OSHA to Stop Name and Shame Policy

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will no longer announce companies that violate workplace safety laws.

Previously, OSHA had displayed workplace safety incidents, including the companies associated with those incidents, on its official website. Here, OSHA revealed more than 4,500 incidents in which workers lost their lives while working. Known as the "name and shame" policy, the general idea is to encourage employers to take extra precaution to protect their workers from injury, because failure to do so will result in their name being displayed on OSHA's website. However, it appears that OSHA is taking a direction direction by stopping its name and shame policy.

If you visit OSHA's website now, you'll notice the name and shame list is no longer being displayed. Instead, OSHA has replaced it with examples of cooperative programs that acknowledge and recognize employers who promote workplace safety.

When speaking about OSHA's decision to eliminate its name and shame policy, David Michaels, former OSHA assistant secretary, explained that this may actually have a negative effect.

"If the stories of workers who are killed aren’t told, they become invisible and there’s little reminder to employers why safety is so important,” said David Michaels, former assistant secretary of OSHA. "It’s great when employers voluntarily comply with OSHA and go beyond complying with OSHA, which is what (the Voluntary Protection Program) requires. But most employers don’t get it and they really need to be reminded why we’re doing this."

Of course, OSHA has long required employers to submit press releases regarding specific workplace incidents. If a worker is killed on the job, for instance, OSHA may issue a citation, require a corrective action plan, and require the employer to submit a press release. 

Workplace safety has become a top concern for OSHA at both federal and state levels. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), nearly 3 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses occur in the United States every year -- and that's only accounting for nonfatal incidents. Since its inception several decades ago, OSHA has taken great strides at reducing these numbers. But as long as workers are being inured and killed on the job, the administration will continue to seek ways to improve the working conditions for our nation's workplace.

So, what do you think of OSHA's decision to stop its name and shame policy?