When two workers died last month in a violent chemical reaction at Ames Goldsmith Catalyst Refiners near Charleston, federal records showed the facility had previously been cited for safety violations in 2018.
But that doesn’t mean inspectors had regularly checked on the operation in the years between.
In fact, the facility had not been inspected again before the fatal incident, highlighting a problem with workplace safety in West Virginia and across the country: federal inspectors do not regularly inspect the most dangerous workplaces.
Here’s how workplace safety inspections work in West Virginia, and why labor advocates are calling for more oversight to keep workers safe on the job.
How does OSHA inspect workplaces?
OSHA, or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, conducts thousands of workplace inspections every year, including hundreds at workplaces in West Virginia.
OSHA inspectors aren’t required to notify workplaces when inspections are going to take place. When they find violations, inspectors can issue fines and citations. These are categorized based on severity, including willful, serious and repeated violations.
Employers also have the right to contest or appeal those violations.
Because West Virginia does not operate its own OSHA-approved workplace safety program, inspections and enforcement are handled entirely by federal inspectors.
Last year, federal officials conducted over 300 inspections across the state.
Today, just six federal OSHA inspectors oversee workplace safety for more than 695,000 workers employed across roughly 60,000 workplaces in West Virginia, according to the AFL-CIO’s annual “Death on the Job” report.
At current staffing levels, it would take the agency about 186 years to inspect every workplace in the state once, according to the report. In 2011, 10 inspectors were covering the state.
“It’s a capacity issue,” said Josh Sword, West Virginia AFL-CIO President. “There are fewer inspectors than there have ever been throughout the agency, and that makes workplaces less safe.”
Doesn’t federal law require regular inspections of potentially dangerous workplaces?
Not usually.
Federal law does not require OSHA to inspect most private workplaces on a regular schedule.
Instead, a worker complaint or serious injury triggers inspections. Inspectors also target some high-risk industries more frequently.
Some industries, like coal mining, present enough hazards to workers to warrant separate legislation and oversight. Coal mines are subject to mandatory federal inspections multiple times each year under mine safety laws.
While OSHA conducts some planned inspections, most private workplaces can go years without being inspected unless a serious incident occurs or a worker reports unsafe conditions.
That means facilities handling dangerous chemicals or operating heavy equipment may not receive regular federal inspections.
A spokesperson from OSHA did not respond to questions about inspections and staffing levels for the agency.
Is the Trump administration doing more to protect workers?
OSHA’s federal budget has been a target of the administration. The U.S. Department of Labor has requested reduced funding for the agency, eliminating dozens of full-time positions and cutting its budget by millions of dollars.
In the past few years, the Trump administration has repeatedly proposed cuts to the agencies that research and enforce workplace safety. The cuts are part of a broader push to scale back safety regulations and downsize the federal workforce.
Last year, federal officials proposed eliminating more than 90% of the workforce at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which studies workplace hazards, including in West Virginia.
The layoffs were later reversed, but labor groups warned that it disrupted ongoing research to protect workers.
Nina Mast, policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, said limited staffing has reduced OSHA’s ability to proactively enforce protections.
“A lot of their enforcement activity is really reliant on worker complaints,” she said. “There’s really no deterrent effect anymore because there’s so little capacity to do these inspections.”
What can be done for workers?
In the Kanawha Valley, there have been many chemical incidents that have resulted in the deaths and injuries of workers.
In 2008, an explosion at a pesticide plant killed two workers. In 2010, another leak killed a worker at a chemical plant.
In response, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board urged state officials to create a safety program to hold chemical manufacturers more accountable.
The program would’ve required companies to submit safety plans, require government audits of those plans and give the public more insight into safety at local plants.
But state officials ignored the proposal and never funded or created the program.
Meanwhile, labor experts at the AFL-CIO have petitioned the federal government to expand protections for workers in the most dangerous industries and hold employers more accountable.
They want officials to oppose efforts to weaken worker health and safety agencies, including NIOSH and OSHA, and increase funding for those agencies.
They also want Congress to pass legislation to increase civil and criminal penalties for employers found in violation of safety laws.
Congress could pass the Protecting America’s Workers Act that was introduced to update and reform the previous Occupational Safety and Health Act, created in 1970. If passed, it would expand protections to include public employees and increase penalties for employers.
In West Virginia, lawmakers could opt to have a state-approved OSHA plan that would provide more protections for private workers and increase the number of inspectors. The state already has limited occupational protections for public employees, who can request inspections.
Like other states with those plans, West Virginia would have its own inspectors who would enforce both federal and state workplace safety laws.
Sword said despite the various proposals, workplace safety protections are often overlooked.
“It doesn’t matter how much you make or how good your benefits are if you’re in an unsafe workplace,” he said. “If something happens and you’re hurt or killed on the job, none of that matters.”