SECRETARY OF LABOR,
Complainant,

v.
KINGS ISLAND, DIVISION OF TAFT BROADCASTING COMPANY,
Respondent.

OSHRC Docket No. 82-1016

_DECISION
_
Before: BUCKLEY, Chairman, and WALL, Commissioner.
BY THE COMMISSION:

This case is before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
under 29 U.S.C. § 661(j), section 12(j) of the Occupational Safety and
Health Act of 1970, 29 U.S.C. §§ 651-678 ("the Act" or "the OSH Act").
The Commission is an adjudicatory agency, independent of the Department
of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA").
It was established to resolve disputes arising out of enforcement
actions brought by the Secretary of Labor under the Act and has no
regulatory functions. See section 10(c) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. q 659(c).

I.

At issue is a single citation alleging a violation of 29 C.F.R. §
1904.7(a). That regulation states that employers "shall provide" certain
injury and illness records "upon request" to "any representative" of the
Secretary, including a compliance officer engaged in a workplace
inspection, "for inspection and copying. . . ."[[1]] The records that
must be provided for inspection and copying include those that the
employer is required to create and maintain on form OSHA No.200, the log
and summary of occupational injuries and illnesses, or its equivalent.[[2]]

The record shows, and it is undisputed, that Kings Island refused to
provide these records as required by section 1904.7. An OSHA compliance
officer came to the employer's workplace in Kings Island, Ohio, in
response to an employee complaint that "fog" used in a theatrical
production at the American Heritage Theater had irritated the employee's
eyes and upper respiratory system. The compliance officer did not
present either an inspection warrant or an administrative subpena to
Kings Island's representatives. He instead requested that Kings Island
make available to him its OSHA form 200's. This request was not tailored
to the reason for the inspection, i.e., the use of "fog" in the recent
theatrical production. Rather, the compliance officer stated that he
wished to review the forms kept over the past three years for "hygienic
and environmental problems in general." Kings Island refused, stating
that there was no probable cause for such a broad inspection. It
asserted that the "fog" had been used for only slightly more than four
months and that there were no entries in the log indicating any illness
or injury as a result of its use. Kings Island further stated that it
would consent only to an inspection of its premises and its records that
was limited to the scope of the employee complaint about the "fog." The
employer stated that it would not allow a broader inspection unless
there was a search warrant or some other legal process was followed.

OSHA did not respond to this denial or access by obtaining an inspection
warrant from a federal court or by exercising its authority under
section 8(b) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 657(b), to issue a subpena
compelling production of the records.[[3]] Instead, it issued the
present citation. The citation is not accompanied by a proposed penalty.
It however, state that abatement is required "immediately." See section
9(a) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 658(a)(citations must specify abatement
date). If the Commission were to affirm the citation, Kings Island would
then be required to abate the violation by providing its records to OSHA
under section 1904.7. A failure to abate the violation would subject
Kings Island to penalties of up to $1,000 a day.[[4]]

Affirmance of the citation would therefore result in what is commonly
termed a "constrictive search"--a search compelled by the threat of a
penalty for failure to permit the search. See Oklahoma Press Publishing
Co. v. Walling, 327 U.S. 186, 202-208, 66 S.Ct. 494, 502-505 (1946).
Kings Island claims that affirming the citation would therefore violate
its rights under the Fourth Amendment to the Construction. That
amendment guarantees "[t]he right of the people to be secure in their...
houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,"
requires that search warrants be supported by probable cause, and
further requires that search warrants "particularly describ[e] the place
to be searched, and the . . . things to be seized."

Commission Administrative Law Judge Edwin G. Salyers denied Kings
Island's motion for summary judgment and granted the Secretary's. Judge
Salyers agreed with the Secretary that, under "the required records
doctrine," the OSHA form 200's were not entitled to protection under the
Fourth Amendment:

The Secretary also advances the persuasive argument that the Fourth
Amendment provides protection only when the party claiming the
protection has a legitimate expectation of privacy . . . . It is too
clear to require discussion that records mandated by law are for public
and not private use. Such records do not carry the shield of the Fourth
Amendment . . . .

Kings Island challenges this reasoning on review. It claims that it does
not fall within that category of businesses that are "so pervasively
regulated that they forfeit" their expectation of privacy. It further
argues that:

Merely because the OSHA form 200 is required to be kept by the Act and
regulations thereunder, a business should not be expected to give up its
right of privacy as to the information contained in the log. It is the
information that is subject to the right of privacy; merely because the
Act or regulations thereunder require such information to be put into a
specified format, the private nature of the information is not affected.

Kings Island contends that Judge Salyer's reasoning conflicts with the
Supreme Court's decision in Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U.S. 307, 98
S.Ct. 1816 (1978). See, e.g., 436 U.S. at 325, 98 S.Ct. at 1827 (section
8(a) of the Act "is unconstitutional insofar as it purports to authorize
inspections without warrant or its equivalent").

II.

The first question we must ask is whether the Fourth Amendment affords
protection to the papers here--logs and summaries of occupational
injuries and illnesses. In Oliver v. United States, 104 S.Ct. 1735, 1740
(1984), the Court stated:

Since Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed. 2d 576
(1967), the touchstone of [Fourth] Amendment analysis has been the
question whether a person has a "con-stitutionally protected reasonable
expectation of privacy." . . . .The Amendment does not protect the
merely subjective expectation of privacy, but only "those expectations
that society is prepared to as 'reasonable'."

Other Supreme Court decisions make clear that the Katz test applies in
deter mining whether a claimant has a protected Fourth Amendment
interest in business records seized or sought by government agents.
Therefore, "[w]e must examine the nature of the particular documents
sought to be protected in order to determine whether there is a
legitimate 'expectation of privacy' concerning their contents." United
States v. Miller, 425 U.S. 435, 442, 96 S.Ct. 1619, 1623 (1976).

A.

There is no dispute that the requested logs were "required records,"
that is, records required by state or regulation to be maintained by the
employer and produced for government inspection. See Boyd v. United
States, 6 S.Ct. 524. 528 (1886)("books required by law to be kept for
their inspection"). The parties strongly disagree, however, as to
whether these required records are entitled to any protection under the
Fourth Amendment. The Secretary argues that Kings Island has no fourth
Amendment rights of any kind in the records at issue because there can
be no reasonable expectation of privacy in required records. We find,
however, that federal case law does not support such a sweeping
proposition. We also conclude that the proposition is unsound, that one
may indeed have a reasonable expectation of privacy in required records.

The First Circuit has pointed out, in a specific reference to OSHA form
200's, that "an employer would have less of a privacy interest in a
document it is required by statute or regulation to maintain than in a
document it produces and maintains on its own." Donovan v. Wollaston
Alloys, Inc., 695 F.2d 1, 8 (1st Cir. 1982). It does not follow,
however, and the court did not suggest, that an employer has no privacy
interest in such required records. "Privacy is not a discrete commodity,
possessed absolutely or not at all." Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735,
749, 99 S.Ct. 2577, 2585 (1979)(dissenting opinion). An employer may
have a lesser expectation of privacy in his factory, store or office
than a homeowner has in his living room, but Barlow's teaches us that
this lesser expectation was among the interests that led to enactment of
the Fourth Amendment. 436 U.S. at 311-12, 98 S.Ct. at 1819-20.
Similarly, that an employer has a lesser privacy expectation in required
records than in his ordinary papers does not necessarily mean that he
has no reasonable expectation of privacy in the required records.

We find that federal court case law is consistent with the proposition
that employers can have some reasonable expectation of privacy in the
contents of records, they are required to keep. In United States v. Blue
Diamond Coal Co., 667 F.2d 510 (6th Cir. 1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S.
1007, 102 S.Ct. 2298 (1982), two members of the three-judge panes
expressly rejected the Secretary of Labor's argument that the records at
issue there were entitled to no protection under the Fourth Amendment
because they were required records. In his lead opinion, Judge Engel
stated that "[w]e cannot agree that these records are of interest or
importance only to the government. It is not uncommon for records
required by statute to serve multiple purposes." 667 F.2d at 518. See
also 667 F.2d at 522 (Keith, J., dissenting)(joining Judge Engel on this
point).

Similarly, in C.A.B. v. United Airlines, Inc., 542 F.2d 394 (7th Cir.
1976), where the airline had statutory obligation to maintain the
records in question and to make them available for examination by the
Civil Aeronautics Board, the court rejected the agency's position that
it was entitled to access to the records without obtaining compulsory
legal process, stating that "while the expectation of privacy of a
regulated carrier is limited, it nevertheless exists." 542 F.2d at 399.
In essence, the court held that, regardless of its statutory authority,
the C.A.B. was required under the Fourth Amendment to obtain some form
of compulsory legal process so that there would be independent judicial
review of the reasonableness of the agency's decision to inspect the
records. Cf. United States v. Stanack Sales Co., 387 F.2d 849 (3d Cir.
1968) (notwithstanding statutory authority, FDA inspector denied access
to required records without a warrant or an administrative subpena);
Mid-Fla. Coin Exchange, Inc. v. Griffin, 529 F. Supp. 1006 (M.D. Fla.
1981)(state statute gave law enforcement officials access upon request
to required records of dealers in second-hand precious metals; statutory
provisions invalidated or Fourth Amendment grounds). These cases
indicate that Fourth Amendment protection may well extend to required
records if employers have a reasonable expectation of privacy in them.
Directly or indirectly, these decisions reject the view that the
classification of business records as "required records" automatically
means that they are entitled to no protection under the Fourth Amendment.

B.

We next turn to whether employers have a reasonable expectation of
privacy in the records here--occupational injury and illness records. To
begin this inquiry, we will ask, as the Sixth Circuit implicitly did in
Blue Diamond, whether an employer could reasonably have expected privacy
in the contents of injury records if these regulations did not exist. We
find that injury records, like the mine ventilation records at issue in
Blue Diamond, are not of interest only to the government. Such records
might well be compiled for an employer's own business reasons. Employers
seeking to preserve the lives and health of valued employees, to raise
the morale of a workforce, or to secure lower insurance rates, might
consider such records to be the most reliable means of learning what
processes, practices, or machinery have been the cause of workplace
injuries and illnesses. They might find that injury records reveal
patterns and afford broad perspectives in determining, for example, what
machinery needs improvement or what work processes require modification.

It is for these reasons that many employers already compiled injury
records before the passage of the Act and the adoption of these
regulations.[[5]] For example, a well-known private body in the safety
and health field, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), had
issued over the course of several years various versions of ANSI
Z16.1-1967, American National Standard Method of Recording and Measuring
Work Injury Experience. This 28-page- long, detailed standard was
jointly sponsored by the National Safety Council and the American
Insurance Association, and authorized by representatives of 47
organizations. Over half of these authors were selected from
organizations representing business and industry, such as the Aerospace
Industries Association of America, the American Iron and Steel
Institute, the American Petroleum Institute, the Forging Industry
Association, and the Electronic Industries Association. The purpose of
the ANSI standard is accident prevention; it states that injury rates
compiled in accordance with its criteria may be used to evaluate the
need for accident prevention in work places, the seriousness of an
accident problem, the effectiveness of safety efforts in similar
businesses, and the employer's progress in accident prevention. ANSI
Z16.1-1967, Introduction, p.7. Similarly, the National Safety Council's
Accident Prevention Manual for Industrial Operations (6th ed. 1969), a
broad reference work covering subjects from industrial toxicology to
elevators,devotes two full chapters to accident records and
investigations. These chapters prescribe various record forms and
procedures that companies should use, explain how such records would aid
in accident prevention, and state methods for computing the costs of
accidents so that "[f]acts about the costs of accidents may be used
effectively in securing the active cooperation of foremen . . . [in
achieving] safe operating procedures." id., at 281. -See also A.
Ihygerson, Safety: Principles, Instruction, and Readings 10 (1972)
("[i]ndustry, business and government often tabulate information
concerning the frequency of accidents.....").See generally W.
Tarrants,The Measurement of Safety Performance (1980) [[6/]]

Injury records accordingly predate the OSH Act and its record keeping
regulations. Such records contain much information that, before the
passage of the Act and these regulations, employers could reasonably
have expected would remain private. Certainly before the adoption of
OSHA's regulations, the federal government. could not have seized these
records without some sort of legal process. See Barlow's, 436 U.S. at
324 n.22, 98 S.Ct. at 1826 n.22. 7/ Injury records maintained in
accordance with OSHA regulations contain important details about an
employer's operations and manufacturing processes that even
conscientious executives might not freely reveal to outsiders. The form
OSHA No. 200, for example requires that the employer compile the name,
job title or description of duties of the injured employee, his
department, a brief description of each injury or illness and the
affected part of the body, and the type, extent and outcome of the
employees injury or illness. The companion form, OSHA No. 101, is even
more detailed. Each page is devoted to a single accident or illness. It
requires the employer to answer such questions as the following:

12. What was the employee doing when injured? (Be specific. If he was
using tools or equipment or handling material, name them and tell what
he was doing with them.)

13. How did the accident occur? (Describe fully the events which
resulted in the injury or occupational illness. Tell what happened and
how it happened. Name any objects or substances involved and tell how
they were involved. Give full details on all factors which led or
contributed to the accident. Use separate sheet for additional space.)

14. Describe the injury or illness in detail and indicate the part of
body affected. . . .

15 Name, the object or substance which directly injured the employee.
(For example, the machine or thing he struck against or which struck
him; the vapor or poison he inhaled or swallowed; the chemical or
radiation which irritated his skin; or in cases of strains, hernias,
etc. the thing he was lifting, pulling, etc.)

We therefore conclude that the information recorded on injury records is
not of interest only to OSHA, but to both OSHA employers. The records
serve multiple purposes, and employers have some reasonable expectation
of privacy in the information recorded on them.

C.

The cases cited by the Secretary in support of his asserted "required
records doctrine" do not persuade us otherwise. At the outset, we not
that only one of the cases cited by the Secretary arose in a procedural
context that makes it analogous to the case before us. is Peabody Coal
Co., 3 BNA MSHC 1234,1983-84 CCH OSHD (P) 26,788 (FMSHRC 1984), an
enforcement action under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977,
30 U.S.C. §§ 801-960 (hereafter "Mine Safety Act"). There, as here, the
Secretary of Labor sought access to required records without obtaining
an inspection warrant or other compulsory legal process, the Secretary
cited the mine operator for its refusal to allow access to the records,
and the mine operator defended on the ground that a warrant was
required. In Peabody Coal, the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review
Commission (FMSHRC) adopted the Secretary's"required records" argument,
concluding "that a search warrant was [therefore] not required."3 BNA
MSHC at 1235-36, 1983-84 CCH OSHD at p. 34,261.

We conclude, however,t h a t the Secretary' s reliance on PeabodyCoaI i
s misplaced. Peabody Coal concerned a pervasively-regulated industry. In
fact, nearly all of the Secretary's arguments in this case are based on
cases involving pervasively- regulated industries. Yet, the Supreme
Court has clearly indicated that cases under this separate and distinct
branch of the Fourth Amendment case law have little relevance to OSHA
Act inspection issues. See Barlow's, 436 U.S. at 313-14, 98 S.Ct. at
1820-22. Indeed, in Donovan v. Dewey,452 U.S. 594, 599-605, 101 S.Ct.
2534, 2538-410 (1981), the Court sharply distinguished between the
privacy expectations of mine operators under the mine Safety Act and
those of employers under the OSH Act. Peabody Coal therefore does not
speak to the issue before us. [[8/]]

The Secretary cites eight cases in his review brief relating to "the
required records doctrine." Some of them contain language that supports
his position. For example, in Donovan v. Mehlenbacher, 652 F.2d 228, 231
(2d Cir. 1981), the Second Circuit stated that, because "records
required to be kept pursuant to valid regulatory programs have a 'public
aspect' for purposes of constitutional analysis," they are not private
papers entitled to the protection of the fourth or fifth amendments."
The "valid regulatory program" in Mehlenbacher, however, required the
Secretary to issue a subpena duces tecum to obtain access to required
records maintained under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA); in the
case of a refusal to comply, the Secretary had to bring an action in a
United States district court to enforce the subpena. 652 F.2d at 229; 29
U.S.C. § 209 and 15 U.S.C. § 49-50. Accordingly, the district court
judge in Mehlenbacher had heard the employer's objections to the subpena
and had modified it by restricting the Secretary's inspection of
required records. 652 F.2d at 230.

We think it important that, by reviewing the subpena, the district court
in Mehlenbacher afforded the employer an independent judicial review of
the Secretary's decision to inspect its required records. A subpena
procedure is a form of judicial process that can, in certain situations,
meet Fourth Amendment requirements. See, e.g., Donovan Lone Steer, Inc.,
464 U.S. 408, 104 S.Ct. 769 (1984)(also an FLSA case). In sum,
Mehlenbacher does not stand for the proposition that required records
can be obtained without Fourth Amendment protection the employer there
received Fourth Amendment protection. Cooper's Express, Inc. v. I.C.C. ,
330 F.2d 338 (1st Cir. 1964), also contains language that Supports the
Secretary's Position. See 330 F.2d at 340 (required records "assume the
characteristics of quasi-public documents and their disclosure may be
compelled without violating the Fourth Amendment"). However, the
persuasive value of Cooper's-Express is diminished by the same factors
that led us to discount Peabody Coal and Mehlenbacher. Cooper's Express
arose in the context of a pervasively-regulated industry (interstate
motor carriers), which clearly influenced the court's reasoning. See 330
F.2d at 341. In addition, the I.C.C. sought access to the required
records through an injunction--a form of compulsory legal process that
met the requirements of the Fourth Amendment. [[9/]]

The other cases relied upon by the Secretary provide even less support
for his position. The only OSH Act case cited by the Secretary is
Wollaston Alloys, to which we referred above in Part IIA. As we
indicated, however, the statement relied upon by the Secretary, and
quoted by us, suggests only that employers have a reduced or diminished
expectation of privacy in required records, rather than no privacy
interest at all. Moreover. the logs at issue in Wollaston Alloys were in
fact obtained under an inspection warrant. We therefore find nothing in
Wollaston Alloys to support the view that the Fourth Amendment is
inapplicable to OSHA form 200 logs or that these logs may be obtained
under the Fourth Amendment without a warrant or its constitutional
equivalent.[[10]]

Finally, the Secretary cites to United States v. Consolidation Coal Co.,
560 F.2d 214 (6th Cir. 1977)/ vacated and remanded, 436 U.S. 942 (1978),
judgement reinstated, 579 F. 2d 1011 (6th Cir. 1978) cert. denied. 439
U.S. 1069 (1979).  However, this case actually supports Kings Island's
position and not the
Secretary's In Consolidation Coal the Secretary obtained required
records from a mine operator under inspection warrants. The central
issue in the case was whether the criminal standard or the
administrative standard of probable cause should be applied in obtaining
such warrants. The Court held that the Administrative standard applied.

As quoted by the Secretary in this case, the court stated in
Consolidation Coal that mine operators "have virtually no expectation of
privacy in records and paraphernalia which they exclusively maintain in
compliance with the Act." 560 F.2d at 20-21. Nevertheless, despite its
view that the records at issue were maintained "exclusively" for
compliance purposes and that the industry was one that was pervasively
regulated, the court neither stated nor implied that the required
records were entirely unprotected under the Fourth Amendment.[[11]] On
the contrary, the court rejected "out of hand," 560 F.2d at 217, the
Secretary's contention that his searches were constitutionally
permissible without the warrants. The sole effect of the diminished
expectation of privacy referred to by the court was to reduce the
Secretary's burden in establishing probable cause to support a warrant.
In sum, when it is properly read, Consolidation Coal stands for the
proposition that the Fourth Amendment applies even where the employer
has a diminished expectation of privacy in required records.

Accordingly, we reject the Secretary's claim that Kings Island has no
reasonable expectation of privacy in its logs and summaries of
occupational injuries and illnesses. While the Secretary's position
finds some support in the case law, the better view is that the
classification of records as "required records" does not mean that they
are wholly unprotected under the Fourth Amendment; instead, it affects
only the king of protection the Fourth Amendment guarantees. In
determining that King Island has a reasonable expectation of privacy in
these specific records, we are particularly influenced by the facts that
this is an enforcement action under a statute of broad, general
applicability; that the employer is not part of a "pervasively-regulated
industry"; and that the record sought are not "of interest or importance
only to the government." Blue Diamond 667 F.2d at 518. We conclude that
the records at issue are entitled to the protection of the Fourth
Amendment. We now turn to the question of what protection the Fourth
Amendment affords.

III.

Our conclusion that the records at issue are entitled to protection
under the Fourth Amendment does not necessarily mean that OSHA must
obtain a search warrant to gain access to them. The Protection afforded
by the Fourth Amendment varied depending on a number of circumstances,
including the extent of the employer's privacy interest in the records,
the degree of the government's intrusion on those privacy, the
importance of the governmental interest at stake, and the amount of
discretion vested in the law enforcement official in the field. "The
essential purpose of the proscriptions in the Fourth Amendment is to
impose a standard of ' reasonableness' upon the exercise of discretion
by government officials, including law enforcement agents, in order 'to
safeguard the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary
invasion....' " Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 675, 653-654, 99 S.Ct.
1391, 1396 (1979). Cf. Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 532-533,
87 S.Ct. 1727, 1732-1733 (1967)(primary purpose of warrant is to
circumscribe "the discretion of the official in the field"; warrant
requirement imposed where "broad statutory safeguards are no substitute
for individualized review."); See v. City of Seattle, 887 U.S. 541,
544-45, 87 S.Ct. 1737, 1740 (1967)(subpena may not be enforced by the
inspector in the field; subpenaed party may obtain judicial review of
subpena's reasonableness before suffering penalties for refusing to
comply). However, the Fourth Amendment does not always require a warrant
to achieve its goal of preventing arbitrary intrusions by government
agents. The amendment is applied flexibly in devising different
mechanisms to achieve its objectives depending upon the circumstances.
Prouse, 440 U.S. at 654-55, 99 S.Ct. at 1396-97.[[12]]

For administrative inspections of business premises and business
records, there are at least three ways an employer's Fourth Amendment
rights could be protected. At times, an inspection warrant, issued upon
a showing of "administrative probable cause," is required. E.g.,
Barlow's, 436 U.S. at 320-21, 98 S.Ct. at 1824-25; See, 387 U.S. at 545,
87 S.Ct. at 1740. In other circumstances, different forms of compulsory
legal process meeting less stringent Fourth Amendment tests are
adequate. E.g., Lone Steer (administrative subpenas); Midwest Growers
Cooperative Corp. v. Kirkemo, 533 F.2d 455, 461 (federal court
injunction).[[13]] In still other situations, no form of compulsory
legal process is deemed necessary because "privacy interest [is]
adequately protected by [a] regulatory Eschemel authorizing warrantless

Here, the Secretary argues that the present regulatory scheme falls
within a recognized exception to the warrant requirement that permits
the government to compel disclosure of business records through
"compulsory reporting requirements, whose breach may result in the
composition of civil or criminal penalties." The Secretary quotes the
following statement from California v. _Byers, 402 U.S. 424, 427-28, 91
S. Ct.1535, 1537-38 (1971):

An organized society imposes many burden on its constituents. It
commands the filing of tax returns for income; it requires producers and
distributors of consumer goods to file informational reports on the
manufacturing process and the content of products, on the wages, hours,
and working condition of - employees. Those who borrow money on the
public market or issue securities for sales to the public must file
various information reports; industries must report periodically the
volume and content of pollutants discharged into our waters and
atmosphere. Comparable examples are legion.

Although Byers is a Fifth Amendment case rather then a Fourth Amendment
case, the Secretary's basic claim is accurate. Statutory and regulatory
reporting requirements like those described above have generally been
upheld against fourth Amendment challenges. E.g., California Bankers
Association v. Schultz, 416 U.S. 21, 57-62, 94 S.Ct. 1494, 1515-20 (1974).

The problem with the Secretary's argument is that 29 C.F.R. § 1904.7(a)
is not a reporting requirement. The Secretary cites no case, and we have
found none that treats a similar regulatory scheme (involving access to
business records upon request of field compliance personnel) as a
reporting requirement within the meaning of California Bankers and
Byers. The Secretary's brief shows an understanding of this point, but
he nevertheless argues that:

[Section 1904.7] differs from the more usually encountered reporting
requirement only in that it does not require the employer to submit the
required documents at certain specified intervals--such as monthly,
quarterly or annually--but instead requires that the employer make the
records available "upon request." For many employers such request by the
agency will be made infrequently, if ever. To that extent the reporting
obligation in 1904.7 is far less onerous than the usual statutory or
regulatory reporting requirement.

In essence, the Secretary is conceding that section 1904.7 is different
from the reporting requirements described in Byers because it involves
the exercise of discretion by field officers in deciding which employers
must make their injury records available for inspection and copying and
when they must do so. The Secretary asserts that this distinction is
inconsequential. We conclude that the distinction is critical. It is
this very characteristic--the element of selective enforcement,
involving the exercise of discretion by zealous enforcement officers in
the field--that strikes at the core of Fourth Amendment values. It
permits administrative officers to decide--without independent
adjudicative review--whose privacy shall be intruded upon, when, and to
what extent.

In Mid-Fla. Coin Exchange, provisions of a Florida statute similar to
the regulations here were found to conflict with the Fourth Amendment.
The statute required employers in the second-hand precious metal
business, which is not pervasively-regulated, to keep records of certain
transactions and to make those records available for inspection by law
enforcement officers upon request. The court noted that those statutory
provisions "combine aspects of" administrative search warrants and
subpenas duces tecum "without incorporating the protections afforded by
either." 529 F. Supp. at 1019. This was a critical defect in the
statutory scheme, for employers were given no opportunity for judicial
review before being compelled to produce their records, as they would
have been under either a warrant or a subpena procedure. 529 F. Supp. at
1024-27. Accordingly, the statutory scheme imposed no restraint on the
decisions of officers in the field to inspect the records of particular
employers. This failure to provide a "safeguard against arbitrary
governmental intrusions" rendered the scheme unconstitutional. 529 F.
Supp. at 1026-27. The reasoning of Mid-Fla. Coin Exchange is equally
applicable to section 1904.7. See also Illinois v. Krull, 107 111. 2d
107, 481 N.E. 2d 703 (1985), rev'd on other grounds, 55 U.S.L.W. 4291
(U.S. March 10, 1987).

There are, however, certain narrow circumstances in which a warrantless
regulatory scheme may adequately protect against the arbitrary
governmental intrusions condemned by Mid-Fla. Coin Exchange. For
example, the Court concluded in Dewey that the "inspection program
[under the Mine Safety Act], in terms of the certainty and regularity of
its application, provides a constitutionally adequate substitute for a
warrant." 452 U.S. at 603, 101 S.Ct. at 2540. It noted that the statute
requires inspection of all mines and specifically defines the frequency
of such inspections. 452 U.S. at 603-604, 101 S.Ct. of 540-41, citing 30
U.S.C. § 813. Thus, the Court reasoned, "the federal regulatory presence
[under the Mine Safety Act] is sufficiently comprehensive and defined
that the owner of commercial property cannot help but be aware that his
property will be subject to periodic inspections undertaken for specific
purposes." 452 U.S. at 600, 101 S.Ct. at 2539
Dewey sharply distinguished, however, between the enforcement scheme
under the Mine Safety Act and the warrantless inspection scheme under
the OSH Act, which Barlow's had invalidated. In making this distinction,
Dewey suggested that warrantless inspections are not permissible under
the OSH Act because OSHA compliance officers have "almost unbridled
discretion [under the Act] . . . as to when to search and whom to
search" and the employer has "little real expectation that his business
will be subject to inspection." 452 U.S. at 601, 101 S.Ct. at 2539.

Applying Dewey to the warrantless inspection scheme that is before us
now leads us to conclude that it is not "a constitutionally adequate
substitute for a warrant." 'We find no greater restriction under section
1904.7 on the "almost unbridled discretion" of OSHA compliance officers
to determine "when to search and whom to search" than the Supreme Court
found in the OSH Act itself. Moreover, the Secretary in effect concedes
that this is a situation where, in the words of the Dewey court, there
is "little real expectation that a particular employer's business will
be subject to inspection." As stated by the Secretary in his review
brief, "[f]or many employers such request by the agency [for access to
required records] will be made infrequently, if ever

We therefore hold that the cited regulation, 29 C.F.R. § 1904.7(a), is
invalid as applied to this case. [[14/]] Paraphrasing the holding of
Barlow's, 436 U.S. at 375, 98 S.Ct. at 1827, we hold that section
1904.7(a) violates the Fourth Amendment to the extent that it purports
to authorize an inspection required records without a warrant or its
"equivalent," e.g., the employer's consent or an administrative subpena
under section 8(b) of the Act.[[15]] Here, OSHA neither obtained an
inspection warrant nor issued a section 8(b) administrative subpena
compelling Kings Island to produce its injury records. In the absence of
this compulsory legal process, the citation alleging a violation of
section 1904.7(a) must be vacated.

Accordingly, we vacate citation 1 unless the Secretary requests an
opportunity to introduce evidence contrary to officially-noticed
documents within 15 days of this decision.

FOR THE COMMISSION
Ray H. Darling, Jr.
Executive Secretary


DATED: MAR 18 1987

------------------------------------------------------------------------

SECRETARY OF LABOR,
Complainant,

v.

KINGS ISLAND, DIVISION OF TAFT
BROADCASTING COMPANY,
Respondent.

OSHRC Docket No. 82-1016

_ORDER ON CROSS MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
_
As a result of an employee complaint, a compliance officer from the
0ccupational Safety and Health Administration attempted to make an
inspection of respondent's facility in Kings Mills, Ohio, on September
1, 1982, under the provisions of 29 'U.S.C. § 651, et seq. The nature of
the complaint received to the use of "fog" in certain scenes of the
celebration performance at the American Heritage Theater, which "fog"
allegedly irritated employees' eyes and upper respiratory system. Upon
arrival at the facility, the compliance officer requested he be allowed
to review respondent's log and summary of reportable occupational
injuries and illnesses (OSHA Form No. 200). This request was denied by
respondent's Director of Loss Prevention and respondent's attorney. All
factual matters have been resolved by means of discovery, and the matter
is now before the undersigned Administrative Law Judge upon cross
motions for summary judgment. The sole issue in this ease is whether
respondent violated the provisions of 29 C.F.R. §1904.7 by its failure
to produce for inspection without warrant its injuries and illnesses
records upon request by an authorized representative of the Secretary of
Labor.

The cited standard provides in part as follows:

(a) Each employer shall provide, upon request, records provided 11
for in §1904.2,1/- 1904.4, and 1904.5,. for inspection and copying by
any representative of the Secretary- of Labor for the purpose of
carrying out the provisions of the act . . . .

These regulations were promulgated pursuant to section 8(c)(1) of the
Act which provides in pertinent part:

Each employer shall make, keep and preserve, and make available to the
Secretary ... such records regarding his activities relating to this Act
as the Secretary . . . may prescribe by regulation as necessary or
appropriate for the enforcement of this Act or for developing
information regarding the causes and prevention of occupational
accidents and illnesses. [29 U.S.C.§ 657(e)(1)]

Respondent relies primarily on the Supreme Court's decision in Marshall
v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U. S. 307, which prohibits warrantless
inspections of an employer's facilities under section 8(a) of the Act
when an employer objects to such inspection [[2/]]. The Secretary
counters with the "required record" argument that this decision should
not apply to an inspection conducted under section 8(c)(I) of the Act
whereby the Secretary seeks only to inspect records which are required
by statute to be kept and made available to the Secretary upon request.
Both parties make convincing arguments in support of their respective
positions.

The strongest support for respondent's position is found in footnote 22
of Barlow's,supra, which is fully quoted below:

Delineating the scope of a search with some care is particularly
important where documents are involved. Section 8(c) of the Act, 29
U.S.C. § 657(c), provides that an employer must "make, keep and
preserve, and make available to the Secretary [of Labor] or to the
Secretary Of Health, Education and Welfare" such records regarding his
activities relating to OSHA as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe by
regulation as necessary or appropriate for enforcement of the statute or
for developing information regarding the causes and prevention of
occupational accidents and illnesses. Regulations requiring employers to
maintain records of and to make periodic reports on "work-related
deaths, injuries and illnesses" are also contemplated, as are rules
requiring accurate records of employee exposures to potential toxic
materials and harmful physical agents.

In describing the scope of the warrantless inspection authorized by the
statute, § 8(a) does not expressly include any records among those items
or things that may be examined, and § 8(c) merely provides that the
employer is to "make available" his pertinent records and to make
periodic reports.

The Secretary's regulation, 29 CFR § 1903.3 (1977), however, expressly
includes among the Inspector's powers the authority "to review record,
required by the Act and regulations published in this chapter, and other
records which tire directly related to the purpose of the inspection."
Further, § 1903.7 requires inspectors to indicate generally "the records
specified it, § 1901.3 which they wish to review" but "such designations
or records shall not proclude access to additional records specified in
§ 1903.3." It is the Secretary's position, which we reject, that an
inspection of documents of this scope may be effected without a warrant.

The order that issued in this case included among the objects and things
to be inspected "all other things therein (including but not limited to
records, files, papers, processes, controls and facilities) bearing upon
whether Barlow's, Inc., is furnishing to its employees employment and a
place of employment that are free from recognized hazards that are
causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to its
employees, and whether Barlow's, Inc. is complying with . . . the OSHA
regulations.

Respondent argues a proper reading of this footnote compels a conclusion
that the Secretary's effort to obtain any employer records without a
warrant and over the objection of the employer violates the
constitutional right against illegal searches and protected by the
Fourth Amendment.

The Secretary urges that a distinction must be made between records
required to be kept by law and all other records. He relies upon the
well established "required records" doctrine and cites numerous cases in
support.[[3/]]

A careful study of the Barlow's decision, supra, and footnote 22 compels
the conclusion that the Court neither expressed nor implied an intent to
overturn the firmly established "required record" doctrine. The footnote
points out that section 8(a) of the Act does not specifically deal with
records and notes that this power emanates from the Secretary's
regulations contained at 29 C.F.R. § 1903.3 which provides the right "to
review records required by the Act . . . and other records which are
directly related to the purpose of the inspection" (Emphasis supplied).
The Court does not strike down the Secretary's right to inspect
"required records" but merely rejects the Secretary's position that he
is entitled to non-required record as well, noting "an inspection of
documents of this scope" may not be effected without a warrant.

The Secretary appropriately points out that he proceeds under section
8(c)(1) of the Act and his regulation contained at 29 C.F.R. § 1904.7.
These provisions of the Act and regulations, as set out above, specify
the records required to be maintained and that these records shall be
made available upon request by the Secretary. Unlike the Language
contained in 29 C.F.R. § 1903.4, the language of 29 (C.F.R. § 1904.7
does not require the production of any other records except those
required by law. This factor is sufficient to distinguish the facts of
the instant case from the holding in Barlow's.

The Secretary also advances the persuasive argument that the Fourth
Amendment provides protection only when the party claiming the
protection has a legitimate expectation of privacy. Katz v. U. S., 389
U.S. 347 (1967). It is too clear to require discussion that records
mandated by law are for public and not private use. Such records do not
carry the shield of the Fourth Amendment. Wilson v. U. S., 221 U.S. 361
(1911); Rodgers v. U.S., 138 F.2d 992 (6th Cir. 1943).

Respondent also urges the Secretary, at best, is entitled only to those
records directly related to and within the scope of the employee's
complaint, citing Donovan v. Blue Ridge Pressure Castings Inc., 543 F.
Supp. 53 (M.D. Pa. 1981). In Blue Ridge, the Court did limit the
Secretary's inspection of company records to those areas delineated in
the employee complaint. but the Court went on to state:

. . .[H]owever, if Blue Ridge cannot effectively segregate the pertinent
records of these employees from its company files, then, it must allow
OSHA to examine all of the employee records referred to in the warrant.
[543 F. Supp. 61]

Since respondent has admitted it did not segregate OSHA Forms 200
(Secretary's Second Request for Admissions, Request No.1; and
Respondent's Response), Blue Ridge, supra, offers no support for its
disposition.

Accordingly, respondent's failure to produce the required records
constitutes a violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1904.7.

After due consideration of the briefs and arguments in this matter, it
is hereby ORDERED:

The Secretary's motion for summary judgment be, and it hereby is,
granted and respondent's motion for summary judgment be, and hereby is,
denied


EDWIN G. SALYERS
Judge

Date: July 6, 1983

------------------------------------------------------------------------

SECRETARY OF LABOR
Complainant,

v.

KINGS ISLAND, DIVISION OF
TAFT BROADCASTING COMPANY
Respondent

OSHRC Docket No. 82-1016


_ORDER _

No response having been received from the Secretary, in accordance with
the Commission decision issued March 18, 1987, this case is a final
order as of the date of this order.

FOR THE COMMISSION
Ray H Darling, Jr.
Executive Secretary

Dated: APR 6 1987

 

FOOTNOTES:

[[1]] Section 1904.7 states:

§1904.7 Access to records.

(a) Each employer shall provide, upon request, records provided for in
§§1904.2, 1904.4 and 1904.5, for inspection and copying by any
representative of the Secretary of Labor for the purpose of carrying out
the provisions of the act ....

[b](3) Access to the log provided under this section shall pertain to
all logs retained under the requirements of §1904.6.

[[2]] Section 1904.2 and 1904.6 state in part:

§1904.2 Log and summary of occupational injuries and illnesses.

(a) Each employer shall... (1) maintain in each establishment a log and
summary of all recordable occupational injuries and illnesses for that
establishment; and (2) enter each recordable injury or illness on the
log summary as early as practicable but no later than 6 working days
after receiving information that a recordable injury or illness has
occurred.  For this purpose from OSHA No. 200 or an equivalents... shall
be used.   The log and summary shall be completed in the detail provided
in the form and instructions on form OSHA No. 200.
****
§1904.6 _Retention of records.
_
Records provided for in  §§1904.2, 1904.4 and 1904.5... shall be
retained in each establishment for 5 years following the end of the year
to which they relate.

[[3]] Section 8(b) of the Act states that:

In making his inspections and investigations under this Act[,] the
Secretary may require the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the
production of evidence under oath.  Witnesses shall be paid the same
fees and mileage that are paid witnesses in the courts of the United
States.  In case of contumacy, failure, or refusal of any person to obey
such an order, any district court of the United States courts of any
territory or possession, within the jurisdiction to issue to such person
an order requiring such person appear to produce evidence if, as, and
when so ordered, and to give testimony relating to the matter under
investigation or in question, and any failure to obey such order of the
court may be punished by said court as a contempt thereof.

[[4]] See section 10(b) of the Act, 29 U.S.C. §659(b), and section
17(d), 29 U.S.C. §666 (d); see also section 11(b), 29 U.S.C. §660(b)
(judicial remedies, including contempt, for failure to abate).

[[5]] Recognition of this fact is implicit in the Secretary's assertion
that these records are required records."  The required records doctrine
developed by the Supreme Court involves the application of a
three-pronged test for determining whether particular records are
properly characterized as "required records."  The Second prong of this
test is that "information is to be obtained by requiring the
presentation of records of kind which the regulated party has
customarily kept." Grosso v. United States, 390 U.S. 62, 67-68, 88 S.
Ct. 709, 713 (1968). See also Bionic Auto Parts & Sales, Inc. v. Fahner,
721 F.2d 1072, 1083 (7th Cir. 1983) (records could not be considered
"required records" because "[a]utomotive parts dealers... probably
would  not record whether a serial number had been defaced in the
absence of state regulation.  Recording that information would not
facilitate their normal business activity.").  Thus, to even qualify as
a "required record," the papers required to be kept must be of the sort
that businesses customarily keep for their own purposes.  While this
does not necessarily mean that an employer always has a reasonable
expectation of privacy in required records, it does suggest the
infirmity of the Secretary's view that an employer never does.

We also note that under section 1904.2(a) the employer has the option of
maintaining its record of injuries and illnesses on either form OSHA No.
200 or "an equivalent [form]."  This suggests that many employers
maintained such records in a similar format before the Secretary
developed his form OSHA No. 200 and imposed a requirement for such
recordkeeping.

[[6]] We take official notice of these publication under section 7(d) of
the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C.  §555(e). That provision
states in part that "[w]hen an agency decision rests on official notice
of a material fact not appearing in the evidence in the record, a party
is entitled, on timely request, to an opportunity to show the
contrary."  We will afford the Secretary this opportunity.

[[7]] In footnote 22 of its decision in Barlow's, the Court stated that
an inspection of records of the scope sought in that case could not be
effected without a warrant or its equivalent is necessary to obtain
access to required records, but clearly indicates that a warrant is
necessary for access to any other business records.

[[8]] We also note that Peabody Coal relied heavily on the concurring
opinion in Blue Diamond.  As we have observed previously, two of the
three judges in Blue Diamond expressly rejected the Secretary's argument
in that case that coal mine operators could have no reasonable
expectation of privacy in required records.  On this issue, therefore,
the concurring opinion cited by the FMSHRC presented a minority viewpoint.

[[9]] Specifically, the I.C.C. brought an action to obtain a federal
court injunction.   The importance of this procedure is not readily
apparent on the face of the Copper's Express does make this clear. 
Midwest Growers Cooperative Corp. v. Kirkemo, the injunction procedure
under the Interstate Commerce Act is analogous to a subpena procedure
and equally protective of Fourth Amendment rights.

[[10]] Two other cases relied upon by the Secretary are inapposite. 
Roders v. United States, 138 F.2d 992 (6th Cir. 1943, involved the
constitutionality of a statutory reporting requirement rather than an
agency effort to obtain access to required records maintained by the
employer.  For the reasons we discuss below, Rodgers conclude that these
two situation are not analogous.  In any event, Rogers preceded Katz by
24 years.  It therefore can shed little light on the proper application
of the "reasonable expectation of privacy" test.  Indeed, we do not read
Rodgers as suggesting that the employer had no Fourth Amendment interest
in the information he was compelled to provide.  United States v.
Snyder, 668 F.2d 686 (2d Cir. 1982), is predominantly a "standing" case,
that is, the union official claiming the protection of the Fourth
Amendment had "no reasonable expectation of privacy" in the record at
issue because they were the union's records, not his.  This is clear
from the court's reliance on Rakas v. Illinois, not show that the
inspection violated his personal fourth amendment rights." 668 F.2d at
690 (emphasis added.)

[[11]]  In reaching its conclusion that mine operators have little
expectation of privacy in required records, the court was strongly
influenced by the pervasive regulation of the mine industry.  This is
clear from viewing the language quoted by the Secretary in context:

Our conclusion is bolstered by the fact that the coal mining industry
has a history of close regulation under the aegis of the commerce
clause....  Therefore, it reasonable to assume that mine operators have
a reduced expectation of privacy in their business offices than less
highly scrutinized enterprises..... They have virtually no expectation
of privacy in records and paraphernalia which they exclusively maintain
in compliance with the Act.

560 F.2d at 220-21 (case citation omitted). We also not that the court
referred to records that are maintained "exclusively" for the purpose of
complying with a statute.  Such records are distinguishable from the
records at issue here, which "serve multiple purposes." Blue Diamond,
667 F.2d at 518.

[[12]] One commentator makes this point by noting that the Fourth
Amendment is no longer treated as an "all-or-nothing proposition"; in
other words, he suggests, "there is some Fourth Amendment middle
ground."  1 LaFave, Search and Seizure §2.1(e), at p. 315 (2d ed.
1987).  Thus, more recent decisions recognize that "it is possible to
subject..... [a particular]  law enforcement practice to some restraints
so as to ensure that it is not used in a dragnet fashion or in a random
or unprincipled fashion, but yet not destroy its effectiveness by
imposing all the limitations which are applicable to other, more
traditional kinds of searches that are much more threatening to privacy
and security." Id.

[[13]] In Prouse, the Court stated that "the [Fourth Amendment]
reasonableness standard usually requires, at a minimum, that the fact
upon which an intrusion is based be capable of measurement against 'an
objective standard,' whether this be probable cause or a less stringent
test."  400 U.S. at 654, 99 S.Gt. at 1396.  Under both the
administrative subpena procedure and the federal court injunction
procedure, the "reasonableness" of the government's demand for access to
business records is measured against the "less stringent" Fourth
Amendment test first announced in Oaklahoma Press, 327 U.S. at 208, 66
S. Ct. at 505.  Thus, for example, an administrative subpena complies
with the Fourth Amendment if the inquiry is one the agency is authorized
by law to make, the subpena is not too indefinite or board in its
description of the records to be produced, and the materials specified
are relevant.   See also Lone Steer, 464 U.S. at 414-15, 104 S.Ct, at
773; See, 387 U.S. at 544, 87 S.Ct. at 1740.  The Barlow's/Camara/See
test for determining the existence of "administrative probable cause" is
another example of a Fourth Amendment test that is "less stringent" than
the traditional test for determining probable cause in a criminal
proceeding.

[[14]] In footnote to his review brief, the Secretary states that Kings
Island's contention "that 29 C.F.R. 1904.7 is violation of the Four
Amendment.... necessarily involves a challenge to the constitutionality
of section 8(c) [of the Act]."   Because "the Commission is without
authority to pass on the fundamental constitutionality of the statute,"
he continues, "the Commission's authority to decide the issues presented
in this case is questionable."  We reject this argument.  Section
8(c)(1) of the Act, 29 C.F.R. §657(c)(1) states only that the employer
shall "make [requirement records] available to the Secretary," without
specifying how this is to be done.  The statute is neutral in the
question of whether compulsory legal process is necessary in order for
the Secretary to obtain access.   It is only  the cited regulation that
purports to compel access to required records in the absence of
compulsory legal process.  Since the constitutionality of section 8(c)
is not at issue, there can be no bar to our resolution of the issues in
this case.

[[15]] We have upheld section 1904.7 citations when a warrant or subpena
has been obtained for access to the records sought.  See Thermal
Reduction Corp., 85 OSAHRC____, 12 BNA OSHC 1264, 1984-85 CCH OSHD
¶27,248 (No. 81-2135, 1985).  See also the concurring opinion in that
case.  12 BNA OSHC at 1270, 1984-85 CCH OSHD at p. 35,201.

[[1/]]  The standard requires an employer to maintain a log and summary
of all recordable occupational injuries and illness in each
establishment and directs that OSHA Form 200 (or its equivalent) be used
for this purpose.

[[2/]]  The reasons given for respondent's refusal to produce records is
contained in the Secretary's Request for Admissions, item 7 and
Respondent's Response thereto:

(7) On September 1, 1982, Compliance Officer Carroll made a request to
Richard C. Fussner and to Robert J. Townsend, that Respondent's OSHA
Form 200 be made available to him for inspection and copying for the
past three (3) years so that he could review it for "hygienic and
environmental problems in general" which had no relationship at all to
the employee complaint which was the purpose for his inspection.  Mr.
Carroll was informed that Respondent was consenting to an inspection of
its premises and records, which was limited to only the scope of the
employee complaint.  He was expressly told that any inspection beyond
the scope of the complaint would not be authorized by Respondent without
the issuance of a search warrant or other legal process.  Mr. Carroll
was told that his request to inspect the 200 log for the purposes he
stated constituted a "finishing expedition" and that he had not
demonstrated any probable cause for such a request.  Mr. Carroll was
also informed that the smoke which was the subject of the employee
complaint was first used in the American Heritage Theater on April 24,
1982 and that there were no entries on the Form 200 log indicating any
illness or injury as a result of the use of the smoke.

[[3/]]  Boyd v. U.S., 116 U.S. 616, 6 S. Ct. 524; Hale V. Henkel, 201
U.S. 43, S. Ct. 370 (1906); Cooper's Express, Inc. v. I.C.C., 330 F.2d
338 (1st Cir. 1964); Bowles v. Glick Bros. Lumber Co., 146 F.2d 566 (9th
Cir. 1954); Rodgers v. U.S., 138 F2.d 992 (6th Cir. 1943); Wilson v.
U.S., 221 U.S. 361 (1911); Katz v. U.S. 289 U.S. 347 (1967); Shapiro v.
U.S., 335 U.S. 1 (1948); U.S.  v. Miller, 425 U.S., 435 (1976); Rakas v.
Illinois, 439 U.S., 128 (1978); U.S. v. Snyder, 668 F.2d 686 (2d Cir.
1982); U.S. v. Gordon, 655 F.2d 478 (2d Cir. 1981); U.S. v.
Consolidation Coal Co., 560 F.2d 214 (6th Cir. 1977); Erie Bottling
Corp. v. Donovan, 539 F. Supp. 600 (W.D. Pa. 1982); and Donovan v.
Dewey, 101 S. Ct. 2534 (1981).