Occupational Health Inspections and Consultations Generally Appear Adequate

Highlights

GAO reviewed the adequacy of health inspections and consultations made by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and State industrial hygienists in four States. Completed inspection and consultation files were reviewed, and industrial hygienists were interviewed and accompanied on some inspections and consultations.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected	Recommendation	Status
Department of Labor	The Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health to evaluate whether the use of outdated or improperly stored detector tubes for screening samples is appropriate.	Closed Please call 202/512-6100 for additional information.
Department of Labor	The Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health to assure that sampling and analytical errors used by industrial hygienists appropriately reflect the analytical abilities of the laboratories that analyze their samples.	Closed Please call 202/512-6100 for additional information.
Department of Labor	The Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health to require that samples being analyzed in laboratories that continue to be nonproficient in proficiency analytical testing be analyzed elsewhere, such as at the Wisconsin laboratory.	Closed Please call 202/512-6100 for additional information.
Department of Labor	The Secretary of Labor should direct the Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health to act to ensure that laboratories analyzing industrial hygienists' samples provide accurate results.	Closed Please call 202/512-6100 for additional information.

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