Report on workplace safety hardens grieving mother’s resolve

The report, issued Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, "accurately reflects" the failure of the state agency to protect workers in Nevada, said Debi Koehler-Fergen, whose son, Travis Koehler, 26, was killed trying to rescue a worker who had gone into a sewer hole at The Orleans in February 2007. The first worker also died and a third worker was critically injured and spent 23 days on life support before recovering.

"I feel the report is a grave indictment of the problems in the state agency and are substantiated in this report," said Koehler-Fergen, who had filed a complaint with the federal agency about the state’s investigation and handling of the casino deaths. "It shows the program is in significant and woeful disrepair and needs urgent attention."

Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said the report revealed that there were steps the state safety agency could have taken to prevent a number of construction accidents, including a string of fatal accidents at Strip construction sites.

"Today’s report from (federal OSHA) reveals steps Nevada OSHA could have taken to prevent the tragic accidents along the Strip and provides the state with recommendations about how to move forward to ensure worker safety in the future," Titus said in a statement.

The federal agency report revealed findings from a review of the state program’s procedures.

In the report, federal investigators cite "a number of serious concerns" that indicate "an urgent need for corrections in oversight and changes in all phases" of the state safety program.

Among its concerns, the federal agency criticizes the state agency for its failure to issue violations for willful and repeat violations of safety laws, and for failing to adequately follow up on cases to determine whether hazards that were identified by inspectors were corrected. The 80-page federal report also says the state safety inspectors are poorly trained.

Overall, the federal agency said it identified many "systemic issues that caused great concern."

Specifically, the report criticizes the state agency’s record on citing businesses that have committed willful safety violations, or those that were intentionally done. It also said the state agency often failed to notify families of deceased workers about fatality investigations and often did not give the families an opportunity to provide information pertinent to a case.

Further, the report said state OSHA investigators demonstrated a limited knowledge of construction safety hazards.

At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, newly appointed Nevada OSHA Chief Administrative Officer Stephen Coffield said he will reorganize the state agency to remedy many of the problems and departmental shortcomings revealed in the report.

"(Reorganizing state OSHA) hasn’t happened since the program began here in the early 1970’s," Coffield said. "We’re going to initiate a training and standardization process so that all the inspectors now can receive standardized training to make sure the forms they’re using are current and that their hazard recognition skills are good."

Coffield blamed some of the problems addressed in the report on growth-related issues. As the state agency has had to expand staff, training and staff retention has become increasingly difficult, he said.

Coffield was promoted last month by Nevada Division of Industrial Relations Administrator Donald Jayne, whose division oversees the state safety agency.

Federal officials began a two-month review of the state agency’s operations this summer in response to a string of deaths and workplace accidents at construction sites along the Strip, including six deaths at CityCenter and two at the neighboring Cosmopolitan site.

Federal officials evaluated investigations of Nevada’s 25 workplace fatalities between Jan. 1, 2008, and June this year. It also examined two complaints the federal agency received regarding the state’s investigation into the two deaths at The Orleans and an inspection at the Luxor.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said Nevada OSHA "cooperated fully" throughout the evaluation process.

The report includes 18 recommendations, calling on the state agency to take several steps, including:

• Conduct an internal review of its citation policies.

• Develop training procedures so the agency can improve its rate of successful violation prosecutions.

• Review all agency procedures and consider evaluating potential repeat violations.

• Review all cases more thoroughly, including review on-site photographs for possible hazards not identified by investigators.

The federal report will have an impact outside of Nevada, too.

The House Committee on Education and Labor, of which Titus is a member, has scheduled a hearing on the report for Oct. 29.

Details of the report have raised concerns about the federal agency’s monitoring of other state plans, according to a statement by Jordan Barab, the federal agency’s acting assistant secretary.

"As a result of the deficiencies identified in Nevada OSHA’s program and this administration’s goal to move from reaction to prevention, we will strengthen the oversight, monitoring and evaluation of all state programs," Barab said in a statement.

Federal law encourages states to develop and operate their own job-safety programs, which have to be approved and monitored by the federal OSHA.

Nevada is one of 27 states and territories approved to operate its own program.

Koehler-Fergen, who plans to attend the House committee hearing in Washington, D.C., questioned whether Nevada OSHA officials will be able to implement the necessary changes in a timely manner.

"Will the agency actually be able to resolve the deficiencies that have been identified with the degree of urgency that it needs to?" she said. "There must be some form of oversight of the agency to make sure that these serious issues are addressed and procedures implemented completely."

Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Reporter Joan Whitely contributed to this report.