GAO Slams OSHA on Whistleblower Program
Few people probably know that OSHA is responsible for the nation’s whistleblower program. In the OSH community, it’s been long known the program has been underfunded and staffed. Now the GAO has taken a look at it and found OSHA’s management of the program lacking. “We found that OSHA has done little to ensure that investigators have the necessary training and equipment to do their jobs, and that it lacks sufficient internal controls to ensure that the whistleblower program operates as intended,” the GAO said. The OSH press has again reported that some stakeholders are calling for the program to be removed from OSHA so it can focus on workplace safety. The report, “Whistleblower Protection: Sustained Management Attention Needed to Address Long-standing Program Weaknesses” (GAO-10-722, August 17) can be found at http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-10-722