Freedom Industries was never inspected by OSHA until Friday

[Newsjock]

Source: Charleston Gazette

... The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, for example, sent out a news release to remind employers that they must provide potable water for drinking and hand-washing in the workplace.

OSHA said it started an inspection Friday morning at Freedom Industries to "assess any potential worker safety and health issues related to the incident."

But the release also noted that the operation "does not have OSHA history," meaning -- as confirmed by a review of OSHA data -- that federal workplace safety officials have never inspected the site.

OSHA inspectors started to examine the facility in November 2009 as part of a program of special emphasis looking at accidents that prompted amputations, records show. But they discovered that Freedom Industries was in the wrong industry classification for that program, and they never did the inspection, said OSHA spokeswoman Lenore Uddyback-Fortson.

Read more: http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201401110085?page=2&build=cache

[TheBlackAdder]

1. "Oops! We registered under the wrong classification?" nt

[Laxman]

2. When in Doubt...

Yeah, that's it, its the water company's fault for having their water supply in a place where the coal company could pollute it.

Asked late last week how much planning county officials had done for a possible leak from Freedom Industries into the region's water supply, Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper was blunt.

"Not enough," Carper said. But Carper also pointed the finger at the water company, saying West Virginia American certainly knew Freedom Industries was there and should have prepared for an accident like this one.

Blessed be the job creators for they can do no wrong.

[theHandpuppet]

3. "Freedom" for the Koch Tsars

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/11/1268990/-Freedom-Industries-Has-Ties-to-Koch-Brothers#

Very briefly ...

If news reports have left you with the impression that Freedom Industries - the company that has contaminated the water supply serving 300,000 people (and who knows how much wildlife) in nine West Virginia counties - is a rinky-dink Charleston operation, that might be because the media isn't mentioning its influential ties.

In 2008, Freedom Industries was specially selected by Georgia-Pacific Chemicals as a distributor of G-P's Talon brand mining reagents for West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Minnesota, Kentucky and Michigan.

Georgia-Pacific Chemicals is, of course, a subsidiary of Georgia-Pacific, which was acquired by Koch Industries in 2005.

[Champion Jack]

4. DEP = don't expect protection

[xfundy]

5. But, but... their name is FREEDOM!

Therefore, nothing could possibly go wrong! Anyway, Jesus™ has already forgiven them. Glory!

[Wilms]

6. ^

[Enthusiast]

7. K&R