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OSHA cites county over West Main remodeling job State inspectors say violations occurred when inmates and supervisors were on scaffolding at former Safeway store site By DANI DODGE Mail Tribune Jackson County inmates and their supervisors were climbing on unsafe scaffolding while remodeling the old Safeway building on West Main Street, state inspectors say. The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division, referred to as OSHA, cited the county for two safety violations in relation to the scaffolding. The inspector deemed the problem "serious." The proposed fine is $1,155. County officials have not yet decided whether to appeal. "The violations were very minor," said Deputy County Administrator Dave Kanner. "One was corrected while inspectors were there, the other on the same day. "Obviously we don't want to have an unsafe work site." Jackson County bought the former Safeway building at 1100 W. Main St. in August 2001 for $1 million. It is being remodeled to house parole and probation offices, the elections department and emergency management department. The county is paying Adroit Construction Co. $1.8 million to do the majority of the remodel. The county also is paying the Community Justice Work Center $257,117 for inmates to do demolition, drywall construction, painting and other jobs. Inmates are paid $1 a day. Before remodeling began, neighbors protested the county's decision to turn the former grocery store into a parole and probation office. In December, union workers and others protested the county using inmate labor when non-incarcerated construction workers are unemployed. Some of those union workers protesting the county's use of inmate labor noted the safety violations at the site, said Chuck Smith, field representative with Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters. Smith stressed the problems were with the inmates, and not Adroit. "The scaffolding has to have rails to keep someone from falling off and they were absent in places and inadequate in others," Smith said, adding there were additional problems. Smith said he complained to county officials and the state, but the state initially did not cite the county because inmates are not covered by OSHA rules. After he sent video footage to the state showing that county supervisors were also using the scaffolding, citations were issued Feb. 5. Bob Grindstaff, director of Jackson County Community Justice, said there have been no injuries at the work site. Union officials consider inmate labor a serious problem. "When he says his prisoners are safe, they aren't OSHA-safe, because it doesn't apply to them and he's thumbing his nose at everybody," said Dan Roberts, business manager of the local laborers union. "It's insane." Doug McKee Jr., Adroit's job superintendent for the project, said the inmates have done a good job. "The violation was a minor violation and they fixed it right away and it wasn't a life or death matter," McKee said. Kanner added that the inmates are covered under the county's general liability insurance. "Let's call this what it is," Kanner said, "the union trying to harass the county so they won't do this (use inmates) in the future." Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.