Ouch

Maybe this is why Ruger keeps having to recall their guns – their employees are working in substandard conditions according to OSHA.  Thanks to Unc for the story.

First person that suggests some sort of government conspiracy to shut down gun makers via OSHA in the comments is going to get their comment edited to say that they like playing in pretty pink dresses.

11 Comments

  1. This really isn’t a big deal. OSHA proposes ridiculously large fines on minor, easily fixed “violations” in their preliminary reports all the time. I learned a lot about this subject while researching a charge made on my blog about a local gun range being “dangerous” based on a preliminary OSHA report (long and boring story that I won’t waste your time recounting here).

    The types of violations reported in the story sound like your run of the mill violations that would be found in any industrial environment: training manuals and documentation misplaced (someone was using them and left them in an office or desk drawer rather than putting them back where they belong), workers removing safety devices from machines…probably because the safety devices got in the way and made the work harder to do. Mediocre housecleaning practices leading to trace amounts of hazardous chemicals like lead dust on horizontal surfaces, etc.

    Many of the violations are often not a result of company policy, but of individual employees or mid-level supervisors not following company policies.

    What will happen is Ruger will institute “abatement”…they’ll clean, replace the safety shields, change the filters on their ventilation units, find the training manuals and documentation and put them where they belong, and institute some sort of new and improved company policy to prevent recurrence of these violations.

    The OSHA people will come back out, re-inspect, dismiss the violations that have been “abated” and the final report will have a few minor violations and a relatively minimal fine imposed.

    That way the OSHA bureaucrats justify their existence (and fat government salaries), the workers get a warm fuzzy feeling about big daddy government looking out for them, and the company gets to get on with it with only a minimal inconvenience that is just a part of doing business in the age of overarching (and unconstitutional) federal regulation of…well…everything.

    All of this is standard procedure and is not indicative of any type of government conspiracy. It does lead one to wonder, however, how the press got ahold of the preliminary report. It’s not technically a secret document, in fact, I believe that the company has to post it so workers can see it and be forewarned about how dangerous it is to work there…but they generally aren’t publicized and, again if I’m not mistaken, the proposed fines are allowed to be redacted on posted preliminary reports.

    The preliminary reports don’t even go onto the OSHA web site as public documents, only the final report after the company has had a chance to respond and “abate” the violations.

    Which leads one to wonder who was trying to make hay out of something that is pretty much a standard occurrence for any company that operates an industrial type work environment.

    Disgruntled employee? Anti-gun media just trying to paint the industry in a bad light? Who knows.

    I guess if that makes me a conspiracy theorist who likes playing in pretty pink dresses, that’s just a burden I’ll have to bear.

  2. This is just an elaborate conspiracy to make people think that us gun nuts like pretty pink dresses.

    The fact that Robb actually does like pretty pink dresses doesn’t help.

  3. No. They actually have to be black, grey, or dark blue. After all, they need to go with our tactical corsets.

  4. The safety practices have slipped since they are so busy making guns and ammo to satisfy the demand is my guess.

  5. I have been in the Newport and the Pine Tree facilities, installing machinery. Sorry, it’s bullshit. newport is as safe as any modern manufacturing facility. “Osha” is the gold standard for unnecesary government interference.

    And if you’d like, I’ll show up anywhere you like, in a pretty pink dress. Most people claw their eyes out with a rake shortly thereafter.

  6. Since I’ve played in pretty pink dresses (to entertain a 4 yr old once, even have photos, but posting them would get me arrested for torturing your eyes).

    So I will say…

    I am calling bullshit. With as many snide things going on by this administration. And the fact that the timing coincides so close to the release of 20 & 30 round Mini14 mags and the SR.

    I am sorry, I think there are probably far far far worse OSHA violators. And I’ll wager that most of this is bullshit motivated by an administration that is nearly as anti-gun as Hitler.

    But no, I do not have proof. Just sheer coincidence. But if another manufacturer or two is investigated by OSHA in the next year or so. Than I will hold YOU to this.

    And expect to see you post photos of yourself in a pretty pink dress.

  7. I’m with SailorCurt, this is pretty normal stuff for a manufacturing facility, even the ones that make pretty pink dresses — safety covers on some kinds of machinery do get in the way (drill presses and mills, bigtime) and workers tend to, um, temporarily set them aside. Ditto on the rest.

    As for why now, it does not have to be a Gummint conspiracy; they may have a schedule and it might be that part of NH’s turn in the barrel. These are not huge, close-ya-down problems. That’s EPA’s job!

    (Uh, Caleb? Sexist!) 😉

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