What Happened to OSHA Underground?
A good blog frequented by OSHA insiders is down, and OSHA Aboveground speculates that a subpoena involving a Walmart case before OSHRC is involved.
The OSHA Underground blog was not available Thursday and has been down for several days, according to a post by Abel, who runs the similar OSHA Aboveground blog. Both feature comments from OSHA employees, including compliance officers who conduct inspections, and Abel speculates that Underground was taken down because Google, owner of the host site, received a subpoena from a Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP lawyer representing Walmart in a case before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
(One commenter on Aboveground pointed out the archived content of Underground remains available: search "OSHA underground" on Google, then click on the Cached link to see it.}
Michael Billok, listed as an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher who is a member of the firm's Litigation Department and its Labor and Employment Practice Group, confirmed in a brief telephone conversation that he represents Walmart Stores Inc., but he refused further comment when asked whether the case at issue is the OSHA citation and $7,000 penalty stemming from the Nov. 28, 2008, trampling death of an employee at its Valley Stream, N.Y., store by shoppers as the doors opened for early-morning "Black Friday" holiday sales.