OSHA Information Throttle Threatens Worker Safety, Advocates Say

U.S. Labor Department decisions to limit publicly available information about worker safety infractions and punishments could help fuel the nationwide resurgence of the coronavirus, some employee advocates say.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration last month decided it would stop issuing the detailed citations that typically had accompanied its press releases announcing workplace enforcement actions, making them available only upon the filing of a Freedom of Information Act request.

Within days of that change in policy, Deputy Secretary of Labor Patrick Pizzella issued a memorandum to the heads of OSHA and five other departmental sub-agencies, instructing them to discontinue issuing ...