OSHA has a very useful tool on their web site. If you
click on "Inspection Data" at www.osha.gov
you can look up OSHA violations by employer, industry code or citation
number (or from semcosh.org you can click our link ‘OSHA Violation
Finder’). You can find information about your own employer or industry.
More information could be available but, as is, it is a very useful tool
and a good use of computer technology.
Until very recently you could use this tool any time of
any day.
Now it can only be used between the hours of 8 am and 6
pm in the Eastern Time Zone, Monday through Friday. That means if you work
dayshift in Detroit and don’t want to leave cyber-tracks on the company
computer, you just can’t use the violations finder. If you live in
Hawaii you can use the service between 1 am and 11 am.
Jordan Barab of the Chemical Safety and Hazard
Investigation Board suggests this explanation, "Secretary of Labor
Elaine Chao has told the computers that because of DOL’s new overtime
regulations, the computers would no longer be receiving overtime pay. So
they went on strike. Or were locked out."
Maybe. Or maybe someone figured out that workers were using the service
after work and on the weekends to research their employers. Therefore, if
the service is only available when workers are working (in most of the
country) or sleeping (in Hawaii and Alaska) it won’t be used for that
purpose.