Worker injuries not being reported

The House Committee on Education and Labor, which released the report in Washington, D.C., plans a hearing Tuesday focusing on whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is adequately enforcing construction safety rules.

The committee is expected to focus on 12 construction deaths in 18 months on the Strip, as well as recent construction deaths in New York.

Las Vegas resident George Cole, an ironworker with 40 years in the industry, is scheduled to testify about conditions on job sites on the Strip.

Cole’s brother-in-law, Harold Billingsley Jr., is one of six workers that have died during construction of the $9.2 billion CityCenter project being built by MGM Mirage.

Billingsley, also an ironworker, died Oct. 5 after falling about 55 feet after he hit his head on a beam and lost his balance.

The committee chairman, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., told the panel Thursday that workplace injuries and illnesses are “woefully underreported,” and said the new report raised concerns about employers failing to report injuries to OSHA.

Businesses with fewer injuries and illnesses are less likely to be inspected by OSHA, according to the report, which said that up to 69 percent of workplace injuries and illnesses may never be reported to the federal agency.

It said employers benefit through lower workers’ compensation insurance premiums and a better chance of winning government contracts and bonuses.

The report drew on academic studies that compared reports filed with federal regulators with other sources, including local police department records, hospital emergency room logs and workers’ compensation records.

Thursday’s hearing highlighted recent newspaper reports about North Carolina poultry workers allegedly being intimidated to keep quiet about injuries while a company claimed perfect safety records.

The committee’s ranking Republican, California Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, said the news reports were troubling and warranted further investigation. But he questioned relying on media reports for facts.

McKeon also said employers need clear direction about reporting workplace problems.

Also scheduled to testify at next week’s hearing is Edwin Foulke Jr., assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, who was recently in Las Vegas to discuss workplace safety.

“One fatality is one fatality too many,” Foulke said during the 47th annual American Society of Safety Engineers conference earlier this month. “We constantly have to remember that. You cannot put a price on somebody’s life.”

The following day, Foulke also met with contractors and union officials to discuss safety concerns in Las Vegas.

Although Foulke’s appearance at the conference had been scheduled months ago, his visit to Las Vegas came as concerns have been growing about fatalities at Strip construction sites, particularly the CityCenter and $3.9 billion Cosmopolitan projects.

Union workers shut down construction at both sites for 24 hours over concerns that the projects’ general contractor, Perini Building Co., was not adequately addressing their concerns about safety. Work resumed the next day after Perini agreed to adopt new safety measures, including allowing union and safety workers on the sites at all times and providing safety training for all workers.

Mark Ayers, president of AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department, and Robert LiMandri, acting building commissioner for the city of New York, are also scheduled to testify.

There have been several recent fatalities in New York involving construction crane accidents.

More witnesses could be added to the list Monday.

Review-Journal writer Arnold M. Knightly contributed to this report.