Whistleblower, Article Critique Example

The article focuses on two regulations the first of which is the Section 5 (a) (1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHACT)(Cordier, 2007). The clause seeks to ensure that all workplaces provide safe working conditions to the employees and take necessary steps to minimize risks of injury or death. This clause covers all types of hazard not addressed by other standards though the burden of proof is on the OSHA. Similarly, OSHA may also use the findings of health hazard evaluation (HHE) which is conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). HHE can be requested by anyone including management official, employees union, or even the employees themselves.

As the article points out, NIOSH is not a regulatory agency and doesn’t issue citations or penalties. It seems that the existence of NIOSH is unnecessary and leads to wasteful resources of public funds as well as confusion. It may be better if OSHA assumes the responsibilities of NIOSH so that the mills only have to deal with one agency rather than two. In addition, NIOSH’s activities lead to workplace disruption. NIOSH’s staff is usually cooperative which may encourage mills to be cooperative as well. But if the findings continue to be used by OSHA to issue citations and fines, it will affect NIOSH’s future ability to work cooperatively with mills and make useful recommendations. Mills will be more likely to cooperate when they believe that NIOSH is merely interested in workplace safety and is not a facts-gathering arm of the OSHA. The second issue pointed out by the article is OSHA’s Whistleblower Protection Program. Section II (c) of the OSHACT protects employees from retaliation by the employers for exercising their rights under the Act. The OSHA discrimination charges against employers have increased in the recent years. Under the Act, employees have the rights to complain to OSHA, request OSHA inspection, participate in proceeding relating to an inspection and refuse to perform a task if the task poses hazard that could cause serious injury or death. As far as this Act is concerned, there are certain shortcomings with it. First of all, the protection to the employees against retaliation by their employers is guaranteed under OSHA Standards and not under the labor laws and HR regulations as most employees generally believe. Thus, employees should be better educated or the protection in case of whistle blowing should be provided under the labor laws. Providing protection under the labor laws makes logical sense because the retaliations usually impact employees’ employment related issues.

Another problem with the act is that complaint against employer’s retaliation is handled by the mill, assisted by the division, regional, or corporate safety manager. Such processes give little confidence to the employees because management can be reasonably assumed to have influence inside the management and thus, the complaint handling manager may not be entirely neutral. A better alternative would be investigation by an independent agency or OSHA itself because this option will prevent management from influencing the investigation outcome. This Act also has a potential for misuse as employees may file false claims or the unions may employ the act against the employers as an intimidating tool. Thus, OSHA should keep this possibility in mind and investigate ways to prevent potential misuse of the Act.

Another shortcoming of the OSHA Whistleblower laws is that it only gives employees 30 days to file the claim after the alleged retaliation(OSHA). This time limit could be lengthened to 90 day or 180 days because some employees may need more time to learn about their rights and some may also have to gather the evidence in support of their claim. Thus, OSHA should go for a comprehensive review of the Act because the increasing number of complaints every year probably indicates that the Act has certain shortcomings which are preventing it to achieve its intended objectives.

References

Cordier, P. J. (2007, September). OSHA’s whistleblower protection. Pulp & Paper , p. 23.

OSHA. (n.d.). Your Rights as a Whistleblower. Retrieved August 4, 2011, from OSHA Fact Sheet: http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_General_Facts/whistleblower_rights.pdf