OSHA Plans Spot Inspections

Trucking companies are among the 2,200 high-hazard workplaces being targeted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for unannounced inspections, the agency said.

The enforcement plan is an updated version of an interim program used by OSHA while it fights a legal challenge from the business community to a comprehensive compliance effort. OSHA lost the lawsuit earlier this month (4-19, p. 1).

Its Cooperative Compliance Program was unveiled in 1997, targeting industries and businesses with the worst injury and illness rates. Companies that volunteered to participate would have been required to start a comprehensive safety and health program, but would have had reduced chances of an OSHA inspection.

Opponents said complying with the stricter regulations or submitting to the inspections was neither cooperative nor voluntary.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled in favor of a coalition of business groups in invalidating the program.