Inspections
In 2000, 5,079 health and safety inspections took place in Oregon. These inspections were conducted out of the five OR-OSHA field offices, Salem, Portland, Eugene, Medford, and Bend, and the OR-OSHA central office. Safety inspections accounted for 4,399, or 86.6 percent of all inspections. Safety officers look for compliance with occupational safety standards, such as those covering machinery and machine guarding, construction, personal protective equipment, and fire protection. The remaining 680 inspections focused on health standards, such as those for asbestos, water and sanitation, and hazard communication. Employees covered by these inspections totaled 165,059. This is a decrease of 1.9 percent from the 168,304 employees covered in 1999.

Inspections are conducted for different reasons. The majority of inspections are scheduled on prioritized lists created through the use of the most current injury and employment data available. An inspection may also be done in response to a valid complaint about an existing hazardous condition or in response to a referral from another agency. When an inspection is completed in which hazards have been cited and the employer is given a specific period in which to comply, a follow-up inspection may be conducted to assure that the hazards have been abated. An inspection may also be done when there is a job fatality or catastrophe. Finally, an unprogrammed related inspection is one where an employer at a multi-employer worksite is inspected and that employer is not identified in the complaint, referral, etc., which initiated the inspection. For example, if a complaint is received for a construction site and there are multiple employers at the site, an inspection of the employer(s) not identified in the complaint would be considered unprogrammed related.

Safety
The 4,399 safety inspections represent a 8.1 percent decrease from the 4,787 done in 1999. Inspections in general industries (all industries except logging and construction), went down by 6.7 percent to 2,443. Inspections conducted in construction were down 11.9 percent to 1,720, and logging industry inspections were up 8.8 percent to 236. The 236 logging inspections made up 25.6 percent of the 922 manufacturing inspections, and 5.4 percent of the total safety inspections for 2000.

Health
In 2000, the Oregon OSHA Division conducted a total of 680 health inspections. This is a 3.3 percent increase over the 658 conducted in 1999. The number of employees covered in 2000 fell 13.6 percent to 32,889. In 1999, 38,087 employees were covered. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing health inspections rose 19.3 percent from 57 in 1999 to 68 in 2000. Manufacturing inspections fell 3.8 percent to 177 in 2000.

Citations, Violations, and Penalties
When a compliance officer conducts an inspection and no violations of occupational standards are found, the employer is said to be “in compliance”. When violations are found, a citation is issued to the employer which lists all the violations discovered during the inspection, and any resulting penalties.

Violations of the occupational safety and health standards are categorized on the basis of the probability of an accident and the likely severity of the resulting injury or illness. Serious violations occur when there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result. Repeat violations are an employer’s second or subsequent violation of the same standard. Willful violations are committed by an employer or supervisory employee who intentionally or knowingly disobeys the requirements of a standard. Other violations are cited for hazardous conditions that would probably not cause death or serious physical harm but would have a direct and immediate relationship to the safety and health of the employees. Administrative and mandatory penalty violations are included in the “other” category.

Top 10 Violations
In 2000, OR-OSHA issued 3,630 citations for 10,792 violations. This is a 3.5 percent decrease in the number of citations issued, and a 3.3 percent decrease in the number of violations from 1999. The top 10 standards cited by compliance officers are listed in Table 2.

Safety
In 2000, 25.4 percent of the 4,399 safety inspections found the employers to be in compliance. Out of the total 9,051 violations found, 5,555, 61.4 percent were in the other category. Serious violations made up another 36.0 percent. Repeat violations were 2.6 percent, and there were only 3 willful violations. The following table gives the historical trend for safety violations.

The manufacturing industry had the most violations in 2000, with 2,555 or 28.2 percent of the total. The construction industry recorded the second highest total violations, comprising 26.2 percent of the total. Logging recorded 269 violations, or 10.5 percent of the manufacturing total, and 3.0 percent of the total safety violations. Together the construction and manufacturing industries accounted for over half of all safety violations found.

Table 4 shows the proposed penalties assessed against employers for violations found during safety inspections. These are not the actual penalties paid, but the penalties assessed before any informal conference hearing is held which could reduce the proposed penalties. In 2000, proposed penalties totaled $1,960,290, a 28.3 percent decrease from 1999.

Health
In 2000, 28.8 percent of the 680 health inspections found employers to be in compliance. Out of the total 1,741 health violations found, 909, 52.2 percent, were in the other category. Serious violations made up another 47.0 percent, repeat violations were 0.7 percent, and there was one willful violation. The following table gives the historical trend for health violations.

The manufacturing industry had the highest total violations at 587, or 33.7 percent of the total, while construction accounted for another 19.5 percent of the total. The agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry had 132 violations, or 7.6 percent of all health violations.

Table 6 shows the proposed penalties assessed against employers for violations found during health inspections. These are not the actual penalties paid, but the penalties assessed before any informal conference hearing is held, which could reduce the proposed penalties. In 2000, proposed penalties totaled $303,544, a 1.2 percent decrease from 1999.

Appendices

Appendix A. Safety and health inspections, violations, and proposed penalties, FFY 1991-2000

Appendix B. Inspections by industry FFY 2000 (Safety) (Health)

Appendix C. Inspections by type of inspection, FFY 1991-2000

Appendix D. Division and rank of safety and health standards cited by type of violation, FFY 2000

Appendix E. Inspections, violations and citations by field office, FFY 2000

Appendix F. Penalties FFY 1991-2000

Appendix G. Inspections by county and industry group, FFY 2000 (Safety) (Health)

If you have questions about the information contained in this document please contact by e-mail or phone: Lori Miller, Research Analyst, Research & Analysis Section, Information Management Division  (503) 947-7195.

This document was originally published in July 2002.

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