Operators of meat and poultry plants, bolstered by court decisions, are increasingly refusing to allow federal worker safety inspectors to expand investigations into other parts of their facilities.
But attorneys say employers are within their rights to deny the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s entry.
A Dec. 7 GAO report (GAO-18-12) found that during 15 complaint or injury inspections in 2016 plant operators rejected OSHA requests to expand inspections. Altogether, there were 212 plant inspections.
In the prior 11 years, there were 16 such inspection denials nationwide, the report said.
OSHA does this “across the board, not just with ...