INDIANAPOLIS – Following an explosive recorded conversation between a top safety official musing about “manipulating citations” of a workplace death investigation, Indiana Democratic Party Chairman John Zody called for increased scrutiny of the Department of Labor’s practices. In a public records request hand-delivered Friday morning, Zody zeroed in on the number of workplace safety citations swept under the rug.

“Public trust in state government regulators is paramount in ensuring the integrity of our workplace safety system,” said Zody. “If Governor Holcomb stands by his agency and its handling of the investigation, Holcomb should publicly release all the details of the Amazon case and every other serious workplace safety violation.”

The public records request also targets correspondence from Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration Director Julie Alexander. Alexander was recorded walking employers through how to reduce workplace safety citations and apologizing for potentially ‘manipulating’ a safety inspector’s report and citations. Zody questioned whether first-term governor Eric Holcomb could rely on Alexander for objective investigations.

“You wouldn’t walk across a bridge or get behind the wheel of a car approved by a regulator who ‘manipulates’ investigations,” said Zody. “How then can Governor Holcomb rely on a workplace safety director more focused on protecting businesses’ reputations than workers’ lives?”

A copy of the records request is available here.

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