Under current OSHA administrative policy, any workplace fatalities or hospitalizations of five or more employees resulting from a workplace accident or illness are given high priority and thoroughly investigated. These so-called "fatality/catastrophe" (FAT/CAT) investigations are a distinct type of inspection and differ from programmed inspections, complaints or referrals. FAT/CAT inspections are generally associated with high publicity and, being under close public scrutiny, command close attention by higher levels of OSHA area and regional staff.The purpose of FAT/CAT investigations as stated in the OSHA Field Operations Manual is to determine the cause of the accident; whether the incident was due to a violation of OSHA standards; what effect any such violation had on the occurrence of the incident and finally; whether future occurrences of the causes leading to the incident can be prevented by modification of existing standards. Given this narrowly defined purpose, it can reasonably be assumed that any violations issued as a result of a FAT/CAT investigation were the proximate cause or may have contributed to the occurrence.
Examination of OSHA enforcement records of inspections closed during the period January 1, 1988 through October 21, 1994 indicated there were 5929 fatality investigations where one or more willful, repeat or serious violations were issued. Total penalties issued to the employers of the inspected establishments were $25,244,430.88 and the total number of victims was 6162. This corresponded to an average penalty per victim of $4096.79.
It must be clearly pointed out that not all employee fatalities are due to the existence of hazardous workplace conditions. Circumstances can conspire to thwart the safety efforts of even the most conscientious employer. In fact, the data revealed 36% of all fatality investigations examined during the period resulted in no violations issued and therefore were presumably due to conditions beyond the employers control. Some from the labor perspective may argue this figure demonstrates OSHA ineptness or worse. However, with the media coverage and close follow up by top OSHA officials attendant to these types of investigations, it seems unlikely that any serious problems would be overlooked. It is an interesting statistic to observe that, assuming the average man weighs 175 pounds, the value of human life according to OSHA is roughly equal to $23 per pound - about the price of cheap Russian caviar. This is certainly a step up from the often quoted figure of $1.75 or so in materials by high school biology teachers!
Copyright 1997 OSHA DATA (tm), Maplewood, NJ.
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