From KCIR: Ky. Worker Safety Commissioner Acknowledges Failures, Promises Culture Change
Berry Craig
By ELEANOR KLIBANOFF
Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting
In his first interview since a scathing federal audit and a KyCIR investigative series, the commissioner of the state Department of Workplace Standards acknowledged that agency culture, a lack of accountability and staffing shortages had often led to poor investigations.
But Commissioner Dwayne Depp, who oversees the Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health agency, said that after years of “challenges and deficiencies,” Kentucky’s worker safety agency is on the right track.
A federal audit last year found that the agency had failed to properly investigate nearly every death on the job in a two-year period. In its response to the audit, the state initially stood by the quality of its investigations.