Interview with Matthew Deptola
What is your name and your occupation?
My name is Matthew Deptola and my occupation is an industrial hygienist and facilities safety officer at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
How is your job involved with worker safety?
I advise the facilities personnel regarding OSHA standards and best practices as they relate to safety and occupational health. I write standard operating procedures for the facilities personnel, I sample suspect areas to ensure that working conditions are safe, I provide routine workplace inspections to help identify hazards and have them mitigated. Additionally, I provide training to personnel on a number of health and safety topics to help facilities personnel understand the current operating procedures and safety topics that relate to the type of work that they perform.
How do you apply the laws enforced by OSHA in your job? What other agencies enforce laws to protect workers?
I apply the laws enforced by OSHA by implementing the following: interpretation of the OSHA standards to facilities personnel, training on OSHA safety topics that are applicable to our facilities personnel, assisting and/or writing standard operation procedures which take into account and follow the current OSHA standards, and providing workplace inspections / hazard assessments to identify any hazards, make sure these hazards are abated, controlled or where they cannot be controlled a plan is in place to limit exposure.
Other agencies that enforce laws to protect workers are the Department of Transportation (DOT), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Please note that there are many consensus standards and agencies which provide guidance/ best practices that we tend to use as well. (examples include: American Conference of Governmental Hygienists (ACGIH), National Institutes of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH)
What are the employer’s responsibilities for their employees?
The employers responsibilities to their employees is to provide a safe work place of employment.
How much of the responsibility rests on the employer to maintain workplace safety? On the employee?
As outlined in the above question and within the OSHA standards, the employer has to be invested 100% into establishing and maintaining workplace safety. Additionally, we always tell the new employees that they are ultimately responsible for their safety by following proper procedures and by conducting work in a safe manner. In short, it is both the responsibility of the employer and the employee to maintain workplace safety. If both parties are invested in worker safety, the probability of success goes up dramatically.
How have OSHA and worker safety laws benefited employees?
They have benefited employees by creating the groundwork for a safe place of employment, establishing training on safety topics and areas of concerns found in general industry, maritime and construction, they have assist in helping to provide caps to the number of hours that an employee can work in a 24 hour period, they have assisted with acute and chronic hazards through permissible exposure limits.
Have you been in a circumstance where an employer does not follow OSHA laws? What are the penalties?
In a previous place of employment, I was in a situation where my boss “stretched” the interpretation and laws. Although nothing had occurred, meaning that the result did not adversely affect any employees and we did not receive any citation/fines issued by OSHA. If OSHA is not followed and you are audited, you can be subject to fines and penalties. These penalties include up to $70,000 per violation for a repeat or willful violation and not less than $5,000.0 for each willful violation, if an employee dies and you are found guilty of willfully violating a standard, then you can be sentenced to up to 6 months in prison. OSHA has many stipulations according to the type of violation (willful, repeat, serious, posting violation, falsification of information).
How have workers’ unions affected workers’ rights?
In my opinion, workers unions have affected workers rights positively over the past 140 years. The two most notable battles occurred between unions and private companies during the Homestead Steel Strike and the Battle of Blair Mountain. Although these two significant battles were more weighted towards fair pay and the fight over trying to non-unionize employees, these were two significant events which helped to create a movement towards creating a strong unionized labor to represent the employees voices.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
In order to understand how far we have come with regards to worker safety, you have to look back to the labor union battles for workers’ rights, the accidents that helped to frame this law (triangle shirtwaist factory), and the common goal that every worker should be able to go home safe to their families at the end of the day. I originally got into safety and occupational health because my grandfather was a coal miner in western Pennsylvania and was diagnosed with black lung as a result of working in the mines. Worker safety tends to be more significant when it happens to someone that is close to you, and I am inspired that worker safety continues to evolve and become a more integral part of industry.
My name is Matthew Deptola and my occupation is an industrial hygienist and facilities safety officer at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
How is your job involved with worker safety?
I advise the facilities personnel regarding OSHA standards and best practices as they relate to safety and occupational health. I write standard operating procedures for the facilities personnel, I sample suspect areas to ensure that working conditions are safe, I provide routine workplace inspections to help identify hazards and have them mitigated. Additionally, I provide training to personnel on a number of health and safety topics to help facilities personnel understand the current operating procedures and safety topics that relate to the type of work that they perform.
How do you apply the laws enforced by OSHA in your job? What other agencies enforce laws to protect workers?
I apply the laws enforced by OSHA by implementing the following: interpretation of the OSHA standards to facilities personnel, training on OSHA safety topics that are applicable to our facilities personnel, assisting and/or writing standard operation procedures which take into account and follow the current OSHA standards, and providing workplace inspections / hazard assessments to identify any hazards, make sure these hazards are abated, controlled or where they cannot be controlled a plan is in place to limit exposure.
Other agencies that enforce laws to protect workers are the Department of Transportation (DOT), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Please note that there are many consensus standards and agencies which provide guidance/ best practices that we tend to use as well. (examples include: American Conference of Governmental Hygienists (ACGIH), National Institutes of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH)
What are the employer’s responsibilities for their employees?
The employers responsibilities to their employees is to provide a safe work place of employment.
How much of the responsibility rests on the employer to maintain workplace safety? On the employee?
As outlined in the above question and within the OSHA standards, the employer has to be invested 100% into establishing and maintaining workplace safety. Additionally, we always tell the new employees that they are ultimately responsible for their safety by following proper procedures and by conducting work in a safe manner. In short, it is both the responsibility of the employer and the employee to maintain workplace safety. If both parties are invested in worker safety, the probability of success goes up dramatically.
How have OSHA and worker safety laws benefited employees?
They have benefited employees by creating the groundwork for a safe place of employment, establishing training on safety topics and areas of concerns found in general industry, maritime and construction, they have assist in helping to provide caps to the number of hours that an employee can work in a 24 hour period, they have assisted with acute and chronic hazards through permissible exposure limits.
Have you been in a circumstance where an employer does not follow OSHA laws? What are the penalties?
In a previous place of employment, I was in a situation where my boss “stretched” the interpretation and laws. Although nothing had occurred, meaning that the result did not adversely affect any employees and we did not receive any citation/fines issued by OSHA. If OSHA is not followed and you are audited, you can be subject to fines and penalties. These penalties include up to $70,000 per violation for a repeat or willful violation and not less than $5,000.0 for each willful violation, if an employee dies and you are found guilty of willfully violating a standard, then you can be sentenced to up to 6 months in prison. OSHA has many stipulations according to the type of violation (willful, repeat, serious, posting violation, falsification of information).
How have workers’ unions affected workers’ rights?
In my opinion, workers unions have affected workers rights positively over the past 140 years. The two most notable battles occurred between unions and private companies during the Homestead Steel Strike and the Battle of Blair Mountain. Although these two significant battles were more weighted towards fair pay and the fight over trying to non-unionize employees, these were two significant events which helped to create a movement towards creating a strong unionized labor to represent the employees voices.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
In order to understand how far we have come with regards to worker safety, you have to look back to the labor union battles for workers’ rights, the accidents that helped to frame this law (triangle shirtwaist factory), and the common goal that every worker should be able to go home safe to their families at the end of the day. I originally got into safety and occupational health because my grandfather was a coal miner in western Pennsylvania and was diagnosed with black lung as a result of working in the mines. Worker safety tends to be more significant when it happens to someone that is close to you, and I am inspired that worker safety continues to evolve and become a more integral part of industry.