The month of April was one of devastation for the state of Texas, as their state experienced a number of disasters including one refinery fire at the ExxonMobil site in Beaumont that caused the injury of 12 men, half of which were severe burn wounds. Sadly, after a few days in the hospital one of those workers died from his injuries. Just hours later in West, Texas a fertilizer plant exploded, killing an estimated 15 people and injuring over 200 victims in the small community of 2,800 residents. Reports show that this explosion leveled out about a third of the town, destroying at least 150 homes, business and even the middle school located just down the block from the plant.
As a result of this devastating incident at the West Fertilizer Co., the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report addressing a concern regarding the fact that a number of states in the U.S. are neglecting workplace responsibilities to meet the requirements for health and safety on their sites as specified by OSHA. However due to state budget cuts, the OSHA inspectors were significantly reduced making it much more difficult to regulate the many worksites.
This explosion has caused federal investigators to look closely at this very real concern in the country of workplace safety, and the House is proposing a new bill that will seek to improve and advance the federal authority over safety in the workplace. One representative says that this new bill is not related to the recent incidents, though it is the right timing that these issues be addressed; though there is doubt that the bill will be enacted quickly even if it is passed.
Surveys done by the GAO show that after looking at 22 different states in the U.S. and their programs which control both public and private sector workplaces, they learned that a large number of these facilities lacked workers and had a difficult time in retaining them because of their minimal wages. The bill proposes that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration be given more authority over these inspectors in the state programs to enforce workplace safety. These state run programs aren't the only ones who are understaffed, though. The federal run inspectors at OSHA are unable to perform their duties because of understaffing. And estimations show that each workplace is visited every 99 years on average throughout the country. However, when looking specially at the state of Texas it would take them 126 years total in order to visit every workplace for inspection because of how many locations they have in their state as opposed to Washington which would only take 42 years total.
The specific plant in West hadn't been inspected by OSHA since 1985, and was also overlooked even in 2011 when the OSHA program launched specifically to increase chemical facility inspections, and somehow this particular plant slipped through the cracks. Sadly, had this inspection been done in the past the explosion would have likely been avoided because they would have been able to see the various red flags on the plant ahead of time. One of these huge concerns was the fact that the plant was storing well over the legal limit of explosive anhydrous ammonia on their site, a high enough number that the Department of Homeland Security should have been sending regulators in order to keep tabs for explosive risks and terrorist activities.
Had the inspections been more regular, perhaps those 15 individuals still would be alive today. If you or a loved one were injured or killed in a workplace accident, find a personal injury attorney in your area in order to take legal action. By contacting an attorney you will receive the chance to fight not only for justice and hopefully to prevent this incident from occurring again, but also to seek compensation for your pain and suffering. Workplace accidents are a common occurrence all over the world, claiming the lives of both workers and people in the surrounding community far too often. You and your loved ones do not have to be victims any longer! By contacting an attorney you will have the chance to receive financial recovery in order to pay for the expenses associated with the injuries such as lost wages, medical expenses, future loss of income due to permanent injury, loss of the enjoyment of life, and others. Don't wait to pursue legal action, contact an attorney in your city today!