I work at a u.s. Government owned facility that is ran by a private contractor. Safety concerns are everywhere. I will briefly describe the ...

Question

I work at a u.s. Government owned facility that is ran by a private contractor. Safety concerns are everywhere. I will briefly describe the big ones.

==I was assigned to an area working directly with lead. I was not given a baseline lead test and am not being monitored for lead levels. Lead dust is all over the floor. Our restrooms are occasionally out of hand cleaner, once for over a week.

==condition of the factory is horrible. There are potholes in the floors that I trip over daily. Guarding is broken on machines. Wheels are falling off of transport containers used on the production floor. We have to push these with missing wheels.

==preventitative maintenance is either nonexistent or forged/ pencil whipped. I used a drum caddy the other day whose inspection due tag was three years overdue.

I could go on and on with examples, but my question is this: being a government facility, are they exempt from OSHA standards? Is there a legal liability case against the contractor?

Answer

Based upon the conditions you described, there may well be violations. You should report the lead exposure practices to the governmental agency that contracts with your employer (for example; dept.of interior, dept of defense, etc.) They may be able to investigate the possible contract breaches. In the mean time stop exposing yourself to the lead. Us any job worth risking your healrh? Since your employer is not actually a governmental entity, they are probably subject to OSHA regulations.

If you get sick or injured, you may petsonally have a claim. But, you did not describe being injured or harmed by the conditions you see. Being dusfysted or appalled is nit usually recoverable, unless you have psychiatric treatment records to substantiate your being injured by the poor working conditions.

Good luck