OSHA complaints against Deere show amputations, small fines

A review of safety complaints filed by employees from four Deere plants in the Quad Cities reveal several serious injuries to manufacturing workers that have cost the company relatively little in OSHA fines.

A new safety complaint was filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Oct. 19 — six days into the strike that has idled 10,000 Deere workers in five states — about operations at the Deere Seeding Group in Moline, Ill.

Paul Iversen, labor expert at the University of Iowa’s Labor Center, said major accidents, like amputations, are going to happen in manufacturing jobs.

“But you always want to be at zero,” Iversen said. “So it does indicate that there's something that needs to be improved.”

The amount of an OSHA fine depends on the degree of liability and the severity of an accident, said OSHA spokesman Scott Allen, public information officer for OSHA Region 7, which includes Illinois.

The Davenport Works had three reported work amputations between 2013 and 2018, according to OSHA records. One worker lost his left thumb when he caught it in a lifting device.

In two of those instances, Deere was found to be in violation of OSHA safety guidelines and fined $4,500, later negotiated down to $2,250 each.

“OSHA-recommended fines are pretty low for the dangers that they represent,” Iversen said. “That's just something that's endemic with the way the system is set up.”

The third amputation happened in May 2018 when a welder was using a hoist to load a 4,500-pound frame and crushed his left thumb.

Since his injury was the third amputation in five years, Deere was cited with a repeat violation and fined $45,540, later negotiated down to $23,270.

The John Deere Parts Distribution Center in Milan faced four serious citations involving an accident with a forklift in November 2013. It was fined $14,650, negotiated down to $8,790.

Iversen, from the UI Labor Center, believes OSHA in underfunded and the safety penalties too low, meaning unsafe workplaces are underreported and under-investigated, according to Iversen.

“There has been an underfunding of OSHA on the state and federal level,” Iversen said. “There just aren't enough people to do investigations of all the complaints.”

OSHA has approximately 1,850 inspectors, including state partners, responsible for the health and safety of 130 million workers. In 2020, its inspectors conducted 21,674 inspections, more than half of them unannounced, the agency says.

Allen said, depending on the circumstances surrounding a safety complaint, inspectors can inquire about a complaint over the phone or by visiting a worksite.

“The chances of OSHA just showing up at any worksites are pretty slim,” Iversen said. “So they have to do most of their inspections in response to complaint.”

Intimidation from managers, he said, can prevent employees from reporting safety violations out of fear of retribution, according to Iversen. Also, if positive safety incentives are used, workers are less likely minor injuries.

“Any worker can file a complaint … and report unsafe workplace practices,” said Allen, of OSHA. “So please be encouraged to report if any employees say they don't feel they're working in a safe environment.”