Occupational Safety and Health: Violations of Safety and Health Regulations by Federal Contractors
HEHS-96-157
Published: Aug 23, 1996. Publicly Released: Sep 03, 1996.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined federal contractors' compliance with federal occupational safety and health regulations.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Labor | The Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health to develop and implement policies and procedures, in consultation with GSA and the Interagency Committee on Debarment and Suspension, for how safety and health records of federal contractors could be shared to better inform agency awarding and debarring officials in their decisions regarding contracts in order to improve workplace safety and health. |
OSHA placed company inspection records on the Internet, making available to GSA, the Committee, and other federal agencies the inspection histories of companies that may now or in the future seek federal contracts. OSHA said that this action should close this recommendation and deferred to the Committee for any further response. This does not fully respond to the recommendation, as the publication and existence of such information is neither a policy nor a procedure to ensure the appropriate sharing of information to better inform agency officials in their decisions regarding contracts. OSHA's response reflects why it continues to be difficult to ensure that the government is not awarding contracts to known safety and health violators; OSHA is placing the onus for review of inspection information and decisions based on that information to other agencies rather than using its position to lead efforts to develop ways to ensure that violators are not awarded federal contracts.
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| Department of Labor | The Secretary Of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health to develop policies and procedures regarding whether and how it will consider a company's status as a federal contractor in setting priorities for inspecting worksites. |
In August 1998, OSHA said that a company's status as a federal contractor should not increase or decrease the likelihood of an OSHA inspection. OSHA continues to believe that the appropriate method for assigning priority for inspections is based on high injury and illness rates, regardless of whether these companies are federal contractors. As a result, OSHA is not likely to develop any particular policies for whether or how it will consider a company's status as a federal contractor in setting priorities for inspections. While GAO would agree that employers with high injury and illness rates deserve inspection priority, it is also reasonable to expect that, within this group, those who are federal contractors could be given greater priority for inspection on the principle that, because they receive federal monies, they not only should be held more accountable for adhering to safety and health practices, but OSHA should have greater knowledge about any safety and health violations.
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| Department of Labor | The Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health to assess the appropriateness of extending these policies and procedures to cover companies receiving other forms of federal financial assistance, such as grants and loans. |
Because OSHA has not taken sufficient action on related recommendations that provided the basis for this recommendation, any action taken by OSHA for this recommendation would also not be fully responsive.
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Contractor violationsFederal lawFederal procurementFines (penalties)Labor lawOccupational health and safety programsOccupational safetyProposed legislationSafety regulationWorking conditions