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OSHA (the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration) came up as the No. 2 national knucklehead on Project Censored’s top 10 list of so-called censored stories in 2000.

For the 25^th year, Project Censored has complied what it regards as American media’s guilty-by-omission track record in reporting. By its reckoning, the top story unreported was the assertion that the World Bank and multinational corporations have designs on privatizing water.

Only in America? It should come as no surprise that the genesis of Project Censored happened on a university campus, i.e., California State University Sonoma, where liberalism is wont to thrive. Nor that many of the stories reporting on alleged censorship emanate from left-leaning publications.

On the OSHA matter, Project Censored awarded its No. 2 prize to Christopher D. Cook for his piece in The Progressive in which he bemoans that fat-cat conglomerates get the gold mine and workers get the shaft. The story is titled: Losing Life and Limb on the Job.

Cook maintains that OSHA has only 2,300 inspectors to cover 102 million workers in 6.7 million workplaces, which translates to one inspector for every 44,348 workers. Ergo, it would take OSHA about 110 years to inspect each workplace just once.

Here are highlights of what Cook’s story portrays:

"(US) labor laws are poorly enforced and fail to meet the basic human rights of US workers. Each year, about 6,000 workers die annually from ‘occupationally acquired diseases.’ OSHA is not capable of effectively overseeing US workplaces.

"Needed by labor and despised by business, OSHA may be workers’ best friend in government, but critics say OSHA has never been weaker or less worker-friendly. Recent studies show that US labor laws have loopholes, are poorly enforced, and fail to meet human rights standards that our nation requires of other countries.

"Titan International, an Illinois-based company, has been under fire lately at its plant and at other subsidiary locations. Despite a lengthy recent record of safety violations and injuries—including two deaths—Titan’s Des Moines plant has stymied five attempts by Iowa/OSHA to inspect some twenty-three complaints lodged by workers. Titan Tire refused entry to OSHA even with an inspection warrant—a violation of law and a direct assault on the integrity of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Titan was held responsible by the Polk County District Court in Des Moines and was fined Iowa’s maximum civil-contempt penalty—just $500—which Titan is appealing.

"Titan workers are being maimed across the country. Workers say it is usually the result of decrepit machines, minimal training and punishing hours. Since May 1999, the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) has been challenging Titan with a slew of unfair labor practice charges. These include, but are not limited to, illegally moving jobs and equipment to avoid a union contract, refusing to bargain in good faith, discriminating against union members, and trying to permanently replace striking workers. Union officials say that fines are too low and that companies, even in worker death cases, are only getting slapped on the wrist.

"In Titan’s Des Moines plant on March 20, 1997, Don Baysinger, a tire builder with 27 years of experience, was pinned between two tire-tread machines for more than twenty minutes. Baysinger died two days later of asphyxia-related symptoms. Titan paid only a $10,000 OSHA fine for failure to have emergency stops on the equipment and for being inadequately guarded.

"Another death occurred at the Des Moines plant in November 1999. Nearly 2,000 gallons of highly flammable heptane poured unnoticed onto the ground and headed into the street. A passing car ignited the chemicals and set off a massive fire, killing Bulkamatic Transport Company’s driver Donald Oswald.

"Titan often develops close relationships with job-starved cities. In 1997 Brownsville, TX gave Titan $6.5 million in free land, site improvements, and utility and wage subsidies. The state of Texas added $448,000 for job training for 168 workers. Titan received similar subsidies from the state of Virginia to the tune of $500,000.

"In these times, it is hard to get the attention of an OSHA inspector as there are so few of them. Instead of addressing or attempting to alleviate an issue or complaints early on, inspectors seem to respond, ‘only when there is a death or serious injury,’ said union official Tim Johnson. Regardless of who is to blame, OSHA is woefully ill-equipped to monitor the workplaces of America."

The third to tenth top-censored stories on Project Censored’s list are:

US Army’s Psychological Operations Personnel Worked on CNN, Did the US Deliberately Bomb the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade?, US Taxpayers Underwrite Global Nuclear Power Plant Sales, International Report Blames US and Others for Genocide in Rwanda, Independent Study Points to Dangers of Genetically Altered Foods, Drug Companies Influence Doctors and Health Organizations to Push Meds, EPA Plans to Disburse Toxic/Radioactive Wastes into Denver’s Sewage System and Silicon Valley Uses Immigrant Engineers to Keep Salaries Low.