Across the country, federal and state agencies rely on whistleblower complaints to hold companies accountable — but when workers say they’re afraid to report safety violations for fear of retaliation, companies’ wrongdoings never get investigated, reports Stateline.
What’s worse, experts say the agencies — like the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, known as OSHA, and the enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of Labor — are so understaffed that it can take years for safety and whistleblowing complaints to be investigated.
Now, with the stressors of the pandemic, workplace safety concerns are skyrocketing; but the backlog of complaints continues to grow, adds Stateline, a publication of Pew Charitable Trusts.
The investigative reporter, Kristian Hernández, detailed that inside a partially completed Amazon warehouse in Fort Worth, Tx., workers this past summer were walking on conveyor belts four stories high — without safety harnesses. Welders in the facility were also using plasma torches while surrounded by cardboard boxes, and other laborers had their feed in danger of constantly being crushed by raised metal racks alongside moving forklifts.
“Everyone that’s spoken up has been fired for holding up production,” said a contractor who spoke to Hernández on condition of anonymity. “It’s going to sound bad, but whistleblowing is not going to pay my bills.”
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