Reuters identified 106 U.S. workplaces where employees complained of slipshod pandemic safety practices around the time of outbreaks — and regulators either never inspected the facilities or, in some cases, waited months to do so, according to the OSHA records. The agency never inspected 70 of those workplaces, where at least 4,500 workers were infected by the coronavirus and 26 died after contracting COVID-19, according to the Reuters analysis. The workers’ regulatory complaints came from a cross-section of companies that included some of America’s best-known firms, including Tesla Inc and Tyson Foods Inc. As of mid-December, just 12 of the 106 facilities have been penalized in response to workers’ complaints. The complaints came from a wide range of workplaces, from meatpacking plants and factories to e-commerce warehouses and nursing homes. Their employees alleged failures to enforce social distancing and mask-wearing; managers pressuring sick employees to work; and a lack of notification to employees about co-workers’ infections.
