Oregon safety regulators have fielded more than 2,700 complaints in the past few weeks over working conditions in offices, factories, construction sites, grocery stores and restaurants.

Workers say they’re terrified about going to work during the coronavirus pandemic and complain their employers aren’t doing enough to ensure people have enough distance from one another or are doing jobs that are inherently unsafe.

The state’s Occupational Safety & Health division (Oregon OSHA) began surprise inspections last month but has yet to issue citations. It has enlisted 75 compliance officers to work on the issue and have a dozen other managers and staff screening complaints.

Oregon OSHA has completed fewer than 10 inspections thus far but expects that number to increase markedly beginning next week.

When Gov. Kate Brown ordered Oregonians to “stay home,” last month, she made an exception for construction and manufacturing – two industries vital to the state’s economy – and said other sectors could continue operating, too, so long as they ensured workers were keeping distance from one another and taking other safety measures.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, is potentially deadly -- especially for older people and those with preexisting medical conditions. Most others report mild symptoms or experience none at all.

By restricting all activity, though, health officials hope to snuff out the virus and contain the damage. That state has reported 44 deaths thus far and has identified 1,300 cases.

Individuals violating the governor’s order could be jailed for up to 30 days and fined $1,250, but businesses could be sanctioned under existing Oregon workplace safety rules. OSHA could penalize employers $12,750 for a “non-willful” violation and up to $126,750 for a “willful” violation.

“Our normal citation processing takes at least two weeks,” said OSHA spokesman Aaron Corvin. “We plan to accelerate that process, but we still need to process the citation and verify that the employer has received it before we can talk about the results.”

(OSHA is taking complaints online here.)

-- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway |

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