Worker safety appeals board rulings raise question (lost arm no fine)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-worker-safety21-2009oct21,0,3595409.story

The board often reduces or dismisses penalties against companies that Cal-OSHA has fined.

By Jessica Garrison

October 21, 2009

Rosa Frias was working the evening shift at Bimbo Bakeries in South San Francisco when she reached into her bread-making machine to remove a hunk of dried dough.

She screamed as her left hand, and then her lower arm, were sucked into the gears of the Winkler stringline proofer. That night, the limb had to be amputated above the elbow.

The incident drew a $21,750 fine from the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. But Bimbo paid nothing. It appealed to the Cal-OSHA Appeals Board, which dismissed the case on a technicality: The inspector had retired and Cal-OSHA could not prove that he had had permission to enter the factory.

Since that 2003 accident, five more employees in Bimbo's California plants have lost fingers or parts of fingers in accidents in which inspectors found similar safety violations. In two of those accidents, the appeals board reduced the fines by thousands of dollars.

"That is mind-boggling," said Linda Delp, director of UCLA's Labor Occupational Safety and Health program.

It is not, however, unusual for companies to fare well on appeals. A Times review found that the board has repeatedly reduced or dismissed penalties levied by Cal-OSHA over the last few years, even in situations in which workers have died or been seriously injured. The board's actions have done more than save companies money. They have undermined Cal-OSHA's efforts to prevent future accidents, according to labor advocates, inspectors and state documents.

FULL 3 page story at link.

[juno jones]

1. K&R! n/t