For all of you wondering if the Internet has any value, check out a recent addition to OSHA's homepage on the World Wide Web (http://www.osha.gov/). What you'll find is the agency's equivalent of the Toxic Release Inventory compiled by EPA. Click on the What's New listing on OSHA's homepage and you'll quickly see that the agency has added (as of June 6th) two new ways to search its vast reservoir of data. One is called "Establishment Search"; the other "SIC Search". "Establishment Search" is a query tool that locates any and all OSHA inspections conducted (since 1972) at a particular workplace-plant site, office, whatever. "SIC Search" allows you to conduct the same kind of search for a particular industry.
"You can't hide anything anymore," says Dan Markiewicz, an industrial hygienist with Aeroquip-Vickers and regular ISHN columnist, who tipped us off to this treasure trove of information. Dan relates this story: He was on the phone to another safety and health professional explaining this OSHA search capability. While they were talking the professional jumped on the Web, went to OSHA's homepage, found "Establishment Search," and typed in her own company's name. There was silence for a few seconds, then she said, "Oh my God..." We decided to try it out using the parent company of Industrial Safety & Hygiene News, which happens to be a modest enterprise called The Walt Disney Company.