A high Biden administration official has directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to think about federal or state prosecution for employers whose actions kill employees or put their lives in danger.
Doug Parker, assistant U.S. secretary of labor for occupational security and well being, this week directed OSHA “to consider every available tool at the agency’s disposal – including criminal referrals for federal or state prosecution – to hold employers and other responsible parties accountable when their actions kill workers or put their lives at risk.”
Parker’s directive got here after an alarming improve in trench collapse fatalities. So far this 12 months, 22 employees have died within the U.S. on account of trench collapses, in comparison with 15 in all of final 12 months.
In Boston, building employees Kelvin Mattocks and Robert Higgins drowned in 2016 after a preventable trench collapse at a Boston building website. Their employer, Atlantic Drain, had a protracted historical past of security violations.
In December of that 12 months, the Boston City Council handed a neighborhood legislation requiring employers to finish the Mattocks-Higgins Affidavit of Workplace Safety, disclosing any previous security violations. The ordinance would permit the town to disclaim building permits to unsafe employers. It was proposed by Marty Walsh, who was mayor on the time and is now U.S. secretary of labor.
MassCOSH, a nonprofit that advocates for protected working situations, now needs the state Legislature to approve An Act Relative to Workplace Safety, which might require corporations searching for a trenching allow anyplace in Massachusetts to report their file of security violations.
If authorized by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Charlie Baker, the state would have the ability to keep away from contracting with corporations with poor security data, thereby stopping future accidents and dying, proponents say.
Right now, Boston is the one Massachusetts metropolis or city that may use employers’ security data to disclaim them taxpayer-funded contracts, Newton stated.
“MassCOSH firmly believes responsible contracting laws are good for employers, workers and Massachusetts taxpayers, and would save the lives of workers in the future,” he stated. “Too many families in our state know the unhealable pain of losing a loved one on the job to preventable job hazards. We welcome OSHA’s aggressive enforcement of worker protections and demand that our elected officials do their part as well by passing An Act Relative to Workplace Safety.”
Mattock’s sister, Angela Mattocks, stated the proposed legislation ought to be adopted in each state.
Her brother’s dying “could have been prevented if they had had safety on the job,” she stated. “I miss him so bad. He’s the only picture in my house. And I wake up every morning and tell him I miss him.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”