The federal agency charged with workplace safety has done little to punish companies when their workers get sick or even die from the coronavirus
Scalia says the agency has all the enforcement power it needs under OSHA’s “general duty clause,” which requires employers to generally maintain a safe workplace “free from hazards" that are likely "to cause death or serious physical harm."
However, in industries where such standards are harder to apply -- like meatpacking plants -- the agency is limited to fining employers under the general duty clause, even in cases where workers died. “If somebody dies at work, you would want to think that we're going to show in the penalty amounts that this person's death was worth something,” Foulke added. “But that doesn't always happen.”
The pitfalls of OSHA’s decision to not issue a Covid-19 standard have been put on display the most in the meatpacking industry, where the virus has rapidly spread among factory workers.
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