Opinion ID: 557827
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Constitutionality of the Inspection

Text: 13 Because the appellants appeal from a denial of a motion to suppress, we must consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the government. United States v. Oates, 560 F.2d 45, 49 (2d Cir.1977). OSHA authorizes two types of inspections: an inspection pursuant to a general administrative plan, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 657(a), and an inspection pursuant to an employee complaint, 29 U.S.C. Sec. 657(f). Because the accident of October 21, 1986, triggered OSHA's administrative policy of inspecting accident sites, this inspection was conducted, pursuant to a general administrative plan. National Eng'g, 687 F.Supp. at 1222. The inspection case did not require a warrant because OSHA was acting with the Corps' consent. See Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U.S. 307, 316, 98 S.Ct. 1816, 1822, 56 L.Ed.2d 305 (1978); Donovan v. A.A. Beiro Constr. Co., 746 F.2d 894, 898 (D.C.Cir.1984). The Corps, as the contractor of a multi-employer construction site, possessed common authority over ... the premises or effects sought to be inspected and thus could validly consent to OSHA's inspection. Beiro, 746 F.2d at 898 (quoting United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 171, 94 S.Ct. 988, 993, 39 L.Ed.2d 242 (1974)). 14 In ordering the inspection, the district court stated that: OSHA shall be allowed only to complete the standard administrative 'plain sight' search interrupted by the filing of this lawsuit, in that the inspection shall not exceed five days in duration and shall proceed with normal 'plain sight' procedures. National Eng'g & Contracting Co. v. United States Dep't of Labor, 687 F.Supp. at 1222. No other limitations were placed on the inspection. Elsewhere in its opinion the court referred to OSHA's obligation to conduct a comprehensive inspection whenever an accident occurs in a high hazard industry, such as construction, and that because of the pending litigation, OSHA had not completed this mandatory comprehensive inspection until June 1988. Id. at 1221. 15 Although the district court referred to the standard administrative 'plain sight' search and normal 'plain sight' procedures, neither the Act nor its regulations refer to plain view or plain sight inspections or procedures. The plain view doctrine, developed by the Supreme Court in Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971), provides that an official who is otherwise authorized to search an individual's property may further inspect, without a warrant, those matters which he can plainly view. The plain view doctrine may not be used to extend a general exploratory search from one object to another until something incriminating at last emerges. Coolidge, 403 U.S. at 466, 91 S.Ct. at 2038. Recently, the Supreme Court further limited this doctrine by requiring police to have probable cause to believe that the item in question is evidence of a crime. Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 107 S.Ct. 1149, 94 L.Ed.2d 347 (1987). In Hicks, a police officer, while searching an apartment in response to reports of gunfire, suspected that a stereo was stolen and lifted it slightly to observe and record the serial numbers. The court held that such a separate search, involving the moving, touching, or further inspection of equipment, was unjustified unless the officer had probable cause to believe that the stereo was stolen. Based on this case, the appellants argue that the compliance officers overstepped the scope of the ordered inspection. 16 The appellee, the Secretary of Labor, argues that the compliance officers adhered to the law regulating OSHA plain view searches. The district court's order referred interchangeably to OSHA's authority to conduct plain view and comprehensive searches. The court imposed no specific restrictions on the inspection aside from the five-day limitation. The Secretary contends that the court's plain view language 17 was an expression of the practical limits of third party consent. The basis for accepting such consent is the judicial recognition that parties do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in premises that they share with another, particularly as to items or conditions in plain view within those premises. 18 The D.C. Circuit's opinion in Beiro, 746 F.2d 894, supports the Secretary's approach. In Beiro, a case also dealing with the legitimacy and scope of an OSHA general administrative search conducted pursuant to third party consent, the D.C. Circuit stated that [t]here are limits on searches or inspections authorized by third party consent. While authority to consent to the search of a common area extends to most objects in plain view, it does not automatically extend to the interiors of every enclosed space within the area. Beiro, 746 F.2d at 901-02. In the search at issue in Beiro, the compliance officers spoke with employees to confirm that a truck seat belt was inoperable, closely inspected a drill cord to note the inspection dates on the cord's colored tape, and tested an extension cord to confirm ineffective grounding. Id. at 902-03. These actions resemble those complained of in the present case: testing a cord to confirm reverse polarity, measuring a readily observable cut in an extension cord, and interviewing a worker regarding the hazard caused by the abrasion on the extension cord. Like the inspectors in Beiro, these compliance officers tested equipment and interviewed employees to confirm and document plainly observable violations. As the D.C. Circuit commented: 19 All of the equipment, here at issue, was in use in the open construction site. Areas of privacy exempted from third party consent have generally involved enclosed or secured places commonly used for preserving privacy. Beiro can hardly claim such an expectation of privacy in equipment being openly used on a large, multi-employer construction site. Furthermore, OSHA's right to inspect must necessarily include some right of closer examination once an observation is made which justifies a reasonable suspicion that a violation exists.... The effectiveness of OSHA inspections would be largely eviscerated if compliance officers are not given some nominal right to follow up on observations of potential violations. 20 Id. at 903. Although no case in the Sixth Circuit has followed the approach taken by the D.C. Circuit in Beiro, we believe its logic applies to the present case. 21 The appellants, however, argue that Arizona v. Hicks, a subsequent Supreme Court case, not Beiro, should control. Hicks, though, involved a criminal case, governed by different standards than administrative inspections. As the Supreme Court explained in discussing the issuance of OSHA warrants: 22 Probable cause in the criminal law sense is not required. For purposes of an administrative search such as this, probable cause justifying the issuance of a warrant may be based not only on specific evidence of an existing violation but also on a showing that reasonable legislative or administrative standards for conducting ... an inspection are satisfied with respect to a particular [establishment]. 23 Marshall, 436 U.S. at 320, 98 S.Ct. at 1824 (quoting Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 538, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 1736, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967)). Moreover, moving the stereo in Hicks constituted a 'search' separate and apart from the search for the shooter, victims, and weapons that was the lawful objective of the officers' entry into the apartment and thus produced a new invasion of ... privacy unjustified by the exigent circumstance that validated the entry. Hicks, 480 U.S. at 324-25, 107 S.Ct. at 1152-53. In the present case, closer examination of the equipment and speaking with employees was directly [ ]related to the objectives of the authorized intrusion, Id. at 325, 107 S.Ct. at 1152, and within the wall-to-wall scope of administrative plan inspections. See Marshall v. North American Car Co., 626 F.2d 320, 323 (3rd Cir.1980). Thus, although we believe it is a close case, we conclude, as did the lower court, that the officers did not impermissibly extend the scope of the inspection. 24