Vol. 73/No. 48      December 14, 2009

This conclusion of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) will come as no surprise to most workers, who are all too familiar with cover-ups by bosses of on-the-job injuries.

The GAO notes that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a division of the Department of Labor, has reported that the rate of workplace injuries has steadily declined since 1992.

The GAO explains that 83 percent of businesses are not required to report work-related injuries either because they are “too small” or because they are in industries that “historically” have low rates of injuries and are exempted by OSHA.

In the remaining companies, injuries and illnesses are underreported.

Doctors and nurses told the GAO they were often pressured by the bosses of injured workers to hide or downplay injuries or illnesses and provide insufficient medical treatment.

One health-care worker told the GAO of an injured worker’s boss who took the worker to several medical offices until finding one that agreed to certify that the injury needed only first aid, and was not a recordable injury.

Some 67 percent of health-care practitioners interviewed said that workers often feared disciplinary action for reporting an injury or illness. Some plants offer bonuses to workers if the department they work in is injury-free, increasing pressure to not report injuries.

Placing workers on “light duty” is common practice in some meatpacking plants with high injury rates. Injured workers are required to punch in every day and then stand around doing nothing so that the incidents will not appear in reports as lost-time injuries.

The GAO reports that “workers’ fear of disciplinary actions may be compounded by policies at some worksites that require workers to undergo mandatory drug testing following incidents resulting in reported injuries or illnesses, regardless of any evidence of drug use.”

In 2008, 3.7 million on-the-job injuries and illnesses and 5,071 deaths were officially reported.  
 
 
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