Refinery Violations in Texas
If in fact OSHA did give notice of surprise inspections then they are a joke. This letter from the opinion page of the Houston Chronicle.
Regarding Monday's Page One article "OSHA UNCOVERS SLEW OF REFINERY VIOLATIONS / Inspectors find 146 at 17 sites in what is only the start of a nationwide study": My mother died of cancer two years ago, and while she was in a hospice, her nurse and I visited. She told me she had worked at chemical plants in the Houston area for 17 years before she quit. She said she became a nurse as payback for what she knew was happening in the plants. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, she said, would give a two-week notice to plants before "surprise" inspections, and workers would scramble to clean up and set things right for clean reports. On foggy and rainy nights, she was instructed by supervisors to "release" into the air, as the fog or heavy rain would hide the act.That OSHA "uncovers slew" of violations at refiner-ies, to me, is a joke. Fines for violations are cheaper to pay than to fix the problems! How can we uncover what heretofore we didn't wish to find?
