N. Carolina Official Criticizes OSHA
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RALEIGH, N.C. — The state labor commissioner accused the federal government Friday of giving inadequate funds to the state’s worker safety program and of unfairly accusing him of being uncooperative in the wake of a fire that killed 25 people.
Responding to a threatened federal takeover of the state’s workplace inspection program, Commissioner John Brooks said: “Some people characterize cooperation as unquestioning agreement with their own point of view. While we respect other people’s points of view, we also exercise our prerogative to state different views.
“We do not believe that federal OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has been cooperative with North Carolina or has treated North Carolina fairly,” he said.
U.S. Labor Secretary Lynn Martin told the state Wednesday that it has 90 days to correct problems with its state-run worker safety program or face a federal takeover.
The federal review was prompted by a Sept. 3 poultry plant fire in Hamlet, N.C., that killed 25 people and injured 56 others. State officials said the 11-year-old plant was never inspected for safety.
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