Summary: In September 1991, 25 workers died and more than 50 others were injured in a fire at a North Carolina chicken processing plant, in large part because the fire doors had been locked. The plant had never been inspected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or by the state. OSHA's oversight of state-run safety and health programs continues to be plagued by substantial weaknesses. OSHA still has little information about the outcomes and effectiveness of either its own program or state programs. Other shortcomings include inadequate measures of program activities and no specific program activity goals, no requirement for states to do internal audits or self-assessments that would allow OSHA to consider these results in its evaluations, and a lack of follow-up procedures for ensuring that states correct problems in programs that OSHA has flagged. Some states have adopted unique program features that OSHA does not have. These include requiring comprehensive worksite safety and health programs and using worksite-specific injury and illness data. Two other state program features warrant further OSHA analysis to determine whether they should be added to OSHA law: (1) coverage of state and local government workers and (2) shutdown authority in imminent danger situations.
