The online printout of Grinnell’s August 1999 violations in Colorado would tell you that Grinnell had been assessed six citations and a $12,500 fine for asbestos related violations. However, the case file revealed under FOIA paints a complete picture.

The story started when renovation began at the Warwick Hotel in Denver, Colorado. Grinnell admitted in an inter-company memo that all subcontractors (including Grinnell) were told that asbestos training classes would be mandatory. "The classes never transpired," according to Grinnell but Grinnell began work at the hotel anyway. Then the hotel’s engineer wrote a letter to Grinnell that two floors of the hotel were inaccessible because of asbestos. Grinnell’s reply was that they needed more money and a change order from the owner.

OSHA interviewed Grinnell’s manager, who admitted "he knew the Warwick was an old building ... that buildings before 1980 may ... contain asbestos." OSHA said, "After Grinnell received information about the asbestos in the Warwick Hotel, they did not inform Priority Electric (their subcontractor, thus exposing Priority’s employees)." The hazard was "they (the workers) may be overexposed and that could cause serious injury and death (and) lung cancer."

OSHA cited Grinnell for cutting holes in walls and ceilings, and disturbing asbestos materials, without establishing a "regulated" area. Grinnell did not conduct air monitoring in the areas where asbestos was disturbed. Grinnell did not have a "competent" person inspecting the asbestos-contaminated areas, according to the original OSHA violation notices. Grinnell did not minimize the exposure of their employees to asbestos, and Grinnell did not identify the location of asbestos or tell their own workers about its presence. Nor did Grinnell inform their own subcontractor about the asbestos, according to the OSHA violation.

OSHA discovered that Grinnell had been cited previously for asbestos violations in New York in May 1999 and November 1997 and in St. Louis in April 1997. OSHA granted no reduction in the fine to Grinnell for "good faith," because "the company did not take the proper steps to protect their employees from asbestos."

In another example, a printout of an OSHA inspection of a Grinnell job site in Colorado would show only that Grinnell had received two citations and have been fined $850. But the full text of the OSHA inspection shows that Grinnell exposed their work force to toxic materials and to unsafe job site access without providing the affected workers with adequate notice of the hazards. The full text of the inspection also shows that Grinnell failed to enforce its own safety program and has failed to adequately train its own supervisory personnel. In other words, these citations were not a case of "gotcha" by OSHA but a reflection of underlying problems within Grinnell’s safety program. As a result, according to OSHA, Grinnell’s employees bore the brunt of these failures, because they were the ones exposed to situations "likely to result in injuries involving permanent injury or death."