Opinion ID: 557800
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Appropriate Scope of the Inspection

Text: 76 The magistrate's broad warrant for as many as four OSHA inspectors to inspect and investigate in a reasonable manner and to a reasonable extent ... the workplace or environment where work is performed by employees of the employer, and all pertinent conditions including structures, machines, apparatus, devices, equipment, materials, and all other things therein (including records required by the Act and regulations and standards, but excluding all employee medical records) clearly authorized a wall-to-wall inspection of International Matex's facility. For warrant applications based on employee complaints, a wall-to-wall search in some cases may not be justified for the scope of the inspection must bear an appropriate relationship to the violations alleged in the complaint. Marshall v. North American Car Co., 626 F.2d 320, 324 (3d Cir.1980). But see Burkart Randall, 625 F.2d at 1325 (inspection need not be limited in scope to the substance of the complaint); 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1903.11(b) (inspections pursuant to employee complaints shall not be limited to matters referred to in the complaint.). Based on the language of section 8(f)(1), the North American Car court rejected the Secretary's argument that 29 C.F.R. Sec. 1903.11, which provides that an inspection based on an employee complaint is not limited to the matters raised in the complaint, permitted a wall-to-wall search of any facility from which she received an employee complaint. North American Car, 626 F.2d at 324. The court determined that Congress expressed a requirement in the language of section 8(f)(1) that the scope of the inspection be related to the complaint. Id. 77 Where a programmed inspection authorizes the search, however, this court has held that these restrictions are not applicable and OSHA may conduct a wall-to-wall inspection of the facility. In Pennsylvania Steel Foundry & Machine Co. v. Secretary of Labor, 831 F.2d 1211, 1216 (3d Cir.1987), we upheld the validity of a plant-wide search, even though earlier infractions were limited to dust and noise violations, because the search warrant was validly based at least in part on a national enforcement plan for foundries and was, therefore, permitted under Barlow's and section 8(a). Id. We found that cases limiting the scope of warrants based on employee complaints under section 8(f) were inapposite as section 8(a) applied. Id. Notably, a wall-to-wall inspection implements the broad remedial purpose of the OSH Act to ensure that employees are provided a safe workplace. See Burkart Randall, 625 F.2d at 1324-25. 78 Because the search warrant here was not predicated solely on employee complaints nor on a programmed inspection, neither North American Car or Pennsylvania Steel is controlling and it is unclear whether the appropriate relationship test of North American Car for inspections predicated on employee complaints under section 8(f)(1) applies to section 8(a) searches as well. We find it unnecessary, however, to determine whether this restriction extends to warrants based on specific evidence of discrete and isolated violations under section 8(a) because, here, specific evidence provides that violations permeated the entire facility; thus, a wall-to-wall inspection was reasonable. Kulick in his affidavit indicated that there appear to be electrical hazards present to a large extent everywhere, which could result in electrocution hazards, or fire/explosion hazards, and Horvath in his letter said there was poor house cleaning throughout the plant. While the mayor's and union president's complaints alone might have led to a restricted inspection, these complaints were not made in isolation and, when considered with the personal observations of the compliance officers, no such restriction was necessary. 79 Although we note that our previous decision in Dole v. Trinity Industries tacitly approves of the practice, we likewise find it unnecessary to determine whether a high LWDI rate alone can support a broader inspection than indicated by an employee complaint because the magistrate was presented with other evidence here. See 904 F.2d at 873 (OSHA's policy to review records to determine LWDI is entirely appropriate and such records may trigger comprehensive plant inspection upon issuance of warrant). The cumulative evidence of International Matex's high LWDI rate, the employee complaints, and the personal observations of the compliance officer during the consensual inspection provided a plausible basis for believing that [violations were] likely to be found throughout International Matex's facility. Thus, the magistrate did not err in issuing a warrant for a plant-wide inspection under these circumstances.