OSHA's Inspection Database

Gao ID: HEHS-97-43R December 30, 1996

GAO reviewed the accuracy of data contained in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Integrated Management Information Systems (IMIS) database. GAO noted that: (1) a few federal contractors identified as OSHA violators have expressed concerns about penalty and violation information GAO obtained from IMIS; (2) OSHA does not always appropriately characterize or fully capture information on corporatewide or individual facility settlement agreements, nor does OSHA always change inspection data in a timely manner to reflect the terms of a settlement agreement; and (3) as a result, information regarding the number or type of violations and penalty amounts associated with a particular inspection can be distorted or inaccurate and the depiction within IMIS of the relationship of a fatality or injury to the violations detected can be misleading.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Carlotta C. Joyner Team: Government Accountability Office: Education, Workforce, and Income Security Phone: (202) 512-7002


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