USPS Has More 'Shocking' Problems

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The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) already facing a $420,000 worker endangerment fine for faulty electrical work at a Vermont mail distribution center has now been slapped with a $350,000 fine for similar violations in New Hampshire.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says that, just like it did in Vermont, the USPS had knowingly assigned untrained and unqualified workers to perform "troubleshooting and voltage testing on or near live electrical equipment and wiring that had not first been de-energized."

"These citations and the sizable fines proposed here reflect the Postal Service's ongoing knowledge of and failure to address conditions that exposed its workers to the severe and potentially deadly hazards of electric shock, arc flashes and arc blasts," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels in a press release.

The really bad news is that by filing "enterprise-wide" complaints against the USPS for these electrical work safety violations, OSHA is implying that more fines for more violations at more postal facilities could be coming. With the USPS losing another $3.5 billion in the third quarter of 2010, you have to wonder - but not for long -- who's going to pay for all this?