TELL ME SOMETHING ISN'T WRONG HERE

STATEMENT OF RICHARD FAIRFAX
DIRECTOR OF ENFORCEMENT PROGRAMS
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

May 16, 2007

Chairman Stupak, Ranking Member Whitfield, and Members of the Subcommittee:
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today and discuss the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) role in safeguarding workers in the nation’s refining industry.

My name is Richard Fairfax. I have worked for OSHA for 29 years. Since 1998, I have been the Director of OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs, for which I coordinate the agency’s federal inspection efforts. Federal OSHA conducts inspections from each of its 86 local offices around the nation. These efforts are overseen and supported by the agency’s 10 regional offices. Twenty-one states and Puerto Rico have chosen to exercise the option given them by the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 to become “state-plan states” and operate OSHA-approved occupational safety and health programs covering employers and workers in their states. These state programs conduct inspections in their own jurisdictions. Alaska, where BP’s Prudhoe Bay facility is located, is a state-plan state which is not under federal OSHA’s jurisdiction.

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Letter sent to Mr. Fairfax

November 7, 2005
Richard E. Fairfax, Director
Directorate of Enforcement Programs (DEP)
U.S. Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20210

Dear Sir,

For the past two years at every step in this long railroad, from my initial complaint filed at the EEOC, and subsequent to that, the HCRC; the United States Commission on Civil Rights; the Department of Justice; and finally through no effort of my own, having it wind up at the Regional OSHA offices in San Francisco, I have steadily maintained that I submitted a written complaint at the state HIOSH offices, here in Honolulu.

I was told that much of what I sent to the DOJ had been sent to the San Francisco OSHA offices .. Evidently this written HIOSH complaint was not among the papers.

Imagine my surprise when I got this letter from Mr. Traenkner, informing me that I should not have made this a verbal complaint. I retrieved the copy of the written complaint, made for me while at the HIOSH offices, just to convince myself that those in power are the ones mistaken, and now I believe with my whole being, they are in actuality, deceitful and dishonest, practiced at covering up embarrassing incidents, and downright criminal.

I am making a request to you for a review by your national offices, where hopefully someone unbiased, with integrity, will do the right thing. There was a Ms. Hirai in San Francisco that said she could see the discrimination in this matter. Too bad it was not she that conducted the investigation.

I only hope it is coincidence that there is a Hirai here in Honolulu that is a lawyer and involved in the real estate business, and a lawyer formerly in the firm representing my former employer.

Throughout this situation there have been relationships, I have noticed in my opposition, which include professional, academic and familial. It has long been my suspicion that those ensconced in the cronyism here in Hawaii have at each step facilitated the lack of effort in this matter. I am now sure of what I have long suspected. This cover-up goes much further than what happens here in Hawaii.


Sincerely,
Vernon Balmer Jr.
yinsay@aol.com
Honolulu, Hawaii

CHANG ! ! !

Target plans to elect directors yearly - Pacific Business News ...

BJ's breaks ground on new Quincy site [Boston]; Target plans to elect directors yearly [Minneapolis / St. Paul]; Safeway presents final offer to workers ...
www.bizjournals.com/pacific/othercities/twincities/.../daily23.html?... - Similar

THE BIG ONE, COMES TO LIGHT

VERNON SAYS: But HIOSH told me there's no OSHA standards for mold.

COULD IT BE HILTON HAS BEAU COUP MONEY, AND IT'S NOT JUST A LOCAL CORPORATION?


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Complaints of mold plague Hilton's spa
2 state agencies are investigating workers' concerns

By Allison Schaefers

Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort & Spa, which temporarily closed its Kalia Tower in 2002 following a mold infestation, is under investigation by two state agencies for possible mold in its Mandara Spa.

Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health (HIOSH) began investigating after multiple Mandara Spa employees complained that mold was making them sick, said Ryan Markham, a spokesman for the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. The state Department of Health's Indoor and Radiological Health branch also inspected the facility yesterday, said branch chief Russell Takata.

TARGET STILL HIRING

TARGET OPENS WITH A WIMPER

Aloha, Target (TGT). In an exceedingly rare bit of good news, the discount retailer announced earlier this week that it is celebrating the opening of 27 new stores on Sunday, including its first locations in Hawaii, as well as stores all over the continental US, including Rogers, Arkansas; Santa Clarita, California; Pensacola, Florida; Bethlehem, Georgia; Las Vegas, Nevada; Paramus, New Jersey; Cincinnati, Lebanon and Reynoldsburg, Ohio; Philadelphia and Exton, Pennsylvania; Houston, San Antonio and San Marcos, Texas; and Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. It's part of a bigger push by the chain to expand by 60 stores this year.

THE POWER OF EMAIL

WHEN YOU CAN'T RELY ON THE USPS

Target Location:
From: yinsay@aol.com

yinsay@aol.com To: Laysha.Ward.Community.Relations@target.com; volunteer@ccspm.org; JeanneS@casefoundation.org; MichaelS@CaseFoundation.org; KariD@CaseFoundation.org; KristinI@casefoundation.org; LouiseS@CaseFoundation.org

Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:50 am

I am a former Title Guaranty employee. I worked where records were stored, in the basement of what was the Costco location that is now occupied by Target.


We were housed in the basement with an air-conditioner as the only ventilation. I noticed mold growing in a hole, in the wall beneath the air-conditioner, adjacent to the room where I sometimes, but mostly my co-workers would eat lunch. I asked them about it and was told that management was made aware of it and did nothing. I decided to inform management myself, considering the untruths I had previously heard from some. I was thanked by the assistant to the woman in accounting who handled the repairs for the building.

I did not think it was a major undertaking by a very successful company to fix this problem, and was surprised at the length of time it was taking to address the situation, so I informed OSHA, Aug. 2003. This is when things started to go further south. Strangely, the day after going to the OSHA offices, the next day at work, my supervisor stated to a co-worker, " Vernon went to OSHA." This information was not given to her or any co-worker, by me.

When I went to Hawaii OSHA, the employee did not give me any type of reference number, or write one in the space provided on the complaint form, nor did she inform me at that time that mold is not OSHA'S jurisdiction, which is what I was told when I went to check on the status of the complaint.

Neither, did the employee inform me of laws governing discrimination. I was also told - it not being OSHA'S jurisdiction - the complaint was referred to the Department of Health. It was like pulling teeth to get an answer as to what office at the DOH it was referred to. Needless to say I could not inquire about the possible disposition of the complaint, not knowing where to inquire.

There was a flood upstairs after Costco vacated the ground level space. When I went around the rear of the building to go to the Tesoro station, I saw torrents gushing from the trucking bays. This water was obviously under pressure. It could not be due to an eccess of rain, which was the explanation I heard from the supervisor.
I saw no fire department personnel before I left and was told none were notified. We continued working after a cursory "mop up".


Vernon Balmer Jr.
General Delivery
Honolulu, Hawaii 96820

GUESS IT'S MOLD FREE....NOW

Target Corp. to hire 1,600 in Hawaii