The chairman of Arizona’s worker-safety agency said he is committed to increasing workplace inspections and levying higher fines after families whose loved ones died in workplace accidents pressed for reforms.
Dale Schultz, chairman of the Industrial Commission of Arizona, spoke to ABC15 following an ABC15 Investigators report on how families are pushing for an overhaul of the state worker-safety program.
Schultz told ABC15 the Industrial Commission, which also oversees the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or ADOSH, plans to increase workplace inspections this year.
He didn’t have an estimate immediately available on how any inspections ADOSH expects to do but said, “I do know every year we set objectives to increase our inspections.”
A federal audit last year found workplace compliance inspections have declined in Arizona over a five-year period from about 1,200 in 2017 to less than 500 in 2021.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which monitors Arizona’s worker-safety program, said in a statement earlier this year that it was “actively working” with ADOSH to increase inspections.
Schultz told ABC15 that a tight labor market and being a state agency has made it difficult to compete with the private sector when hiring inspectors. In the last eight months, however, the agency has made 13 new hires in the compliance division.
“We have been able to recruit and retain more,” he said.
ABC15 went to Thursday’s Industrial Commission meeting and sought comment from Schultz after Industrial Commission officials declined multiple interview requests for a story.
That story detailed a 2020 trench collapse in the West Valley that killed two men. Their families are calling for more workplace inspections, higher fines, and other reforms.
“I feel that everyone needs to be held accountable. And they're not. My brother would be here if people were held accountable,” said Deanna Mori.
Deanna’s brother, Rudy Mori, and a co-worker, Alex Quaresma, died in the deadly trench collapse in a housing development near State Farm Stadium in the summer of 2020.
The company the men worked for, Construction Specification Solutions, was cited for four serious safety violations and fined $8,000. The families have called the sum a “slap on the wrist.” The company was given a 60% reduction on an initial fine of $20,000 because it was a small business.
ABC15 found that fines for safety violations declined over a five-year period from $1.1 million a year to $568,000 a year from fiscal years 2017 to 2021.
Schultz told ABC15 the agency is committed to imposing maximum fines, where appropriate, to companies that violate safety laws and regulations. A law passed by the Arizona Legislature last year gives ADOSH the ability to levy higher fines.
Schultz said it’s also a balancing act between fining a business and getting the business to invest in worker safety. He said if employers can demonstrate they are making good-faith efforts to improve safety, the commission “will consider some, if you will, discounts,” on their fines.
Families of the men who died in the 2020 trench collapse want the governor to replace the commissioners. They said ADOSH fails to protect workers.
“They shouldn’t sleep well at night knowing there’s so many fatalities, and there’s mothers without sons, and there’s wives without husbands,” said Tara Macon.
Her fiancé, Quaresma, died in the 2020 trench cave-in.
Schultz said the commission is committed to protecting workers.
He has served on the commission since 2015 and is one of four commissioners appointed by the previous governor, Doug Ducey. The fifth commission seat has been vacant for more than a year.
“We take this job very seriously,” Schultz said.
ABC15 reached out to the office of Governor Katie Hobbs for comment but has not yet heard back.
Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at anne.ryman@abc15.com, call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on Twitter and Facebook.
