Employers Have an Obligation to Ensure That Their Workplace is Safe
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
By Richard Mendelson
As we honor the achievements and rights of America’s workers on Labor Day, we at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continue the agency’s 53-year tradition of protecting the nation’s workers by encouraging employers, large and small, to make safety and health a core value in every workplace.
Federal law provides every person who works in the U.S. the fundamental right to safe and healthful working conditions regardless of race, gender, age, nationality, immigration status or the language spoken. To protect these rights, employers must have effective safety programs in place at each workplace to control hazards associated with that particular industry, such as falls from heights, which continues to be the construction industry’s deadliest hazard.
The risk of fatal or disabling falls exists whenever employers fail to provide legally required safeguards. In our region, there are some employers like ALJ Home Improvement gambling with their employees’ lives. In February 2022, an employee of the Nanuet contractor was installing waterproof paper on the roof of a three-story residential project in Spring Valley when he slipped and fell to the frozen ground below, suffering severe and fatal head trauma. The worker was the second ALJ employee to die after a fall in the past three years.
Since 2019, six OSHA inspections at ALJ Home Improvement work sites identified 21 violations and produced $1.6 million in fines. In July, Jose Lema, the company’s owner, was arrested after the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York filed a criminal complaint against him for willful violation of OSHA fall protection requirements causing the death of an employee, based on a criminal referral made by OSHA.
Workplace safety is not a game of chance, its outcome depending on whether an employer chooses to protect or risk their employees’ well-being each day. The law requires all employers to train workers to recognize and avoid workplace hazards, including falls from heights. Employers should plan ahead to do the job safely, train employees properly and provide them with required fall protection and other safety equipment.
Incidents such as this remind us why we must demand that workplace culture focus on the importance of employee safety and its positive effects on worker safety and morale. When hazards are ignored, workers should never accept the unsafe conditions as “part of the job.”
Workers should feel comfortable sharing safety concerns with their employer. When employers ignore their responsibility or retaliate against employees, OSHA’s recently expanded team of investigators in its Whistleblower Protection Program are available to ensure workers can exercise their rights.
In concert with our enforcement efforts, OSHA offers compliance assistance to employers and workers to improve workplace safety and health. For small businesses concerned about the expense of a review to identify and address safety and health hazards, we offer a no-cost and confidential visit from professionals in OSHA’s On-Site Consultation Program, who can help design and establish or improve safety and health programs.
Every worker in our nation has the right to end each workday safe and healthy. OSHA exists to protect and enforce their rights by preventing employee injuries, illnesses and deaths.
As we mark another Labor Day, everyone at OSHA encourages employers and employees alike to commit themselves to making safety and health a bedrock value at work.
Richard Mendelson is the OSHA regional administrator in New York.
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