Las Vegas Injury Blog | Nevada Injury Attorneys

OSHA, which stands for Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is a federal agency charged with promoting workplace safety.  This set of duties includes investigating incidents in which workers are injured or killed and handing out fines and other remedies when employers are found guilty of not properly protecting those who work for them.  Unfortunately, several injured workers apparently have not had their rights properly protected by OSHA in Nevada, prompting several high-profile complaints and purported adjustments to their approach in the state, including the opening of a permanent office here.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

“The review of Nevada OHSA — the first of a state-run plan — revealed an “agency in shambles,” said committee chairman George Miller (D-Calif.). Through aggressive questioning, Rep. David Roe (R-Tenn.) extracted an admission from Nevada official Donald Jayne that despite Nevada’s budget squeeze, the run of construction fatalities in 2007 and 2008 should be attributed to a failure of leadership rather than financial resources.Miller delivered a tongue-lashing to Jayne, who became head of the state’s Division of Industrial Relations in March 2009. Nevada OSHA is part of Jayne’s division.

In the span under review, 25 workplace deaths occurred in Nevada. Of 14 construction deaths, five occurred on the Las Vegas Strip. Miller said the pattern conveyed to contractors, project developers, lenders and owners an anti-safety message, that “the only thing that matters is, I get my completion bonus — and this (worker deaths) is just collateral damage.”

While this report is troubling for many reasons, the apparent lack of action by OSHA does not in itself prevent injured workers from bringing claims of their own.  If you or someone you love has been harmed by an employer’s negligence, you need to contact the Las Vegas personal injury lawyers at Jack Bernstein & Associates today to schedule a free initial consultation.  The firm has a long history of successfully fighting for the rights of the injured.