interviewed more than 100 people in order to determine how well OSHA protects workers. The study found that OSHA fines employees in workers' deaths less than it should and downgrades its most serious violations in workers' deaths, hurting workers who are trying to sue employees. OSHA is behind in its safety standards.
Tags: CAR; worker safety; corruption; OSHA; Occupational Safety and Health Administration; Kansas City; Missouri; health; inspections; workplace
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Violators: How they stack up
A Dayton Daily News computer analysis of Occupational Safety and Health Administration Records shows that from 1972 to 1990, Sparrows Point, a steel corporation, was inspected and cited 26 times in workers' deaths or serious-injury accidents. This is more than any other facility in the country. Employees say the company has put steel ahead of workers' lives. The records show the company violated government safety standards, failed to adequately train workers, and failed to at on employee complaints about hazards. This is part 2 of a 5 part series.
Tags: OSHA; Bethlehem Steel Facility; injury accidents; Occupational Safety and Health Administration Records; steel; hazards; safety practices; forklift; cranes; Sparrows Point; storage tank; carbon monoxide; OSHA violations; Armco Steel Corp; The Sorg Paper Co.; Dayton Walther Corp.; General Motors Corp.; Butler County Common Pleas Court; union; faulty breaks; steel corporations; amputations; burns; eye injury; concealing injuries
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On the Job of Last Resort
The Omaha World-Herald reports on how the U.S Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has provided only "minimal oversight" over the contractors who clean up meatpacking houses every night. The World-Herald found that "most of these contractors are undocumented workers, and that their cleaning is every bit as dangerous as day-time meatpacking" -- and in fact their injury rate is four times higher than normal workers in the industry. In the demand for speed from employers, many of these workers "have lost fingers, arms and even legs when they tried to keep pace. Harried workers have been known to clean cutting and grinding machines while they are still running, which is a clear violation of federal safety rules." But with undocumented workers fearful to come forward because of their legal status, and some pushed out of their jobs by their bosses when they raise safety concerns, the situation is only getting worse. The World found OSHA gave considerably less scrutiny to the problem, in part because it lumped those cleaning packinghouses into the same industry category as "janitors and maids."
Tags: OSHA; meatpacking; meat; packing; food; industry; safety; workers; workplace; cleaning; cleaner; machine; agriculture; undocumented; illegal workers; immigrants; human resources; occupational safety; USDA; hispanic; latino; union; contracting; contractor
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Sweat and Tears (Sweatshop series)
A Daily News investigation reveals that "New York City's garment industry routinely violates federal and state wage and hour laws." All major retailers sell clothes made in New York sweatshops by exploiting illegal Chinese immigrants. Garment workers work long hours for seven days a week, and get wages below the minimum of $5.15 per hour. Federal labor officials, as well as a state labor task force, keep "violations secret from retailers to protect brand name reputations and preserve business for local manufacturers and contractors." The investigation examines the price-making principles of the apparel market, and finds that avoiding illegal practices will have to either raise the clothes' prices, or cut the retailers' profits.
Tags: CAR; business; wages; unions; Chinese immigrants; illegal immigration; Federal Trade Commission; FOI requests; exploitation; teen fashions; Jenna LaneRampage; Dollhouse; Periscope; Asian Americans; civil rights violations; INS; OSHA; workplace safety; database mapping project
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OSHA penalties: A double standard
A Free Lance-Star investigation reveals that state government agencies are among the most common violators of worker safety standards, but - unlike private bodies - they never get fined. The story lists the top violators in the Fredericksburg, VA area in the last 25 years. The No. 1 local violator over this time period is Keller Industries, a private company that stopper operating in 1996, and No. 2 is the Virginia Department of Transportation. Among the top ten violators are also the City of Fredericksburg and the County of Stafford. "Virginia is one of eight state-run OSHA programs that never fine governments for violations," the Star reports. The article includes a table of the most common injuries and sources of injury.
Tags: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); state government; local government; deaths; injuries; CAR
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Bending the Rules
The National Law Journal reports on Clinton administration's project XL - shorthand for "excellence" and " leadership" - which rewards good corporate citizenship. Companies get year of relief from costly regulatory scrutiny, if they prove they can handle hazardous waste, plant more cleanly and take better care of their employees by using procedures different that those set out under the federal law. The project has raised concerns among environmentalists who find that the corporations granted the regulatory break may easily violate environmental laws, the Journal reports. Intel, Anheuser-Busch and 3M are among the few who received the opportunity to break federal laws.
Tags: EPA; politics; pollution; public health; safety; welfare; regulation; Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); workplace inspections; worker safety
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Paid by the Piece
The San Jose Mercury News investigates a common but questionable business practice of some of Silicon Valley's biggest companies. These companies pay Asian immigrants "piece-rate wages to build high-tech components at home." This practice violates labor and safety laws.
Tags: CAR Asian Vietnamese immigrants; computer labor laws; safety laws; minimum wage; high-tech exploitation OSHA Labor Commissioner component manufacturing quality ethics Pulnix America Inc. Viko Technology Inc. Compass Components Inc. piecework cottage industry
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Die on the Job
The Arizona Republic reports that "If you die on the job, your company may be fined. But how much is a life worth? You won't like the answer.... It's not easy to place a value on human life. Juries have set its worth in the millions. Philosophers argue that life is priceless. In Arizona, however, a worker's life is worth a little less -- about $3,000. That's the median fine paid by Arizona companies for safety violations that contributed to the death of a worker, according to a computer analysis of Occupational Safety and Health Administration records...."
Tags: OSHA; accidental death; regulations
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Death on the Job
The Arizona Republic examined OSHA inspection records and took an in-depth look at the estate workers' compensation system. Using an OSHA database, the paper established the median fine assessed in connection with a workplace death in which a serious safety violation was found - $3,000. The project also included several sidebars that profiled workers that were killed on the job and showed the dramatic impact on their families.
Tags: None