Nevada OSHA’s elephantine actions at the Las Vegas Zoo

There are more than a few old jokes featuring an elephant and an ant and often they’re about the little guy winning against all odds. But the following story about another kind of elephant (Nevada OSHA) and an ant (a tiny zoo in Las Vegas) unfortunately goes poorly for the ant.

As related by columnist John L. Smith of the Las Vegas Review-Journal it all started with an inspection of the Southern Nevada Zoological-Botanical Park by the state’s OSHA.

When you think about this zoo, don’t think San Diego – think a small collection of 50-year-old buildings on three acres that mostly attracts local schoolchildren. So it’s probably no surprise that Nevada OSHA found outdated electrical plugs. The fines for that violation and others amounted to $13,200, which for this tiny non-profit is quite significant.

According to Smith’s column, the zoo offered to correct the violations, but asked Nevada OSHA to forgo the fines. The agency refused.

Smith said the fines could have a real impact on the zoo, which manages to stay open on a shoe-string budget.

“It creates a real emergency, which we don’t have funds for,” zoo director Pat Dingle was quoted as saying. “It’s never been an issue with the city of Las Vegas or the Las Vegas Fire Department. It’s only an issue now with OSHA saying somebody could be shocked some day.”

The column also quoted Nevada OSHA chief administrative officer Steve Coffield as saying that the agency is “sensitive” to the impact that fines can have on small organizations like the zoo. But he said the fines are moving forward because an informal conference with the zoo failed to resolve differences over the fines.

The elephantine response of Nevada OSHA in this case is particularly ironic given that the agency is still trying to live down accusations that lax enforcement helped lead to a slew of deaths during construction on the Strip in 2007-2008.

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