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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-8151.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
announced today it is ending joint enforcement in North Carolina.
"We are very pleased with the significant improvements in
occupational safety and health the state has made in its program," said
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Joseph A. Dear.
"These included major modifications in the state's laws governing occupational
safety and health and increased state funding and staffing. The state now has
the inspection resources necessary to provide effective worker protection in
North Carolina."
OSHA assumed joint enforcement of job safety and health,
including worker complaints of discrimination, in North Carolina following the
disastrous Sept. 3, 1991, fire in a poultry plant in Hamlet, N.C., which took
the lives of 25 workers. The state had asked federal OSHA for help.
Following the 1991 fire, OSHA conducted a special
evaluation of the plan and found deficiencies which it said must be corrected.
The AFL-CIO also requested that OSHA withdraw its approval of the North
Carolina plan. In June, 1992, OSHA received satisfactory assurances from the
state that the necessary corrective steps would be taken.
North Carolina now has addressed all the deficiencies
identified as a result of the special evaluation report.
The state has budgeted for an enforcement staff of 115,
compared with 55 before the fire. Staff on board now totals 109.
North Carolina resumed responsibility for handling all
discrimination complaints as of July 1, 1992.
The state now has no appreciable backlog of workplace
safety and health complaints and is conducting programmed inspections.
"These and other actions also have resolved all issues
raised in the AFL-CIO's petition for OSHA withdrawal of approval of the North
Carolina state plan," Dear said.
OSHA officials said that the federal agency has issued
three evaluation reports on North Carolina's performance since the special
evaluation. All show continuing improvement and indicate that the program is
now operating effectively with an outstanding commitment to necessary
enforcement as well as creative outreach and other voluntary compliance
activities.
Notice of the ending of joint enforcement jurisdiction is
published in the Tuesday, March 7, 1995, Federal Register.
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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