Cool Tool: Labor Department Database Shows Promise

The Labor Department has a new online database that may prove useful to environmental reporters on various stories.

Labor's "Enforcement Data" website offers access to several kinds of data sometimes sought by reporters doing environmental stories. That includes, for example, inspection case detail for the roughly 100,000 compliance inspections conducted annually by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). It also includes weekly updated compliance information from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA).

Searches can be narrowed down by state and by industry.

• Enforcement Data 1.2.
• "Open Government Success Stories: Labor's Online Enforcement Database," Project on Government Oversight, November 17, 2010, by Bryan Rahija.