After Deluge of COVID-19-Related Workplace Safety Complaints, Oregon OSHA Will Begin Spot Checks

Workers have filed nearly 3,000 complaints in the past 40 days. In normal times, it would take a year and a half to get that many.

Vera Katz statue on Eastbank Esplanade, with a mask. (Photo by @RoonPDX)
By Nigel Jaquiss

Oregon Occupational Safety & Health, the state agency that polices workplace safety, announced today it will be conducting "spot checks" in response to the large number of COVID-19-related complaints it has received since the beginning of March.

Normally, the agency records about 2,000 complaints a year. But from March 2 through April 12, it got 2,877.

Oregon OSHA typically conducts in-depth inspections of workplaces but will add impromptu spot checks in response to the concerns workers have expressed.

"This approach will allow us to verify the responses to complaints that we've received so far from employers, while focusing our enforcement resources on those employers most likely to be in continued noncompliance," said Michael Wood, administrator for Oregon OSHA.

Related: "No Access to N95 Masks for Years": Oregon OSHA Complaints Reveal COVID-19 Concerns Among Kaiser Employees

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