OSHA Inspections Down in 1995

by Allen Cooley

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration barely noticed the newspaper industry in 1995.

OSHA conducted only 60 inspections at newspaper worksites last year, and newspapers paid only $78,096 in state and federal fines. The hardest hit paper paid $9,890.

Of the total fines paid, 47 percent went to federal OSHA while 53 percent went to state OSHA programs. Among the states, California and Washington OSHA collected the largest amounts. California OSHA alone took in 32 percent of all OSHA fines paid in 1995. Inspection/citation data can be obtained from OSHA via the Freedom of Information Act. They provide a wealth of information, including:

Date of inspection
Type of complaint, if registered
Company name and address
Company ownership
Inspection time in hours
Scope of the inspection
Case number of any previous OSHA activity at the site
Number of employees covered
OSHA inspector identification
Closing-conference date
Case-completion date
Fine amount initially assessed
Amount actually paid.

In the newspaper industry, the Electrical category accumulated the largest fines, followed by Machine Guarding and Lockout/Tagout.

Allen Cooley is an industrial hygienist for NAA. E-mail, coola@naa.org; phone, (703) 648-1325, fax, (703) 620-4557.