Feds Crack Down on America’s Worst Bosses-But Fines Still Trivial
May 4th, 2010 | Lindsay Beyerstein
Time and time again, inspectors found that miners at the Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia were trudging through inches-deep drifts of combustible coal dust. The mining company, Massey Energy, paid the fine, stalled through endless procedural challenges or just ignored the citation all together. The bottom line was that the dust kept piling up…until disaster struck.
In late April, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration unveiled a new program to get tough on the worst offenders, the Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP). Beginning in June, the SVEP will step up enforcement against employers that have shown “indifference” to the safety of their workers through “willful, repeated, or failure-to-abate violations.”
Combustible dust violations will be a high enforcement priority for SVEP, as will amputation hazards, unsafe excavation practices, and silica dust exposure.
Fines for safety violations have been increased only once in the last 40 years. Needless to say, they haven’t kept pace with inflation.
OSHA, which is part of the Department of Labor, plans to increase the costs of non-compliance. Right now, the stiffest possible penalty for a serious violation, i.e., an infraction that could kill or seriously injure someone, is just $7,000. The current maximum penalty for a willfull violation is $70,000. Under the SVEP, the average penalty for a severe infraction will rise from about $1,000 to $3,000-$4,000.
Still a pretty trivial penalty for risking someone’s life or limb, but it’s a step in the right direction.
This post originally appeared in Working In These Times on May 3, 2010. Reprinted with permission.
About the Author: Lindsay Beyerstein, a former InTheseTimes.com political reporter, is a freelance investigative journalist in New York City. Her work has appeared in Salon.com, Slate.com, AlterNet.org, The New York Press, The Washington Independent, RH Reality Check and other news outlets. Beyerstein writes a daily foreign affairs bulletin for the UN Foundation’s UN Dispatch website and covers healthcare for the Media Consortium. She is the winner of a 2009 Project Censored Award. She blogs at Majikthise.
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Tags: Lindsay Beyerstein, Massey Energy, OSHA, Severe Violator Enforcement Program
May 5th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
In the book, “The Jungle”, it depicted harsh conditions faced by labor. That same labor, who built America by the sweat of their brow has lost what they attained because of today’s workforce leadership. Labor rights and human rights are supposed to be synonymous but out current labor leaders are “out of touch.” In addition, you add enabling laws to weaken labors’ position and the degree of lobbyist to hinder a fair days work for a fair days pay not to mention providing a safe work place, one can see the labor force is in the “jungle” once again. I can only imagine what they would be saying today. I can only speculate theses words from them….What are you prepared to do? We now what we did and were prepared to do it. You only experience what you lost after it is no longer there.
May 6th, 2010 at 11:12 am
Lindsay:
I have no problem with mine safety inspections. I have no problem with fines going up to give teeth to the law.
But do the workers or their union have any culpability in mine accidents. They go on strike for higher wages why don’t they strike for higher safety. The union bosses make money off higher wages paid not off of longevity of the workers.
You think that the mine owners would be more willing to pay for safety as opposed to higher wages? I do.
If I worked for a company in a place that I considered dangerous, I would quit and find a safer job or I would take the risk for the enough money. Either way my choice.
None of this is one sided.
May 7th, 2010 at 1:58 am
Charles,
The 25 miners who died in the mentioned article were non-union workers. Mining operations whos workers *are* unionized are not guilty of the thousands of safety violations Massey Energy has been guilty of since 2004.
Are you not tired of making a complete fool of yourself?
May 7th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Darek:
29 miners died. Get your facts right if you don’t want to appear the fool. Also you might want to read Mark Twain.
Charles
May 9th, 2010 at 2:03 am
The news story I read from AP said 25. 29, 25, 30, 15, whatever – you know its not the point.
That you divert attention to it is telling. Why don’t you read Twain again, for the first time.