Trinity Industries, Inc. v. Occupational Safety and Health Review Com'n, 92-4017
| Decision Date | 24 February 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 92-4017,92-4017 |
| Citation | 16 F.3d 1455 |
| Parties | , 16 O.S.H. Cas.(BNA) 1609, 1994 O.S.H.D. (CCH) P 30,369, 1994 Fed.App. 65P TRINITY INDUSTRIES, INC., Petitioner, v. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Robert E. Rader, Jr. (argued and briefed), Rader, Smith, Campbell & Fisher, Dallas, TX, for petitioner.
Ray Darling, Secretary, OSHRC, Washington, DC, Charles F. James (argued and briefed), U.S. Dept. of Labor, Office of the Sol., Washington, DC, Janice L. Thompson, Office of the Sol., U.S. Dept. of Labor, Cleveland, OH, for respondent.
Before: MARTIN, SILER, and BATCHELDER, Circuit Judges.
Trinity Industries, Inc. appeals an order of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission affirming an administrative law judge's decision to deny Trinity's motion to suppress evidence. For the following reasons, we enforce the order of the Commission.
The facts, which are essentially undisputed, and the procedural history of this matter have already been set forth comprehensively in the Commission's order. See Secretary of Labor v. Trinity Industries, Inc., 15 O.S.H.Cas. (BNA) 1827 (Rev.Comm.1992). Nevertheless, we summarize some of the background in order to answer the issues raised by the parties before us.
Trinity Industries manufactures tanks and what are referred to as pressure vessels at its plant in Sharonville, Ohio. On February 23, 1988, a Trinity employee filed a formal complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, alleging that portable grinders and rollers used in the plant were improperly wired, that compressed gas cylinders were unsecured and not fitted with valve protection caps, and that oil-slick floors and stored materials impeded safe access to workplace aisles and passageways. After Trinity refused to grant OSHA permission to inspect the facility, the agency sought an administrative inspection warrant from a federal magistrate judge. 1 In its warrant application, OSHA explained that the employee complaint it had received met the formality requirements of Section 8(f)(1), 29 U.S.C. Sec. 657(f)(1), of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, 29 U.S.C. Secs. 651-678, and that a special inspection was required under the terms of that section of the Act.
In the same warrant application, OSHA also sought conditional authorization to conduct a full-scope ("comprehensive" or "wall-to-wall") inspection of the Trinity worksite pursuant to an administrative plan detailed in OSHA Instruction CPL 2.45A. Under that plan, a facility is subject to a full-scope inspection if: (1) an employee complaint has been filed that sets forth reasonable grounds for the Secretary of Labor to believe that a violation or danger exists; (2) the establishment is in an industry with a high lost workdays injury rate; (3) a complete safety inspection of the facility has not been carried out in the current year or in the last two fiscal years; and (4) the facility's safety records show a lost workday injury rate at or above the national average. Trinity's Sharonville worksite, OSHA maintained, met the first three of these four conditions. Accordingly, the Secretary sought authorization to review Trinity's safety and health records to determine whether the facility also met the remaining condition: that the establishment had a lost workday injury rate at or above the national average. If so, OSHA proposed to conduct a full-scope inspection of the worksite.
On February 25, the magistrate issued a warrant granting the agency the authority to conduct a limited "special inspection" of Trinity's Sharonville facility focusing on the allegations of the employee complaint, a review of the facility's injury and illness records, and a full-scope establishment inspection if the facility's lost workday injury rate met or exceeded 4.2, the Bureau of Labor Statistics National Average for manufacturing. Arguing in part that the Secretary's use of OSHA Instruction CPL 2.45A to expand a complaint inspection under Section 8(f) into a comprehensive facility inspection under Section 8(a) did not comport with the rule established in Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U.S. 307, 98 S.Ct. 1816, 56 L.Ed.2d 305 (1978), Trinity filed a motion to quash the warrant. On July 29, the magistrate denied the motion, but stayed the provisions of the warrant allowing OSHA to conduct a records review and authorizing OSHA to conduct a comprehensive inspection. On August 5 and 8, OSHA conducted the limited-complaint inspection of Trinity's Sharonville facility, and subsequently issued citations to Trinity for specific alleged violations of OSHA standards.
On October 20, the district court affirmed the magistrate's order denying Trinity's motion to quash the warrant. On April 25, 1989, this Court denied an application by Trinity for a stay of the district court's order. Shortly thereafter, Trinity agreed to allow OSHA to review the company's safety and health records, and to conduct a comprehensive inspection if the records revealed an establishment lost workday injury rate of 4.2 or more. After calculating a lost workday injury rate of 13.6, OSHA safety specialists and industrial hygienists undertook two concurrent but independent comprehensive inspections of the Sharonville facility. Their recommendations resulted in the issuance of one set of health citations and one set of safety citations. Trinity challenged these citations in two separate administrative actions. Altogether, OSHA issued, and Trinity contested, five citations that alleged numerous violations of the Act. The penalties proposed by OSHA totaled almost $33,000.
On January 20, 1990, an administrative law judge granted a motion by the Secretary to consolidate Trinity's two actions challenging the citations, and denied a motion by Trinity to suppress the evidence obtained by OSHA in its full-scope investigation. In denying the latter motion, the administrative law judge rejected Trinity's argument that the February 25, 1988, warrant was overly broad because it authorized a wall-to-wall inspection based on a limited employee complaint. Following a hearing on the merits of the contested citation items, at which Trinity chose not to appear, the judge upheld each of the alleged violations in the two consolidated cases (with the exception of a single vacated subitem and a corresponding $100 penalty reduction) and assessed the proposed penalties.
Thereafter, Trinity sought and obtained review by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission on the sole issue of whether the administrative law judge erred in denying Trinity's pre-hearing motion to suppress evidence. In affirming the administrative law judge's ruling, the Commission found that: (1) Trinity was targeted for an expanded, full-scope establishment inspection pursuant to the provisions of an administrative plan detailed in OSHA Instruction CPL 2.45A, and not because of specific evidence of an existing violation; (2) the administrative plan, CPL 2.45A, was derived from neutral criteria; (3) OSHA's warrant application properly established administrative probable cause under the Barlow's administrative plan test; (4) the judge's denial of Trinity's motion was not contrary to precedent of the Commission nor those cases reviewed by courts of appeals; and (5) the warrant's records review provision was not overly broad. Trinity continues to press its objections before us.
Trinity raises four arguments. First, Trinity contends that inspections of employers selected on the basis of specific evidence of existing violations, such as employee complaints, must be limited to the scope of the complaint, whereas inspections of employers selected on the basis of a reasonable administrative plan may be comprehensive in nature. Accordingly, as OSHA initially selected Trinity for inspection solely on the basis of an employee complaint and request for special inspection, pursuant to Section 8(f) of the Act, the warrant issued should have limited the scope of both the physical inspection of the Sharonville worksite and of the records review to the allegations in the complaint. OSHA Instruction CPL 2.45A, Trinity maintains, is merely an improper attempt to expand limited inspections into full-scope inspections. According to Trinity, CPL 2.45A is not a reasonable administrative plan, which would authorize a full-scope search under Section 8(a), because it selects employers for inspection on the basis of employee complaints and thus is not derived from neutral criteria.
Second, Trinity argues that the exclusionary rule should be applied in Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission proceedings. The full-scope inspection of its facility, Trinity maintains, was conducted pursuant to an invalid search warrant and thus violated its Fourth Amendment rights. According to Trinity, the search was overbroad and conducted in an unreasonable manner and thus violated Sections 8(a)(2) and 8(f) of the Act and Trinity's Fifth Amendment rights. Moreover, Trinity contends that a reasonably well-trained OSHA compliance officer could not have relied in objective good faith on the warrant in question. Given the violations of Trinity's constitutional rights and the fact that the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule does not apply, Trinity concludes that the rule should be applied to suppress all the evidence gathered pursuant to the full-scope inspection.
Third, Trinity contends that even if CPL 2.45A is deemed a reasonable administrative plan under the Supreme Court's decision in Barlow's, OSHA's warrant application did not adequately describe the plan or how the desired inspection of Trinity's facility fit into that plan. Finally, Trinity argues that even if the description of the plan in the warrant at issue in this case is deemed sufficient, the full-scope search of...
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