Though state and federal safety inspectors spent more time probing private sector businesses within the last several decades, they found a higher percentage of serious violations in the region's government workplaces.

A Times computer-assisted investigation of more than 15,000 federal and state Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspections conducted in the Calumet Region shows dangers in private sector jobs often had more severe consequences than public sector violations.

Of the 316 workplace fatalities that prompted OSHA safety inspections between 1972 and 2008, 311 occurred in the private sector, with about a third occurring in the region's steel industry.

However, when state and federal OSHA inspectors investigated public-sector workplaces -- often prompted by complaint reports -- they found a higher percentage of what they deemed serious violations.

OSHA defines serious violations as situations creating a high probability of death or injury for workers.

Of the violations reported by safety inspectors at local, state and federal government workplaces in Lake and Porter counties, about 68 percent were deemed serious. In the private sector, violations were deemed serious by OSHA inspectors 38 percent of the time.

Indiana OSHA officials say the higher percentages of serious violations found in government offices likely traces back to how the agency learns of the infractions -- often through well-documented complaints from workers.

Meanwhile, region municipal officials whose agencies accumulated the most serious violations within the last few decades say they have worked in recent years to improve safety for their employees.

Public sector violations

More than 1,200 inspections of region government offices and agencies yielded at least 1,680 serious violations between the early 1980s -- when Indiana OSHA began inspecting public workplaces -- and 2008, the most recent year for which full statistics were available.

The city of Gary helped contribute to that total, with safety inspectors noting 369 serious violations throughout the municipality. That total was the highest number of serious violations for any municipal body.

About 68 percent of those violations occurred in 1987 during an Indiana OSHA sweep of various Gary government offices and agencies, OSHA data indicates. Only four of the serious violations occurred within the most recent five years of the data.

The Gary citations over the years included improper use of hazardous materials containers, failing to provide adequate fire extinguishers and failure to provide safety training for employees, OSHA records show.

City of Gary Corporation Counsel Susan Severtson said the municipality was pleased to learn serious OSHA violations had become minimal there in recent years.

"The number (of violations) seems to be declining quite precipitously," Severtson said.

Severtson and other Gary officials attributed the decline in OSHA violations in part to third-party insurance underwriters hired by the city to handle workman's compensation claims. The underwriters perform safety audits of city offices, helping correct potential issues before they become problems, she said.

Valparaiso also was among region municipal agencies with the most serious violations, according to the OSHA data. The majority of its violations -- 99 of which were serious -- occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Mayor Jon Costas said the city's commitment to employee safety is reflected in its more recent history.

Valparaiso's last violations were in 2004 during an OSHA inspection of the city's wastewater treatment plant. The inspection yielded eight violations, four of which were serious, data shows.

Steve Poulos, the city's assistant utilities director, said most of the violations were corrected on the spot.

Among the violations: an open electrical control panel, an open breaker box with a switch missing, containers labeled hazardous materials that were not marked with the name of the substance and a sewer vacuum truck operator who was not wearing protective equipment, Poulos said. The other violations were general housekeeping issues.

Since that time, Valparaiso has received three plant safety awards from the Indiana Water Environment Association, Poulos said. The awards came after the association's safety committee audited the facility for safety.

Portage schools recorded 71 serious violations within the same time period. All but one of those violations occurred in the 1980s, data shows.

The Portage school district's last violation was in August 2005. OSHA inspectors cited Portage for a serious violation relating to rigging equipment for material handling, data shows.

School officials said they believe that violation relates to high school construction going on at the time.

Tom Taylor, assistant superintendent for adult and student policy for the district, said the school corporation hosts a monthly safety meeting to review all reported accidents and how those accidents can be avoided in the future.

"I think we're constantly in a state of changing policy, procedure and training based on the things that come up in our accident reports and the eyes and ears of our employees," he said.

The safety committee also conducts monthly safety inspections of every building in the school corporation, Taylor added. A copy of that inspection is given to the principal at each building.

Explaining the violations

Jeff Carter, deputy commissioner for the Indiana Department of Labor and head of Indiana OSHA, said the high percentage of serious violations found at public sector workplaces often is a result of the mode through which the agency first learns of the problems.

"Much of our public sector inspection activity is generated by complaints rather than scheduled reviews," Carter said. "And inspections prompted by complaints tend to yield a higher level of citations than does a general scheduled inspection."

Carter said many of those complaints are accompanied by pictures or other clear documentation of serious violations.

"They often send photographic evidence," Carter said.

In one case, that evidence included images of a government worker fixing a stop light in an elevated bucket with no safety barricades or construction warning signs in place and traffic whizzing through the intersection, Carter said.

The Times' review also found a large percentage of violations were reported in the 1980s, shortly after Indiana OSHA began inspecting state and local government offices.

Carter said the high volume of 1980s violations can be attributed to inspectors uncovering unsafe practices that previously had gone unchecked.