POLITICS

Federal investigators issue ‘scathing’ report on Indiana OSHA

Tony Cook
tony.cook@indystar.com

A federal investigation has found that Indiana’s workplace safety agency mishandled complaints, inhibited investigations and discouraged whistle-blowers.

Workplace safety experts say the long list of problems documented in a 19-page report from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration could put the health and safety of Hoosier workers at risk.

The findings confirm problems first reported in The Indianapolis Star about the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s decision to implement inspection quotas that inspectors said deterred complex investigations, and about a decision by the agency’s director not to inspect Sensient Flavors, a Southwestside flavoring plant, after an employee was shocked and hospitalized.

At the time, Sensient was already facing one of the largest fines in state history for, among other things, exposing workers to unsafe amounts of a chemical associated with a potentially fatal lung disease.

The investigation also found that IOSHA failed to investigate an explosion at Indianapolis Power & Light in March 2013, even as the agency was negotiating a settlement with the utility company over an explosion seven months earlier that killed one worker and injured another.

“Failure to investigate the report of the explosion gives the appearance that settlement of the case was a priority over employee safety and health,” the report says.

After the federal investigation began in April 2013, IOSHA agreed to conduct an inspection.

IOSHA also took four times longer than allowed to initiate inspections and had a backlog of nearly 100 unprocessed complaints, some up to six weeks old, the report says.

The state has 30 days to respond to the report’s findings.

Bob Dittmer, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Labor, which houses IOSHA, said the agency has already addressed all but two of federal OSHA’s 22 recommendations.

“It should be noted,” he said, “that all recommendations outlined in the report apply to administrative procedures, and they have no effect on the health and safety of Hoosiers.”

Workplace safety experts who reviewed the report at The Star’s request disagreed.

“If people are afraid to complain, you’re asking for accidents at their facility,” said John Newquist, a former assistant regional administrator for federal OSHA whose responsibilities including overseeing state OSHA plans.

The report was “scathing,” he said. “This is as harsh as it gets.”

Of particular concern is how IOSHA handles whistleblower complaints, he said. The federal investigation found that whistle-blowers aren’t told about their right to appeal, that employers use an IOSHA rule limiting investigations to 60 days to stall and get complaints dismissed, and that employees are often told to accept an employer’s settlement or IOSHA would drop their cases.

“There are so many issues wrong that I can’t imagine the complainant can even win a case,” Newquist said.

Frank Rosenthal, an occupational and environmental health professor at Purdue University, said IOSHA’s failure to respond to complaints in a timely manner is “a matter of great concern.”

Because of staffing issues at many workplace safety agencies, complaints often function as OSHA’s “eyes and ears,” he said.

“If a complaint recognizes a hazardous condition, and the response is delayed, employees will continue to be at risk,” he said.

State Rep. David Niezgodski, D-South Bend, suggested the problems at IOSHA might stem from an overly ambitious effort to make Indiana a business friendly state.

“I think we need to be very careful when trying to do things that are good for business that the opposite doesn’t begin to take place,” he said.

Call Star reporter Tony Cook at (317) 444-6081. Follow him on Twitter: @indystartony.