County rapped for delay on worker safety proposal

Officials say they’re trying to work out the details

In July the County Council’s Health and Human Services Committee asked county agencies to bring them recommendations for training county inspectors to recognize and report violations.

‘‘It’s a bit baffling why it’s taking this long,” said Jim Grossfeld, a member of the 19-member commission and principal author of the report.

‘‘We’re trying to figure out how we can interact with MOSH and other actors, including labor. We’re just trying to figure out the best way to do this,” Leggett spokesman Patrick K. Lacefield said.

After passing it through other departments, the administration directed the county’s risk managers to figure it out.

Risk management director Terry Fleming said Thursday he had not yet met with MOSH officials. Contacted Tuesday, Fleming declined to comment further, saying he is not allowed to speak with the press without permission.

MOSH administrator Roger Campbell said Tuesday that the agency welcomes tips and help but that he knows of no direct meetings between his agency and Montgomery officials.

Lacefield said some county officials have asked whether the county might become liable if it takes on responsibility that is the state’s. County officials also say it doesn’t help that the economy has slumped and government budgets are tight.

‘‘We’re trying to figure out how to cut $26 million. I’m not sure this is the best time to take on a task that is not required,” said Health and Human Services Committee chairman George L. Leventhal (D-At large) of Takoma Park, who has, nonetheless, supported the idea of enlisting county inspectors in state enforcement efforts.

Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At large) of North Bethesda, who supports the county helping state regulators with workplace safety and is chairman of the committee that oversees risk management, said the county’s risk managers should provide the council something in writing about their concerns so they can be considered.

‘‘With all the things that have been on the county’s plate in this first year, we have not done as much to move this forward as we could have,” Lacefield said. ‘‘We recognize there is a need.”

Money should not be a stumbling block, Grossfeld said, adding that the Silver Spring-based Center to Protect Workers’ Rights, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department, has offered to help by providing training.

MOSH, a division of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation also holds regular open training sessions.

‘‘Every day this program is delayed is another day a worker needlessly runs the risk of injury or death on the job,” Grossfeld said.

The report also called on county agencies to withhold permits and deny county contracts to business who violate workplace safety laws.

It cited a study of day laborers in the Washington metropolitan region which found that 81 percent of laborers surveyed said they received no safety training and half said they received no safety equipment for hazardous work such as digging ditches or working with chemicals or on roofs or scaffolds.

Many immigrants who get hurt on the job do not try to collect Worker’s Compensation pay because they lack documents required to work in the United States legally.

The commission further recommended that the county use its network of health services for the uninsured to help injured workers get Worker’s Compensation benefits often denied by employers who try to classify them as independent contractors and called for establishing an Office of Worker Health and Safety Advocacy to assist county agencies and coordinate efforts.

And the commission said safety compliance should also be a prerequisite for businesses to receive tax credits.

They said the proposed county ‘‘Worker Health and Safety Initiative” could be a model for other jurisdictions to assist the work of MOSH, which unions and the immigrant advocacy organization CASA of Maryland say is understaffed and underfunded.

DLLR Secretary Thomas Perez, a former Montgomery County councilman, has said that he would welcome having county inspectors act as ‘‘eyes and ears.”